When my brother was planning his schedule for his first semester, one of the questions he asked me was how to choose general education courses in college that would satisfy his major requirements while letting him explore his interests. When I was taking my general education courses, I had learned what classes to take that would complement my major and focus on my research interests in data science and assistive technology, and I was excited to help him do the same and find classes that would embrace his love of film and media. Here are my tips for how to choose general education courses in college that connect to student interests.
About my general education requirements
At my college, all undergraduates have to take about 30 credits of general education coursework in order to graduate. These courses are a mix of major requirements and classes that students can choose themselves, and in some cases the amount of general education coursework needed varies from major to major. For example, one of my friends had to take a non-western culture class for their communications degree, while I needed to take an extra science class for my data science degree.
Categories for general education requirements include:
- Arts
- Composition (lower and upper level)
- Global Understanding
- History
- Information Technology/Computing
- Literature
- Natural Science (both lab and non-lab)
- Oral Communication
- Quantitative Reasoning
- Social Sciences
- Synthesis/capstone
Students who take CLEP exams or file for course substitutions/waivers may have some of their general education requirements waived, but they may still have to take another elective class to account for the missing credits.
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Find a list of approved courses
My college has a dedicated website that lists all of the approved courses for general education requirements for undergraduates, and has them organized by topic. I bookmarked this list for future reference so I could ensure that I could easily check back and see which classes would count for requirements, and I could write down interesting course names. Since my brother attended the same college, I could also pass along the list to him and younger friends that I would meet.
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Check to see if certain courses are covered by your major requirements
In my data science major, my information technology, qualitative reasoning, and natural science requirements were satisfied with required coursework for my major, so I didn’t need to find any specific classes with these topics, with the exception of one additional science class. My brother’s film major also satisfied some of his general education requirements, so we didn’t have to worry about finding classes for topics that were already covered.
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See if classes in a minor will satisfy general education requirements
One of the classes in the assistive technology minor for undergraduate students also counted as a general education/core class, so I could satisfy two requirements for graduation with one class. Most college minors have a class that satisfies at least one of the general education requirements, though students cannot have a single class count for more than two different graduation requirements.
My brother’s major requires students to have at least one minor, and he planned to do a minor in conservation studies through a partnership with the Smithsonian-Mason School of Conservation (which he considered the highlight of his time as an undergrad student!). When reviewing the classes for that minor, we identified courses that satisfied the requirements for three of the general education requirements. This would also be helpful for students planning to study abroad either in-person or taking classes through a virtual study abroad program.
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- Why I Study Assistive Technology
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Look at special topics sections
One of my biggest tips for how to choose general education courses in college is to look at special topics classes and section names for general education classes. Special topics and special sections classes are not offered every semester, and enable students and professors to explore topics of interest in-depth, or pursue other research interests.
Some examples of special topics classes my friends and I took include:
- Disability and chronic illness in literature
- Accessible media production
- Hollywood and film history in literature
- Classes for specific programming languages not offered elsewhere
- Seminars with visiting professors and government officials
In order to find special topics, I recommend searching the names of general education courses in the scheduling database and seeing what the titles of different sections are. Many departments will also send out emails with names of special topics classes being offered by their professors a few weeks before the semester begins.
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Search the course catalog with keywords of interest
Another technique I use to choose general education courses in college is to search the undergraduate catalog for classes that contain keywords or topics of interest in the course name or description. Since the course catalog labels which classes satisfy general education requirements, it’s easy to figure out which classes can be used for electives and which can be used for core classes.
Since I am interested in assistive technology, visual impairment, and disability, I would search for the following terms:
- Disability
- Accessibility
- Design
- Blindness
- Visual Impairment
- Disabled
- Neurological
- Impaired
For my brother who loves anything film and movie related, he would search for the following terms:
- Cinema
- Hollywood
- Film
- Movie
- Video
- Moving
- Production
- Camera
- Directors
- TV
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Talk to your advisor about recommended courses
When it came time for me to take my capstone/synthesis class, I contacted my advisor asking for their recommendations on which course to choose, since my major did not have a specific requirement for which class to take. My advisor sent me back a message saying that they had students who enjoyed a course on traumatology and trauma-informed design, so I signed up for it and ended up really enjoying the class. I wouldn’t have found it if my advisor had never suggested it!
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Use research assignments to dive deep into topics of interest
While there aren’t many courses dedicated to studying assistive technology and accessibility at the undergraduate level, over half of my general education courses featured open-ended research assignments where I could study a topic of my choice. Whenever possible, I chose to write my paper about a topic related to assistive technology or visual impairment, as I wanted to expand my knowledge on this topic.
Some examples of topics I used for assignments that later turned into posts include:
- Audio description in live theater, upper-level English course: Promoting Cast Involvement In Audio Description
- Acquired vision loss in senior populations, traumatology/synthesis elective: Addressing The Trauma Of Sight Loss
- What it’s like to have Chiari Malformation, public speaking: How I Explain My Brain With Chiari Malformation
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Take virtual classes to satisfy requirements
One of the stereotypes about general education courses is that there are dozens of people in one class and the professor never gets to know students, and that the classrooms are large and crowded. Instead of sitting in a lecture hall for my history requirement, I took a virtual class that satisfied my history requirements with an interesting adjunct professor and didn’t require me to sit through long lectures at a set time. I took half of my general education courses virtually and it helped a lot with time management as well.
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More tips for choosing general education courses in college
- In graduate school, I tested out of some of the required “core” classes, so I took classes at another university as a visiting student. Many colleges have a reciprocity agreement within the region so that students can take classes at other colleges if they aren’t offered by their home institution.
- To satisfy math requirements for my major, I took online math classes at another college as a visiting student since I couldn’t use the proctoring software at my home institution. Learn more about my math test accommodations in Math Test Accommodations For Low Vision
- My arts requirement was satisfied by joining the school pep band! Learn more in How I Play In GMU Green Machine/Pep Band With Low Vision
- Wondering how I talk about my disability accommodations with professors? Read How To Explain Disability Accommodations To Professors
Published October 24, 2019. Updated January 2025