Glossary of Terms*
core requirements: courses taken to fulfill the Interdisciplinary, Discipline-Specific, and Liberal Arts and Sciences Electives categories of the baccalaureate core curriculum, the total of which equals 52 credit hours
program requirements: all major courses, cognate courses, and prerequisite courses that must be completed to earn a degree in the program of study
general electives: courses taken that are not applied to the core requirements or to the program requirements a student must complete; these courses apply to the total of 128 credit hours a student must complete to graduate
major courses: courses required for the major program of study that have same prefix as the major; students who double major will use the prefix of their first major only as their major prefix; students who complete dual-major programs will, for the purposes of course classification, treat the first discipline of the dual major as their major prefix (e.g., a Criminology/Sociology dual major would use Criminology as their major prefix, and Sociology requirements for the dual major would be treated as cognate courses.)
cognate courses: courses that are required for the major program of study but have a different prefix than the major.
prerequisite courses: courses a student must complete prior to registration in the next level course or for admission prior to taking selected courses.
recommended courses: courses that are not required for the major, however the department recommends that students take these courses.
Clarification of Course Classifications*
Every student at the Mount typically must complete three component areas of study in order to graduate. These component areas are core requirements, program requirements, and general electives. In addition, a student must complete a total of 128 credit hours for a baccalaureate degree. Please note that while a course may be listed in more than one of the component areas, the credits only count once toward the 128 credit hours needed to graduate. The following guidelines are designed to help advisors assign courses within the three component areas. In addition, this document describes how core requirements and program requirements may be used to satisfy the Liberal Arts and Sciences Electives category of the core requirements.
The core curriculum revision in 2003 resulted in the creation of a category called “Liberal Arts and Sciences electives,” as described below:
Liberal Arts and Sciences Electives outside the Student’s Major (9-12 credit hours):
- Courses for the Liberal Arts and Sciences Electives may include courses coded A, C, E, H, IDS (excluding IDS 100), L, LAS, MA, MU, N, P, R, S, or transfer equivalents. Cognate courses with these codes may be counted as Liberal Arts and Sciences electives. Liberal Arts and Sciences electives in the Mount’s curriculum CANNOT be taken for a Pass/Fail grade.
- Courses with a core code, which are being applied toward a second major or a minor, may be used as Liberal Arts and Sciences Electives, even if the courses are from the student’s major department.
- Transfer students with 60 credit hours or more are required to take 12 credit hours of Liberal Arts and Sciences Electives.
Each academic program lists its program requirements according to one of the following three general categories. These categories, and their application to the core requirements, are as follows:
- Major courses: discipline-specific courses in this category may be applied to the Discipline-Specific portion of the core requirements only; a student’s major courses may not be counted as Liberal Arts and Sciences Electives for students in their first major (note that students who double major will use the prefix of their first major as their major prefix).
- Cognate courses: coded courses in this category may be applied to either the Discipline-Specific core requirements or to the Liberal Arts and Sciences Electives category, as appropriate.
- Prerequisite courses: coded courses from this category may be applied to either the Discipline-Specific core requirements or to the Liberal Arts and Sciences Electives category (provided that the prerequisite course has a different prefix from the major courses), as appropriate.
Recommended courses are not part of students’ program requirements, and coded courses from this category may be applied to either the Discipline-Specific core requirements or to the Liberal Arts and Sciences Electives category, as appropriate.
*Note that Associate Degrees require a total of 64 credit hours and 27 - 28 credit hours of core requirements. The glossary and course classifications otherwise apply to Associate Degrees as they do to Baccalaureate Degrees