Additional Information about 8-Semester Plans
- These 8-Semester Plans are designed as a general guide to structuring a four-year undergraduate career. Students who enter with advanced standing (transfer credits, credits from AP/IB exams or for college courses completed while in high school) may need to adjust their plans accordingly. Conversely, students who need to take preparatory courses (e.g., math) for General Education or the major will need to reconsider the suggested listings.
- Each major course that satisfies a General Education requirement will be noted as such. Some plans, therefore, will have the same General Education category listed multiple times. The actual number of General Education courses required for each student will be reflected on the student's progress report.
- In most cases, the order of General Education requirements is suggestive, and course availability (as well as individual preference) may dictate that a course be taken in a semester other than the one indicated. The exceptions to this are certain courses required by the major department and ENG170 Writing & Rhetoric, which must be taken in the first year. ENG170 satisfies GE 5 Communication - Written & Oral and GE4 Basic Communication. Students' English Placement Level will determine whether they need to complete ENG160 Composition I before completing ENG170.
- Upper-division and liberal-arts credit requirements may not be satisfied by the General Education and major requirements alone. If the 8-Semester Plan for a major stipulates that “electives” are needed, students should review their progress report and consult with their academic advisor to determine if those electives need to be upper division and/or liberal arts or if the student is free to take any course offered by the College to meet these requirements.
- Finally, while the majority of New Paltz courses are three credits, some courses are one, two, four, or six credits. Students need to average 15 credits per semester to graduate in four years; however, the exact number of credits taken each term may vary.
