You must declare at least one major by the time you earn 60 semester hours.

Specific requirements for majors, minors, and certificates are listed in the General Catalog.

List of majors
Academic advising and the degree audit

Candidates for the BA, BS, BFA, and BM degrees must earn a minimum grade point average of C (2.00) in the following GPA calculations:

1. All college work attempted
2. All work undertaken at the University of Iowa
3. All work attempted in the major
4. All University of Iowa work in the major*

*The BFA in Dance requires a 3.50 grade point average in all courses for the major and all UI courses for the major. 

The University of Iowa and the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences also recognize excellent academic achievement both at graduation and each semester. 

The College of Liberal Arts and Sciences has designed the GE CLAS Core to provide you with knowledge and skills you need for a first career, for graduate or professional school and, ultimately, for your life as an educated person who makes a difference to all you meet. As you begin your study at the University of Iowa, be sure to courses that interest you and spark your curiosity; the classroom is a good way to find friends who enjoy what you do and instructors who can help mentor those interests.

GE CLAS Core requirements

All CLAS students must complete the GE CLAS Core requirements as stated on the student's degree audit. The program consists of a common core in communication and literacy; foundational courses in the natural and social sciences and quantitative thinking; and a wide range of courses in culture, society and the arts. To fulfill the General Education requirements, students may select from a wide variety of courses within numerous disciplines. The General Education sometimes are updated for entering students; you may view the requirements by the year you entered UI

GE CLAS Core policies

Students who wish to earn a BA, BS, BFA, or BM degree from CLAS must complete the requirements of the CLAS General Education CLAS Core. If a student is planning to apply to undergraduate programs within the Tippie College of Business, College of Education, College of Engineering, Carver College of Medicine, College of Nursing, or College of Pharmacy, the student should check those colleges’ general education requirements, as they may be different from those required by CLAS. Students should contact their advisors and/or the Academic Advising Center with questions.

Transfer credit

Transfer credit may be used to fulfill some areas of the General Education Program. Transfer credit is evaluated by Admissions, and courses accepted for completion of the General Education Program are shown on the degree audit.

For more information about transfer policies, contact Admissions.

Students with degrees from two-year institutions

Students who have received an Associate of Arts (AA) from a two-year institution participating in an articulation agreement with the University of Iowa are considered to have satisfied all requirements of the General Education Program, except World Languages and Diversity and Inclusion, if the program of study for which the degree was awarded includes the following:

1. A minimum of 60 semester hours (90 quarter hours) of credit acceptable toward graduation (mathematics courses comparable to MATH:0100 Basic Algebra I, MATH:#002 Basic Algebra II, and MATH:0300 Basic Geometry are not accepted toward graduation); and
2. Completion of an agreed upon group of courses; and
3. A grade point average of at least 2.00.

Representatives from the cooperating institutions and the Regents universities meet periodically to review the provisions of the articulation agreements.

If a student completes an associate degree other than an AA or if the AA is from a college that does not have an articulation agreement with the University, credits will be evaluated course-by-course by Admissions to determine how they will transfer.

For more information about transfer policies and the GE CLAS Core requirements, contact Admissions.

Proficiency exams

The University accepts credit by examination for some areas of the GE CLAS Core, including AP (Advanced Placement), CLEP (College-Level Examination Program), General Certificate of Education (GCE) AS and A Levels, and IB (International Baccalaureate) credit. See AP, CLEP, GCE, and IB exam equivalencies

Please see GE CLAS Core: World Languages for information on World Languages proficiency exams.

See also credit by examination.

P/N, S/F, or S/U grading options

Students cannot choose the Pass/Non-pass (P/N) option for courses they are taking to satisfy CLAS Core requirements. (A student can choose the P/N grading option for a GEP course is if he/she is taking it as an elective and the credit will not be applied to the Core requirements.)

Courses using S/F or S/U grading are very rarely approved for GE status in the CLAS Core. Read more about the P/N, S/F, and S/U grading options.

Satisfying multiple requirements

Students may take a General Education-approved course and may use that course to satisfy both a CLAS Core requirement and a requirement of their major, minor, or certificate program. However, students may not use a single course to satisfy more than one GE CLAS Core requirement except in the case of the Sustainability requirement. 

If students take a course that is approved in more than one  requirement area, they may choose which Core requirement the course will satisfy (contact Degree Services).

Limit on courses from a single department

With the exception of the World Languages requirement, students may not use more than three courses from any one department to complete the General Education CLAS Core requirements.

Repeating General Education courses

Courses that may be repeated for credit are at times approved for GE status in General Education Program. Students may repeat these GEP courses for credit  but the credit may be applied to only one GE requirement. Students may not use credit earned from a repeatable course to fulfill more than one GE requirement.

Honors students

Those admitted as honors students or who have become members of the University Honors Program may enroll in special honors sections of General Education courses. The Honors Program also offers some honors seminars that satisfy General Education requirements.

Students with disabilities

Students with documented learning or physical disabilities may need accommodations in order to complete the General Education Program. Accommodations are arranged by Student Disability Services in consultation with instructors, departments, and CLAS Undergraduate Programs. In order to receive accommodations, students with disabilities should consult Student Disability Services as soon as they receive acceptance of admission.

To earn a BA, BFA, BM, or BS degree from the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, students must satisfy both the University of Iowa residence requirement and the CLAS residence requirement.

The University of Iowa residence requirement

Credit hours earned in all courses offered by The University of Iowa are considered UI residence hours, regardless of whether the courses are offered by the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, by another college within the University of Iowa, or through Distance and Online Education.

Credit hours earned from colleges and universities outside of the University of Iowa are considered non-residence credit.

Credit by examination may be residence or non-residence credit. If you earn credit by examination while you are enrolled in a college at the University of Iowa, the credit is considered UI residence credit. If, on the other hand, you earn credit by examination while you are enrolled in a college or university other than the University of Iowa and this credit appears on your transfer transcript, the credit is considered non-residence credit.

To earn a bachelor’s degree from the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, you must complete one of the following UI residence options:

• Earn an overall total of 90 s.h. in residence credit, or
• Earn 45 of your final 60 s.h. in residence credit, or
• Earn your final 30 s.h. in residence credit.

The CLAS residence requirement

All students in any major offered by CLAS must complete the 30 semester hour CLAS residence requirement in order to earn a CLAS degree. Students must complete a minimum of 30 semester hours of credit from courses administered by the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences or otherwise designated as carrying residence credit. All honors courses and courses with CLAS General Education status are counted toward fulfilling the CLAS residence requirement.

Courses offered by the Departments of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Microbiology and Immunology, Economics, and Science Studies are offered by the Colleges of Medicine, Business, and Education. Courses offered by these departments do not generally count for the CLAS residence requirement. However, if you earn a major from one of these departments, the credit hours of the courses applied to the major will be counted toward the CLAS residence requirement. Only the undergraduate majors from the departments listed above qualify for this exception.

Students who earn a Bachelor of Arts in Enterprise Leadership from the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences may count some ENTR courses, offered by the Tippie College of Business, towards CLAS residence. The following courses may be counted towards the CLAS residence requirement for students who declared the Enterprise Leadership major in fall 2022 or later, with a maximum of 3 s.h. of capstone courses permitted. Students who declared the Enterprise Leadership major prior to fall 2022 or students who may need an exception to the 3 s.h. capstone course limit should contact CLAS Undergraduate Programs (clas-undergrad@uiowa.edu) for assistance. 

• ENTR:1350      Foundations of Entrepreneurship
• ENTR:2000      Entrepreneurship and Innovation
• ENTR: 3050     Pro Prep for Ent Lead & Entr
• ENTR:3100      Entrepreneurial Finance
• ENTR:3200      Entrepreneurial Marketing
• ENTR:4200      Entrepreneurship: Business Consulting
• ENTR:4400      Managing the Growth Business

3 s.h. capstone required, choose from:

• ENTR:3000      Practicum in Entrepreneurship
• ENTR:3575      Commercializing New Technology II
• ENTR:3850      Entrepreneurial Leadership Academic II
• ENTR:4100      International Entrepreneurship and Culture
• ENTR:4200      Entrepreneurship: Business Consulting
• ENTR:4300      Entrepreneurship: Advanced Business Planning
• ENTR:4900      Academic Internship

To be considered for graduation, you must file a degree application with the Office of the Registrar before the published deadline. The university cannot award a degree without first receiving this application.

Students may file the degree application on MyUI (select “Student Records”) for the current or the next session's graduation. Questions about degree applications should be directed to Degree Services, 2700 UCC, email: registrar-degree-applications@uiowa.edu.

To have a certificate or minor listed on your permanent record, you must inform Degree Services when you file for graduation so that the Registrar can verify that you have completed the requirements for the requested certificate or minor.

Information about graduation ceremonies (commencement) may be found on the Commencement website. Commencement ceremonies are held in May and December. Please note, summer degrees are awarded but no summer graduation ceremonies are held.

Please note: After a student has met all degree requirements and the degree conferral date has passed, or the student has graduated and the degree is noted on their official transcript, their academic record prior to graduation is frozen and no changes are permitted, including but not limited to retroactive record adjustments (adds, drops or withdrawals), use of second-grade-only options, or waiving Ws.