General Education Requirements

Why does Bethel have General Education requirements?

You will focus on a particular area of study through the choice of your major, but you will also have the opportunity to learn about God and the complexity and diversity of His creation through the General Education program. Here are a few of the areas that a General Education focuses on:

• the great fields of learning—humanities, social and natural sciences, the arts, and pre-professional studies—to emphasize the interdependence of knowledge;

• the many aspects of being human as individual persons and members of societies—to seek wholeness in one’s development and maturation;

• Western and non-western cultural perspectives—to communicate both the differences and similarities in their histories and worldviews and the understanding of diversity amid commonality;

• the study of the dominant ideas of many cultures with the firsthand experience of interacting with those cultures—to cultivate empathy and depth of understanding; and

• the perspectives of history with the shaping of the present and near future—to cultivate a sense of an “extended present” with the grasp of the movement of time and the impacts of human choices on the generations that follow.

To get a better picture on how each of the four areas of the Gen Ed program (Personal Development; Biblical Foundations; Math, Science, and Technology; Global Perspectives) fit together, check out the Gen Ed Pillars. This will also help you see which courses you should be taking each year to meet your Gen Ed requirements.

What are the Gen Ed basics for my first year?

If this will be your first year at Bethel, you'll spend time in some of the foundational gen ed courses:

• Humanities or CWC+ICA
  You'll need to choose one of these two Gen Ed tracks—each track has its benefits.
  

• Introduction to the Liberal Arts or Introduction to Life at Bethel
  This class will cover some of the basics about learning at a Christian liberal arts university.

In addition, you'll also need to take these gen ed courses in during your first year:

• BIB101 Introduction to the Bible
• GES110 College Writing
• Physical Well-being course (Y suffix in course number)
• Nature of Persons course (N suffix in course number)

These gen ed courses can be taken your first or second year:

• Laboratory Science course (D suffix in course number)
• Language Course (S suffix in course number)
• Leisure and Lifetime Sports course (Q suffix in course number)
• Mathematics course (M Suffix in course number)
  

How do I know what to take?

All 4-year plans include the requirements for the major and Gen Ed. You can also find a list of these requirement on the Gen Ed Planning sheet. If you're transferring in credits, be sure to check out the gen-ed transfer chart to see what courses you may not need to take.