Basic Requirements to Earn a Bachelor’s Degree
Every student must complete a minimum of 120 credits in order to graduate. The credits you transfer from NOVA will count towards the 120 credit minimum.
Every student must also complete at least 45 upper-division credits. Upper-division credits can come from any department but must be numbered 300 to 499.
Some students will be able to complete both of these requirements with the courses required for their majors, but you may need to take additional elective courses outside of your major to meet these minimums. If this is the case for you, consider courses that build skills or pursuing a minor.
Mason Core
The Mason Core consists of 11 general education requirements that every student at Mason must satisfy. They include:
- Written Communication
- Oral Communication
- Quantitative Reasoning
- Information Technology
- Arts
- Global Understanding
- Literature
- Natural Science
- Social and Behavioral Science
- Western Civilization/World History
- Synthesis
During your time at NOVA, you may have completed many of these requirements with courses you needed to take for your Associate’s degree. You may also have had the lower-level requirements waived with your GAA admission. You can see if you have any Mason Core requirements left by viewing your degree evaluation in DegreeWorks.
College/School Requirements
All of the undergraduate majors at Mason are divided up into nine schools. Some schools require all of their students to satisfy certain requirements. For example, students pursuing a Bachelor of Arts in the College of Humanities and Social Sciences are requirement to demonstrate intermediate foreign language proficiency by either taking a foreign language through the 210 level or taking a placement test to demonstrate proficiency. Another example is the School of Business requiring all students in that school to complete micro- and macroeconomics and calculus. If your college or school has any specific requirements, they will be a part of your degree evaluation.
Major Requirements
Your major requirements are typically a majority of the credits you will have remaining after you transfer. Your major may require between 36 to 100 credits.
