Core Curriculum

St. Mary's Core Curriculum

Course Hours Notes
Degree Requirements
First Year Experience 3 Not required for transfer students accepted with 30 or more college hours
Freshmen Composition I 3 Transferable; Students who earn a 'C' grade or better in EN 1311 are deemed to have fulfilled the minimal writing requirement. Students who do not meet the minimal writing requirement must re-take EN1311 at St. Mary's University until the minimum standards are met. EN 1311 or equivalent is a prerequisite for EN23xx.
Literature 3 Transferable; Freshmen Composition II will satisfy this requirement for transfer students. Once a student has matriculated, this requirement should be met with a Literature course (EN23xx).
History 3 Transferable
Social Science 6 Transferable
Mathematics 3 Transferable
Natural or Physical Sciences 3 Transferable
Fine Arts 3 Transferable
Foreign Languages 6 Transferable
Philosophy (Into to Philosophy) 3 Transferable except for matriculated students
Philosophy (Ethics) 3 Transferable except for matriculated students
Theology (Intro to Theology) 3 Theology courses from other universities may be transferable with the approval of the Theology Department.
Intermediate Theology 3 Theology courses from other universities may be transferable with the approval of the Theology Department.

Accredited programs that have previously (under the core curriculum implemented in 2009) received permission to implement course substitutions in order to maintain or seek accreditation and also maintain a reasonable number of credit hours and therefore time to completion, should be allowed to retain course substitutions.

Communication Studies may be used to satisfy a maximum of three hours of Social Science requirement.

All students will fulfill the Foreign Language requirement by completing 6-hours of a foreign language with the following exceptions:

The Foreign Language requirement is satisfied through one of four ways:

  1. One 3-hour course in any language at the 3000 level or above, with a grade of B or better;
  2. Two courses (1311 and 1312) in a language not previously studied;
  3. Two courses (2311 and 2312) in a language previously studied at the high school or college level; or
  4. Qualifying scores on an AP or CLEP exam, or both the ACTFL OPI and WPT exams

The Foreign language requirement applies to all majors except the following:

  1. Accounting and Accounting and Data Analytics, and all ABET-accredited programs will continue to be exempt from this requirement.
  2. Engineering programs seeking ABET accreditation within the next review cycle will also be exempted from the Foreign Language requirement.
  3. The other academic programs in the Greehey School of Business will meet 3-hours of the Foreign Language requirement through IB 3321.  The remaining 3-credit hours of the requirement will be met by a foreign language class or through other options, e.g., completing an internship or practicum in a non-English speaking country.

Though unlikely, a non-ethics second Philosophy course submitted for transfer credit will be accepted.