University Requirements/General Education
Complete list of approved General Education courses
Search for courses that meet multiple General Education requirements
Composition I (4 – 6 Hours)
Met in one of the following ways:
- CMN 111 & CMN 112 (students who complete this sequence do not need to complete CMN 101 in the Business Core curriculum)
- ESL 111 and ESL 112 (Some international students may be required to take this sequence based upon TOEFL score or English Placement Exam).
- ESL 115 (Some international students may be required to take this sequence based upon TOEFL score or English Placement Exam.)
- Students who first enrolled at Illinois in 2018-2019 will automatically earn 4 hours of proficiency credit for RHET 105 if your ACT English score is at least a 32 or your SAT EBRW score is at least 690.
- Students who first enrolled at Illinois in 2020-2021 will automatically earn 4 hours of proficiency credit for RHET 105 if your ACT English score is a 34 or higher or your SAT EBRW score is a 710 or higher.
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AP and IB credit with scores as listed here.
Advanced Composition (3 Hours)
Limited transfer courses allowed for Advanced Composition. Transfer courses equivalent to BTW 250, 261, 263, Rhet 233 and Rhet 243 will be accepted for Advanced Composition. Please note, BTW 250, Principles of Business Composition, is recommended for potential CPA Exam Candidates.
Quantitative Reasoning Requirement
This requirement is met by the Business Core Math requirement.
Foreign Language (0-20 Hours)
View the list of language options and courses here.
2021 and beyond
You must have proficiency at the third semester level and may be satisfied in any of the following manners:
- Three years of one foreign language in high school
- Through the third level of a single foreign language on a college campus
2020 and earlier
You must have proficiency at the fourth semester level and may be satisfied in any of the following manners:
- Four years of one foreign language in high school
- Through the fourth level of a single foreign language on a college campus
- A combination of 3 semesters/3 years high school of two languages
Humanities and the Arts (3 courses)
You must have three unique or different courses to fulfill this category.
- Literature and the Arts
- Historical and Philosophical Perspectives
- 200+ level course from either sub-category
Natural Sciences and Technology (2 courses)
Students can choose to complete 2 courses from the same sub-category or one from each.
- Life Sciences (0 – 2 courses)
- Physical Sciences (0 – 2 courses)
Social and Behavioral Sciences (1 course)
- Behavioral Science (1 course)
- Social Science (NONE) - Gies College of Business students do not need to take any Social Science courses. The Business Core requires students to take Econ 102 and Econ 103, so the University General Education requirement for Social Science is met automatically.
Cultural Studies (3 courses)
Courses can be selected from this area that will also fulfill the Humanities and the Arts categories.
- Western Cultural Studies (1 course)
- Non-Western Cultural Studies (1 course)
- U.S. Minorities Cultural Studies (1 course)