The General Education requirement is the "breadth" requirement of your education at SDSU. It is designed to give you a broad base of knowledge about the world in which you live, how you impact that world, and how it impacts you. General Education is a place where you are free to take a broad range of classes, explore new areas of interest, and begin to formulate ideas about what you might like to choose as a major.

The General Education requirement consists of 49 semester units which are divided into four sections. The structure of the GE requirement is outlined below, and a brief description of each section is provided. Consult the General Catalog or current Class Schedule to see what classes are available in each section.

GENERAL EDUCATION

1. Communication and Critical Thinking (9 units)
   Take one class in each of the following areas:
1. Oral Communication
2. Composition
3. Intermediate Composition and Critical Thinking
2. Foundations (28 Units)
1. Natural Sciences and Quantitative Reasoning
   Take one class in each of the following areas:
1. Physical Sciences
2. Life Sciences
3. Laboratory
4. Mathematics/Quantitative Reasoning
2. Social and Behavioral Sciences
   Take two classes from this area: (The classes must be from two different departments, (i.e., taking Econ 101 and Econ 102 will not complete this section))
3. Humanities
   Complete one class in only four of the following five areas: (Please note, you may be required to take a foreign language if specified by your major. Please see Foreign Language Requirement)
1. Literature
2. Art, Classics, Dance, Drama, Humanities, and Music.
3. History
4. Philosophy and Religious Studies
5. Foreign Language
3. American Institutions (3 units)
   Three of the six units required by the American Institutions Requirement are counted toward your GE requirement. Please review the American Institutions Requirement.
4. Explorations (9 units)
   Explorations are your upper-division General Education Courses. Do not take these classes before the semester in which you complete 60 units.
   
   Most majors require students to take one class in each of the following areas:
1. Natural Sciences
2. Social and Behavioral Sciences
3. Humanities