Common Curriculum
The Common Curriculum provides students with a well-rounded education, creates context for major or minor course of study and introduces students to new areas of interest. The Common Curriculum is grounded in a breadth of experiences and ways of inquiry congruent with the University's goal of providing an outstanding educational experience that empowers students to integrate and apply knowledge from across the disciplines and imagine new possibilities for themselves, their communities, and their world.
Understanding the Common Curriculum
Consistent with the University's mission, the Common Curriculum promotes learning by engaging with students in advancing scholarly inquiry, cultivating critical and creative thought, and generating knowledge.
From students' initial First-Year Seminar to the culminating Advanced Seminar, the curriculum encourages connections across modes of learning. By engaging in course work across diverse experiences and areas of knowledge, DU students cultivate critical thought and creative thought, preparing them for leadership and citizenship in our global society.
An undergraduate at the University typically takes 52 to 60 credits in the Common Curriculum:
- First-Year Seminar (4 credits)
- Writing & Rhetoric (8 credits)
- Language (4 to 12 credit sequence)
- Analytical Inquiry: Natural and Physical World (4 credits)
- Analytical Inquiry: Society and Culture (8 credits)
- Scientific Inquiry: Natural and Physical World (12 credit sequence)
- Scientific Inquiry: Society and Culture (8 credits)
- Advanced Seminar (4 credits)
Because certain programs have slightly different requirements to the Common Curriculum and because AP/IB/transfer courses from other universities and colleges may change the distribution of the requirements for individual students, always consult a staff academic advisor in the Office of Academic Advising regarding Common Curriculum planning for courses at the university and abroad.