COLLEGE OF GENERAL STUDIES

The College of General Studies provides adult and nontraditional students with a wide variety of learning options. Students who enroll in the College of General Studies can complete a Bachelor of Arts or Bachelor of Sciences degree in career-oriented fields as well as in the arts and sciences. In addition to a degree, students may prepare for transfer to any of the University’s upper division and professional schools. The college also offers a wide range of certificate programs in specialized fields such as health services, accounting, and information sciences. For those students who already have a degree but desire career-related study or preparation for graduate study, the College of General Studies permits them to register in a nondegree program. The College of General Studies uses the same faculties as Arts and Sciences and the professional schools of the University to provide instruction.

The College of General Studies (CGS) targets its curriculum to adult and transfer students who have been out of high school at least two years. Most of the students attending the college have full-time work or family responsibilities and therefore take full advantage of the unique delivery systems available for instruction. Students may enroll in traditional day classes, evening classes, or Saturday classes; they may attend one of the suburban locations; or they may enroll through the University External Studies Program (UESP).

Contact Information

University of Pittsburgh
College of General Studies
Fourth Floor, Cathedral of Learning
Pittsburgh, PA 15260
412-624-6600
Fax: 412-624-3836

        E-mail: cgs@pitt.edu

www.pitt.edu/~cgs

Financial Aid

The Office of Admissions and Financial Aid handles all financial aid processing for College of General Studies students. The telephone number is 412-624-7488.

Placement Information

A full-time placement information consultant is available to assist students with the formulation of career objectives and preparation for the job search. Various placement seminars are offered throughout the year, and a variety of resource materials are available for student use. Consultants can be contacted by calling 412-624-6600.

Registration

College of General Studies students can register in the College of General Studies registration office. That office can be reached by calling 412-624-6600.

Class Locations and Times

Students in the College of General Studies have an array of options for where and when to pursue their course work.

Pittsburgh Campus

The full range of courses offered by the College of General Studies is available at the Pittsburgh campus. The 120-acre campus is located in Oakland, the cultural center of the city.

Off-Campus Program

Off-campus classes are currently offered in Beaver County, Manchester, Mount Lebanon, and Monroeville to increase accessibility to higher education. Courses are offered for degree credit in the arts and sciences and in a few professional areas, but full majors are not available at these off-campus sites. Faculty for all off-campus courses are provided by the academic schools and departments of the University.

External Studies Program

Through the University External Studies Program (UESP), students study at home at their own pace using specially prepared instructional materials. Most courses have at least three on-campus Saturday workshops per term, while some are offered online. CGS courses taken through external studies carry the same credits as those offered on campus; they are taught by University faculty. Various support mechanisms have been developed to provide for additional instructor contact and for course-related communication to students via mail, the Internet, and telephone.

Saturday and Day Classes

Saturday classes are offered on the Pittsburgh campus for students who find Saturday a convenient time to attend class. A selection of courses is also offered on weekday mornings and afternoons for persons who can better attend during the day.

Class Meeting Times

In general, courses meet 50 minutes per week for each credit hour awarded. Most courses are three credits and meet once a week for two-and-a-half hours. The most common class periods are the following: 9 a.m., noon, 3 p.m., and 6 p.m. Courses including recitations or lab sections may have longer class times.

Admission Requirements

Admission to the College of General Studies is handled entirely by the college. The requirements vary based on the program the student is applying to and are detailed as follows.

Degree-Seeking Students

Those students who desire to complete a degree at the University of Pittsburgh, either in the College of General Studies or ultimately transferring elsewhere in the University, are required to apply as degree-seeking students. Students applying as degree-seeking students must provide

• A completed College of General Studies application,
• The $35 application fee,
• A high school transcript, and
• Transcripts from all colleges or universities previously attended.

Once this information has been provided, students will be reviewed for admission. The College of General Studies makes all admission decisions on an individual basis, with past performance and future potential considered. While it is not required, students may supply a personal statement to explain any exceptional circumstances that they believe the Admission Committee of the college should take into account in reviewing their records.

Students must meet a number of specific admissions criteria, depending on their previous experience:

• Less than two years since high school graduation: To be considered for admission, recent high school graduates must apply to the Arts and Sciences major and must meet the regular standards for admission as defined by Arts and Sciences. (See Pittsburgh Campus Freshman Admissions section of this bulletin for details.) Students apply for transfer to the College of General Studies after completing 24 credits.
• More than two years since high school graduation: Less weight is given to high school performance. Evidence of maturity, motivation, ability, and consistency as reflected in the fulfillment of adult responsibilities are an important basis for the admission decision.
• GED/high school equivalency: Students scoring at the 50th percentile or higher may be considered for admission.
• Disciplinary dismissal: Students who are dismissed from a college or university for disciplinary reasons must provide documentation from a college official stating the reason(s) for dismissal.

The College of General Studies has special access programs for qualified students. Students do not apply to these programs but are considered through the normal admission process. Based on a review of their credentials and any supporting documentation, the Admission Committee for the College of General Studies may offer admission subject to a strict set of attendance and performance guidelines. Students admitted under these programs are closely monitored for performance and are required to participate in skills assessment and development programs.

Certificate Program Admission

Students who desire to complete one of the certificate programs in the College of General Studies must follow the same application and admission procedures as those students seeking a degree. The only exception for these students is that they are not required to provide high school transcripts. They are required to provide transcripts from all colleges and universities attended. The certificates offered by CGS are as follows:

• Accounting (postbaccalaureate program)
• Communication
• Community health assessment
• Information system design
• Managing health services programs and projects
• Statistical quality control
• Women’s studies
• Writing

Nondegree Admission

Students who already hold a bachelor’s degree and desire to complete University course work as preparation for graduate study or for personal or professional interest, but do not desire to complete a second degree, may apply for admission as nondegree students. These students need only complete the application for admission; no transcripts are required for admission. Students who enroll under this program and later desire to earn a degree must provide all transcripts and be reviewed for admission under the normal admission criteria.

Admission Categories

Students are admitted to the College of General Studies under one of the following categories:

Full Status

Full admission entitles students to enroll in classes on a full- or a part-time basis.

Provisional

Provisional admission is granted to those students who do not meet the normal criteria for admission. Students admitted under this status may be limited to 6 credits until they have completed 18 University credits with a 2.00 grade point average or higher. Students admitted as provisional are also limited in their ability to withdraw from classes and make other adjustments to their academic schedules.

Inactive Student Re-admission

Re-admission is necessary for students who have not registered for at least one course in three consecutive terms. Such students are considered "inactive" and must reapply to the College of General Studies before they can register for class, completing all applications and resubmitting all official transcripts, if necessary, and paying the application fee. Students who have not been enrolled in CGS or some other college or school within the University for more than six terms or two calendar years must follow all academic policies in effect at the time of their re-admission to CGS. Students who have not been enrolled for less than the six terms or two calendar years will be treated as continuously enrolled students and as such will have a choice to follow any new policies or those in existence prior to the end of their previous enrollment.

International Admission

International students (applicants from other countries on student visas) who are interested in full-time attendance in programs offered only in the College of General Studies must first contact the International Student Admissions Officer, Office of International Services, 725 William Pitt Union, Pittsburgh, PA 15260. (See the International Student Admissions Section of this bulletin.)

Advanced Standing Policy

Applicants must submit official transcripts from each accredited college or university attended, whether or not it is intended that the courses be counted toward a degree. Grades for credits transferred are not used in computing a student’s quality point average (QPA). All credits eligible for transfer are subject to the following regulations:

• All credits must have been earned at an accredited institution.
• Courses must correspond with those offered by the University in objectives and content.
• The number of credits granted for a given course cannot exceed the number on the transcript from the school where they were earned, nor can it exceed the number earned in the corresponding courses at the University of Pittsburgh.
• A maximum of 90 credits may be transferred from a four-year institution and 60 credits from a two-year institution.
• While the College of General Studies does not have a statute of limitations, it does reserve the right to invalidate some courses for transfer in which the content is outmoded.
• Students majoring in the liberal arts may transfer up to 18 credits of professional courses (e.g., business, engineering, nursing, etc.).
• All transfer credits are subject to re-evaluation if a student transfers from one school to another or from one major to another within the University of Pittsburgh or becomes inactive and is subsequently re-admitted.
• If a course for which advanced standing is given is repeated at the University of Pittsburgh, the advanced-standing credit is cancelled.

Advanced Placement and Credit by Examination

Students in CGS may also earn advanced standing credits through the following means:

College Level Examination Program (CLEP)

The CLEP program provides a way of earning college credits through testing. Specific regulations governing the awarding of CLEP general examination credits can be requested from student services on the fourth floor of the Cathedral of Learning, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA 15260, 412-624-6600, or from an academic consultant.

Credit by Examination

Students may earn credits toward graduation by successfully completing examinations in courses offered in the College of General Studies. Such examinations must be arranged through both the office of the CGS dean and the department teaching the course for which credit is desired. Many courses, except those with laboratories, special restrictions, or in the performing arts, may be challenged by examination. Course-specific credit by examination is open to all students enrolled in the College of General Studies who are in good academic standing. Cost for the exam is $10 per credit.

Once a student has enrolled in a course at any institution (including the University of Pittsburgh) and received a grade, including a grade for incomplete work, the student cannot be given credit toward graduation by taking a challenge examination for that course.

Students may not be given credit by challenge examination for credits appearing on the high school transcript except those advanced-standing courses for which the student has successfully completed the advanced-standing tests of the College Entrance Examination Board.

Students may request up to three credits by challenge examination for internships, providing the department and the CGS dean approve. Work performed as a requirement for such a challenge, whether paid or volunteer, must have been performed in the United States during the most recent three-year period. Students who are majoring in administration of justice and who have successfully completed Pennsylvania Act 120 or state police cadet training can receive up to 15 credits of advanced standing. The credits are awarded for specific courses.

Internships

An internship is a supervised, work-related experience, volunteer or paid, which is related to an academic discipline and is sponsored, evaluated, and graded by a University faculty member. The internship is a new experience and does not represent credit for past work or continuation of the current employment situation. A detailed outline of CGS internship requirements is available from CGS academic consultants.

Academic Standards

The College of General Studies’ Guidelines on Academic Integrity outlines obligations of both students and instructors for maintaining academic integrity in CGS classes. Copies of this publication, which lists the obligations, procedures, penalties, and remedies for maintaining such integrity, are available by contacting the CGS judicial coordinator.

Graduation Requirements

The Bachelor of Arts or Bachelor of Science degree will be awarded upon the fulfillment of the following conditions:

• Completion of at least 120 credits of University work in one of the prescribed curricular courses, by advanced standing, or by examinations.
• Completion of at least one-half of the major or 15 credits, whichever is greater, at the University of Pittsburgh.
• Completion of the senior year (30 credits) in the College of General Studies.
• Attainment of at least a cumulative quality point average of 2.00 in courses taken at the University of Pittsburgh.
• Attainment of at least a cumulative quality point average of 2.00 in the major.
• Satisfactory completion of all required CGS and major courses.

Graduation with Honors

In order to qualify for honors, students must have earned at least 60 letter-graded credits. All of these credits must be taken at the University of Pittsburgh.

(For further information on honors criteria and QPA requirements, see the general section on Graduation in this bulletin.)

Grading Policy

There are two grading options available to students registering for courses offered by the College of General Studies: the letter grade option and the satisfactory/audit (S/N) option. (See the Grading and Records section of this bulletin for additional details on the two systems.)

Students must choose the grading option they desire by submitting a Grade Option/Audit Request form by the end of the third full week of classes during a term (second full week of classes during summer sessions 1 and 2). This decision may not be changed. Grade Option/Audit Request forms are available in the CGS registration center, 4th floor, Cathedral of Learning. If the student does not fill out a Grade Option/Audit Request form for a course in which more than one grade option is available, the default option (generally a letter grade) will automatically be selected.

Satisfactory/Audit (S/N) Grade Option

There are two limitations to the choice of the satisfactory/audit (S/N) grade option in the College of General Studies:

1. Departments may decide which courses are required for the major and if any may be taken as satisfactory/audit by majors. Departmental rules may cover not only courses within the department but those in other departments that are considered essential to the major. Students should be sure before selecting this grading option that their decision will not have an adverse effect on their plans for majoring in a particular field.
2. Under certain circumstances, departments may declare a course available only on a satisfactory/audit basis. In such courses students may not elect to receive a letter grade.

G Grade

The G grade signifies unfinished course work due to extenuating personal circumstances. Students assigned G grades are required to complete course requirements with the same instructor assigning the G grade. A course in which a student has received a G grade cannot be completed by sitting in the same course with the same or different instructor in a subsequent term. Exception to these conditions can be granted only by the CGS dean and must be approved before the G grade is issued.

At the time of requesting a G grade, the student should arrange with the instructor a plan and schedule for completing the course work. The instructor and student should sign the plan (a Course Completion Contract) and submit it to the CGS dean for approval. A G grade cannot be changed after three terms have elapsed from the term in which it was recorded. Course Completion Contracts are available in the CGS registration office, 4th floor, Cathedral of Learning.

Grade Reports

At the end of each term, a grade report is prepared by the Office of the University Registrar and mailed to the student, provided that all charges have been paid. This report shows the total credits carried, the grade received in each course, and total quality points earned. Shortly after the term ends, students can access their grades online via the secure server at student-info.pitt.edu.

Academic Probation

Students who have earned a minimum of 18 credits in the College of General Studies and whose cumulative quality point average falls below 2.00 at the end of any term will be placed on probation. Students placed on probation may be limited to 6–12 credits a term until they have regained good academic standing. Any students placed on probation who fail to regain good academic standing by the time they have completed an additional 18 credits of course work are subject to suspension.

Dean’s List

The Dean’s List, a recognition of high academic performance, is achieved by degree students each time they complete 12 credits in continuous active status in the College of General Studies with a quality point average of 3.25 or higher. A maximum of 3 credits of S (satisfactory) grades are acceptable for a person to qualify for the Dean’s List.

Degrees Conferred

The College of General Studies awards Bachelor of Arts degrees in the following majors:

• Administration of justice
• Health services
• Humanities area
• Legal studies
• Liberal studies
• Media communications
• Public service
• Social sciences area

Bachelor of Science degrees are awarded in the following majors:

• Dental hygiene
• Liberal studies
• Natural sciences area

Degree Requirements

To earn a Bachelor of Arts or a Bachelor of Science degree in the College of General Studies, you must satisfactorily complete a minimum of 120 credits (approximately 40 courses), at least 30 credits of which must be in upper-division (1000-level) courses. These 1000-level courses may come from any of the requirements for the degree listed below. Requirements are subject to change; students should check with an academic consultant before registering.

Skills (15 credits minimum)

Certain tools of knowledge are required of all students in the baccalaureate degree program: ability to use the English language orally and in writing and ability to understand and use basic mathematical symbols. The courses required to satisfy each of the skills requirements are listed below:

• Oral Communication—3 credits
  COMMRC 0520 Public Speaking
• Writing—9 credits minimum
  English composition: Any general writing course and two other courses from English composition (ENGCMP), English writing (ENGWRT), or those designated W (writing). (At least 3 credits of composition/writing must be from the University of Pittsburgh.)
• Mathematics—3 credits minimum
  MATH 0010 College Algebra Part 1 and 0020 College Algebra Part 2 or MATH 0025 Applied College Algebra or MATH 0031 Algebra or equivalent

Quantitative and Formal Reasoning (3 credits minimum)

In addition to the acquisition of certain tools of knowledge through the skills requirements, students also need to acquire the ability to apply logic and formal reasoning to reading, writing, and thinking. Choose one course from the following list:

• Computer science (any course, 3 credits)
• Information science (one introductory course: 0010 or 0011, 3 credits)
• HPS 0611 Principles of Scientific Reasoning (3 credits)
• HPS 0621 Problem Solving: How Science Works (3 credits)
• PHIL 0500 Introduction to Logic (3 credits)
• MATH 0120 Business Calculus, or a more advanced course (4 credits)
• Statistics (any course, 3–4 credits)

Understandings (27 credits)

A liberal education provides broad exposure to the three major bodies of knowledge—humanities, social sciences, and natural sciences. Students are exposed to social, scientific, aesthetic, moral, and religious information, the purpose of which is to furnish insight into how the concerns of people are interrelated, how knowledge has been accumulated, and how unsolved problems still challenge humanity. The courses needed to fulfill the understandings requirements are listed below. Note that a course can only be used to fulfill one of the following requirements for the degree: understandings, literature, history, or international perspectives.

• Humanities (9 credits)
  Three courses (one at the 1000 level) distributed over three of the disciplines listed below:

Africana studies	Music
Classics	Philosophy
Communication	Religious studies
English	Spanish, literature/culture
German, literature/culture	Studio arts
History of art and architecture	Theatre arts
Linguistics

• Social Sciences (9 credits)
  Three courses (one at the 1000 level) distributed over three of the disciplines listed below:

Africana studies	Political science
Anthropology	Psychology
Economics	Religious studies
History	Sociology
Jewish studies	Urban studies
Legal studies	Women’s studies

• Natural Sciences (9 credits)
  Three courses distributed over two or three of the disciplines listed below:

Anthropology	History and
Astronomy	philosophy of science
Biological sciences	Neuroscience
Chemistry	Physics
Geology and planetary science	Psychology

Literature (3 credits)

This requirement introduces students to works of literature that have abiding value and, in the process, to the techniques of literary interpretation. This one-course requirement may also be fulfilled from disciplines other than English.

History (3 credits)

The study of history provides an understanding of contemporary society from the viewpoint of long-term change. This one-course requirement may also be fulfilled with courses other than those offered by the Department of History.

International Perspectives (6 credits minimum)

Today’s world is economically, politically, and culturally interdependent, and knowledge of the world’s countries is essential. This two-course requirement may be fulfilled from a variety of disciplines: Africana studies, anthropology, classics, economics, English literature, French, German, history, history of art & architecture, Italian, Japanese, Jewish studies, Latin, linguistics, music, philosophy, political science, Portuguese, religious studies, Russian, Serbo-Croatian, Slovak, sociology, and Spanish.

Specialized Study–The Major (24–36 credits)

The baccalaureate degree, in addition to providing certain skills and broad exposure to the major bodies of knowledge, also allows the opportunity to specialize in a particular field, providing depth of experience essential for vocational competence or further graduate study. An outline of each major may be obtained at the CGS information display on the 4th floor of the Cathedral of Learning or on the CGS Web site, www.pitt.edu/~cgs.

Students admitted to CGS can choose from the following 10 majors. Three of these majors (indicated by asterisks) are also available on Saturdays:

• Administration of justice*
• Dental hygiene (for licensed dental hygienists)
• Health services
• Humanities area*
• Legal studies
• Liberal studies
• Media communications
• Natural sciences area
• Public service
• Social sciences area*

Students who want a major in an arts and sciences field can begin in CGS and transfer to Arts and Sciences after completing 24 credits. Admission is determined by Arts and Sciences.

Electives

Any credits not used specifically to satisfy the previous requirements are considered electives. Electives can be taken in a wide variety of subjects to complement, reinforce, or add further breadth to the chosen program of study.

Professional Electives

Students majoring in a liberal arts area may have no more than 18 credits in professional courses such as administration of justice, business, education, engineering, information science, public administration, and social work. Students majoring in administration of justice or public service may not have more than 42 professional credits within their degree program.

Preparation for Professional Programs

Prerequisite courses for the following programs may be taken through CGS: business, education, engineering, health and rehabilitation sciences, information sciences, nursing, pharmacy, and social work. Upon successful completion of the courses, students may apply to the school offering the program. See an academic consultant for further information about requirements and acceptance.