Credits

For Students Who Matriculate during or after the fall 2021 term:

Effective fall 2021, of the 120 credits required for the degree, no fewer than 108 credits must be from courses taught inside the College. The remaining 12 credits may be College elective courses or elective courses from outside the College.

Students who transfer into the College from the BIS program, which is rare and typically not possible, may not count any BIS credits toward the College degree.

For Students Who Matriculated BEFORE the spring 2021 term:

Of the 120 credits required for the degree, no fewer than 102 credits must be from courses taught inside the College. The remaining 18 credits may be College elective courses or elective courses from outside the College.

Students who transfer into the College from the BIS program, which is rare and typically not possible, may not count any BIS credits toward the College degree.

See the Schedule of Classes in SIS for a list of current Arts & Sciences courses.

Note:

  • The unit of credit at the University is the semester hour. Each semester hour represents one class period of a minimum of 50 minutes per week for each week in the semester.
  • Lecture-recitation courses require a minimum of one 50-minute class period each week in the semester for every one hour of credit earned.
  • Laboratories and fieldwork require a minimum of two 50-minute class periods (or the equivalent amount of time) for each week in the semester for every one hour of credit earned.
  • The College does not award second degrees. Students who have earned a baccalaureate degree at the University of Virginia or at another institution are not eligible to receive a second degree from the College.

Credits From Transfer or Exams

A maximum of 60 credits may be earned prior to matriculation to the College by various means, including

Elective Courses from Outside the College

Credits earned from these courses, considered to be outside the College, can be applied as electives toward the required total of 120 credits. They cannot, however, be counted among the requisite 102 credits from courses taught inside the college or courses taught outside the college considered to be College-equivalent.

Students considering admission to, and especially those accepted into, the BA/MT program should select their non-College electives very carefully.

Students must take no fewer than 102 (effective fall 2021, 108) College or College-equivalent hours (from among the requisite 120) in order to qualify for the B.A.

  • ELA Classes
  • Interdisciplinary Study (INST); must be taken on the CR/NC basis; limit of two courses for a total of 3 credits, maximum
  • Physical Activity courses (KINE/KLPA; offered by the School of Education); limit 2 credits total
  • Language House courses will be offered for 1 credit maximum per semester; with a 2-credit maximum limit in the 120-credit total required for graduation
  • Personal Skills courses (PLSK); limit of 2 credits
  • ROTC courses from the departments of Naval (NASC), Air (AIRS), and Military Science (MISC); limit of 12 credits
  • UNST Classes
  • USEM 1570 (University Seminars); limit of one per semester*
    NOTE: USEM 1580 courses count as College credit but no more than 8 credits total of USEM course work may count toward the degree.
  • Architecture School courses
  • Batten School (effective for the class entering in fall 2018 and later)
  • Commerce School courses (COMM)
  • Data Science courses (DS)
  • Education School courses, excluding EDHS 3410, 3440, 3600, and 3610
  • Engineering School courses
  • Nursing School courses

NOTE: College students may not take any courses from the School of Continuing and Professional Studies nor may any classes taken prior to enrollment in the College count toward the degree.

Credit Limits for Credit/No Credit Option

Non-transfer students are limited to earning a maximum of 24 credits using the Credit/No Credit (CR/NC) grading option (learn more about the CR/NC grading option.)

Second-year transfer students are limited to a maximum of 18 CR/NC credits.

Third-year transfer students are limited to a maximum of 12 CR/NC credits.

No course taken under the CR/NC option may count toward fulfilling an area, competency, major, or minor requirement (details about these requirements are below).

Audit Option

Courses taken under the Audit (AU) option do not carry any credit or count at all toward the 120 credit total.

Maximum Credit Limits

The following College courses have maximum credit limits imposed:

  • Language House courses; limit of 1 credit per semester and 2 credits total
  • Music Performance: Students may apply up to 16 performance credits in music, of which 8 credits must be drawn from 3000-level courses and above. In addition, students completing Distinguished Major Projects in Music may earn an additional 4 performance credits. Music majors performing a DMP recital could potentially earn a total of 20 performance credits in Music.
  • Dance Performance; limit of 8 credits total
  • Physical Education Courses (KINE/KLPA): limit of 2 credits

Outside Courses Considered College-equivalent

These courses, though taken outside the College, are considered College equivalent and count toward the 102 College credits needed for graduation.

  • Computer Science courses (CS) in the School of Engineering and Applied Science
  • All architectural history courses (ARH) in the School of Architecture
  • Architecture (ARCH) 1010 and 1020
  • LAR 5120; 5130
  • MSE 2010
  • PLAN courses under 5000, but only if the minor in planning is completed
  • STS 3500