Degree Requirements

The Professional Studies Degree Curriculum has two primary sections: General Education (48 credits) and Major Requirements (72 credits). Within the degree, a student must also complete at least two academic minors. One of those minors must be from one of our “professional” areas of study.

In order to graduate the student must earn a minimum of 120 adjusted credits applicable to graduation, have a minimum cumulative grade point average of 2.00, and must earn at least 2 Minors. Some minors may have cumulative grade point average requirements that are higher than 2.0. That becomes the minimum CGPA for Professional Studies students who are attempting to earn those minors. It is the student’s responsibility to understand the graduation requirements for the major as well as each of the minors, and to be aware on where they stand as far as completing them.

General Education Requirements (48 credits total)

The following requirements must be completed:

Academic Foundations (18 credits)

WRT 120: Effective Writing (3 credits)
WRT at 200 level: Select one course (3 credits)

Select from:

WRT 200 Critical Writing and Research
WRT 204 Critical Writing: Approaches to Popular Culture
WRT 205 Critical Writing: Investigating Experience
WRT 206: Critical Writing: The Multidisciplinary Imagination
WRT 208 Critical Writing: Entering the Public Sphere
WRT 220 Critical Writing: Special Topics
Public Speaking (3 credits)
SPK 208 Public Speaking
SPK 230 Business and Professional Speech Communication
MAT at 100 level or higher: Select one course (3 credits)
- Students coming from or having attempted to gain admission to an EGP or MGP program may use MAT 101 or MAT 102 for this requirement. All other students will take MAT 103 or higher.
Diverse Communities Course (3 credits) Identified by “J” attribute*
Interdisciplinary Course (3 credits) Identified by “I” attribute*
- * attribute must be affixed to the course when it is taken.

Distributive Requirements (21 credits)

Science: (6 credits)
- Select two courses. Courses must be from two different disciplines which are:
  Biology (BIO), Chemistry (CHE), Computer Science (CSC only), Geology and Astronomy (ESS), and Physics (PHY). Courses must be selected from the approved list. Please refer to the current academic advising sheet for the list of approved courses.

Behavioral and Social Science: (6 credits)
- Select two courses. Courses must be from two different disciplines which are:
  Anthropology (ANT), Economics (ECO), Geography (GEO), Political Science (PSC), Psychology (PSY) and Sociology (SOC). Courses must be selected from the approved list. *

Humanities: (6 credits)
- Select two courses. Courses must be from two different disciplines which are:
  Literature/Comparative Literature (LIT/CLS), History (HIS), and Philosophy (PHI). Courses must be selected from the approved list. *

The Arts (3 credits)
- Select one course from the following disciplines:
  Art (ARH/ART/MDA), Cinematography/Film (FLM), Dance (DAN), Languages and Cultures (EGE/ESP/GER/SPA), Music (MHL/MTC), and Theatre (THA). Courses must be selected from the approved list. *

* Please refer to the current academic advising sheet for the list of approved courses.

Diverse Communities Requirement

Students must take a 3 credit diverse communities course from the list of courses approved for that purpose. The course is identified with a “J” attribute on the transcript and display-all. The course must be approved as a diverse communities course at the time it is taken. That course may simultaneously fulfill another appropriate requirement. If this is possible, then an additional 3 credits major elective is added to the program. If the diverse communities course may also fulfill a minor requirement, that is allowed.

Interdisciplinary Course

Students must take a 3 credit interdisciplinary course, selected from the list of courses approved for that purpose. The course is identified with an “I” attribute on the transcript and display-all. The course must be approved as an interdisciplinary course at the time it is taken. If the interdisciplinary course may also fulfill a minor requirement, that is allowed.

Student Electives (9 credits)

Select three courses. These courses may not be used to meet other General Education requirements (except for writing emphasis) nor may they be used to fulfill minor requirements.

Writing Emphasis Requirement (3 courses)

Students must take three courses during their academic career that have a writing emphasis designation. These courses may be used simultaneously to fulfill other general education, major or minor requirements. At least one of these courses must be taken at the 300 or 400 level of study. These courses are identified by the “W” attribute. The “W” attribute must be affixed to the course when it is taken. The number of writing emphasis courses required for a student may be reduced depending on the number of transfer credits accepted by the university.

Notes on General Education:

For discussion and more detailed explanation of the general education requirements students should refer to the current university undergraduate catalog.
Readmitted Students: If a student is formally readmitted (meaning the student was inactive at WCU for a least two consecutive semesters) they must follow the general education program that is in place at the time of their readmission. This may bring about new requirements that did not exist when previously enrolled. Please review this issue with your academic advisor.

Academic Foundations

ENG 150 and WRT 200+
- Students who are required to take ENG 150 will be able to use those credits to fulfill an elective requirement in either the general education or major distributive elective requirements
- Students who are waived out of WRT 120 (due to SAT-W scores and/or writing placement assessment) will take one of the 200-level WRT courses. Another three credits of electives will be taken in place of the credits from WRT 120. These students will see the designation of “WRT 100” on their record. This is the indication that the student is WRT 120-exempt. WRT 100 bears no credit.
- If a student takes one of the 200 level WRT courses beyond the required one, it can be applied as an elective in either the general education or major elective categories.
- WRT courses cannot be used as writing emphasis courses; they have different objectives and do not have the required “W” attribute.

Math Requirement
- Any 100 level + Math class will fulfill this requirement.
- Students placed in any of the MAT Q courses will earn a grade(s) that will be applied to the student’s CGPA. However, the credits earned from the course(s) will not be applied to the student’s graduation credit count (Minimum 120 adjusted credits).
- Additional math courses taken may be applied in one of the elective categories (general education or major).

Diverse Communities
- Only courses taken at West Chester University may fulfill this requirement, unless the course is accepted with diversity status as a result of an articulation agreement between the community college and WCU, or has been submitted for approval to the Diverse Communities Subcommittee of the Curriculum and Academic Policies Committee prior to matriculation. Check with your academic advisor to review this.
- A diverse communities course may simultaneously fulfill another degree requirement such as a general education distributive, interdisciplinary, major distributive or major elective requirement. If the “J” course is used in this fashion an additional three credits of electives must be taken as compensation.
- If the diverse communities course also has writing emphasis designation it may fulfill that requirement as well.
- A course must be designated as a diverse communities course and have the “J” designation at the time it was taken in order for it to fulfill this requirement.

Interdisciplinary Requirement
- Interdisciplinary courses may not be used to fulfill the general education distributive or foreign language culture cluster requirements.
- A course must be designated as an interdisciplinary course and have the “I” designation at the time it is taken in order for it to fulfill this requirement.

Student Electives
- Courses used to fulfill the student elective category are the only general education courses that may be taken pass/fail.

Distributive Requirements
- For the Sciences, Behavioral and Social Sciences and Humanities, students must take courses from two different disciplines. Courses used must come from the approved list for each category.

Writing Emphasis Courses
- Students who begin their studies at WCU as first year students OR transfer less than 40 credits must take at least three approved writing emphasis courses at WCU.
- Students who transfer 40-70 credits must take at least two approved writing emphasis courses at WCU.
- Students who transfer 71 or more credits must take at least one approved writing emphasis course at WCU.
- ALL students must take at least one writing emphasis course at the 300/400 level.
- WRT courses do NOT fulfill the writing emphasis requirement.
- Writing emphasis courses may simultaneously fulfill another degree requirement.
- The writing emphasis designation may NOT be transferred to WCU.
- The course must be designated as Writing Emphasis at the time it was taken in order for it to fulfill this requirement.

Foreign Languages
- Please note that there is no foreign language requirement in Professional Studies. Students are encouraged to refer to the university Undergraduate Catalog for specific information about fulfilling the General Education Requirement. Any foreign language/culture cluster courses taken will be applied to other major and/or elective categories where appropriate. Courses should be scheduled in consultation with the academic advisors in the major and minors. Of course, students have the option of pursuing a minor in a foreign language. Also, some minors have a foreign language requirement.

Professional Studies