Degree Requirements

Skidmore College's General Education Curriculum is organized into four components: Integrations requirements, Foundations requirements, Inquiries requirements, and requirements in the major.

Visit the Office of the Registrar's Checklist of Degree Requirements webpage to see a list that includes the full scope of college-wide and major-specific requirements needed for graduation.

The information below highlights specific degree requirements that will inform your process of choosing courses.

Required in your first semester

Scribner Seminar

SSP 100 Scribner Seminar is an Integrations requirement that all students are required to enroll in during the fall semester of their first year. Students build connections to academic and residential communities, identify intellectual interests, and encounter faculty expectations for excellence. The First-Year Experience Program provides curricular and cocurricular opportunities that facilitate entering students’ successful integration into the Skidmore College community.

Requirements to conSIder in your First Semester

Expository Writing

Students fulfill the writing requirement by completing a designated Expository Writing Foundation course and a writing course witin their major.

Expository Writing is a Foundations requirement that all students must complete by the end of their sophomore year. Courses that fulfill the requirement include writing seminars offered by the English Department and designated writing-intensive courses, such as those offered in American Studies, Classics, History, and Music.

EN 105, EN 105H, and EN 110, or another designated writing-intensive course will all satisfy the Expository Writing requirement.

EN 103 Writing Seminar I does not fulfill the Expository Writing requirement. Students placed in EN 103 must complete this prerequisite course by the end of the first year in order to enroll in a course that does satisfy the Expository Writing requirement by the end of their sophomore year.

Students can search for term-specific courses in the Master Schedule by typing "Expository Writing" in the "Department/Program OR All Coll Requirement" field.

Applied Quantitative Reasoning (AQR)

Applied Quantitative Reasoning (AQR) is a Foundations requirement that all students must complete by the end of their third year—although students considering a major in Management and Business, Economics, or STEM disciplines are advised to complete the requirement in their first semester.

AQR courses emphasize the use of statistical and/or mathematical models in interdisciplinary fields of interest and may involve the use of computers to analyze empirical and/or mathematical data.

Prior to enrolling in an AQR course, students must satisfy the prerequisite in one of three ways:

Achieve a score of at least 650 on the Math SAT examination, or a score of at least 28 on the Math ACT examination.
Earn the necessary score on the online Quantitative Reasoning Placement Diagnostic.
Successfully complete a Fundamental Quantitative Reasoning course (FQR).

Depending on the results of the QR Placement Diagnostic and ACT/SAT scores, students may need to proceed according to the following course sequence:

MA 100 Quantitative Reasoning - Must be completed by the end of the first year.
A Fundamental Quantitative Reasoning (FQR) course - Must be completed by the end of the second year.
An Applied Quantitative Reasoning (AQR) course - Must be completed by the end of the third year.

Students can search for term-specific courses in the Master Schedule by typing "Applied QR"in the "Department/Program OR All Coll Requirement" field.

If you have questions about the AQR requirement, quantitative reasoning courses, or the QR Diagnostic Placement, email Professor Smriti Tiwari, Director of Quantitative Reasoning, at stiwari@skidmore.edu.

Foundation Requirements for your first-year or later

Global Cultural Perspectives

Students must complete a designated course that will allow them to develop intercultural understanding and global perspectives by turning their attention away from western, Eurocentric cultural traditions to study such topics as the global south, first nations/indigenous peoples, colonialism/formerly colonized nations, and mass migration. Courses that satisfy this requirement may include comparative approaches to these topics.

Students can search for term-specific courses in the Master Schedule by typing "Gbl Cultural Perspect" in the "Department/Program OR All Coll Requirement" field.

Language Study

To fulfill the Language Study requirement, all students must complete one course in a foreign language. There are several ways to place into the correct level of the language you choose to study. The course must be appropriate to your level of language expertise.

Skidmore offers the following language courses from the Department of World Languages and Literatures, the Department of Classics, and the Asian Studies Program:

Ancient Greek
Chinese
French
German
Italian
Latin
Sanskrit
Spanish

Everything You Want to Know about the Language Requirement but are Afraid to Ask

Students can search for term-specific courses to fulfill the Language Study requirement in the Master Schedule by typing "Language Study" in the "Department/Program OR All Coll Requirement" field.

Inquiries Requirements for your first-year or later

Artistic Inquiry through Practice

Students must successfully complete a course that will allow them to develop an understanding of creative expression through hands-on engagement in a performing, visual, digital, or literary art.

Students can search for term-specific courses to fulfill the Artistic Inquiry through Practice requirement in the Master Schedule by typing "Artistic Inquiry"in the "Department/Program OR All Coll Requirement" field.

Humanistic Inquiry and Practice

Students must successfully complete a course that examines contemporary or past cultural values, helping them to cultivate critical judgment as they study how people process and record the human experience.

Students can search for term-specific courses to fulfill the Humanistic Inquiry and Practice requirement in the Master Schedule by typing “Humanistic Inquiry”in the "Department/Program OR All Coll Requirement" field.

Scientific Inquiry through Practice

Students must successfully complete a lab course that will allow them to learn about the nature of science through scientific practices that they employ to understand particular aspects of the world. Students will consider the process of scientific thinking as a set of inquiry-based methodologies and will become versed in the design of scientific studies. Students will also learn a body of disciplinary knowledge.

Students can search for term-specific courses to fulfill the Scientific Inquiry through Practice requirement in the Master Schedule by typing "Scientific Inquiry”in the "Department/Program OR All Coll Requirement" field.