Pre-2023 Degree Requirements
NOTE: Students who start taking classes at Northwestern after Spring 2023 should refer to the page that discusses their degree requirements. The information below pertains to students who started at Northwestern Spring 2023 or earlier.
To earn a degree from Northwestern’s Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences, you must complete certain requirements. This section of the site describes how they can be met.
- Distribution requirements
You must take two courses in each of six intellectual areas. - First-year seminars
You must take two seminars over the course of your first year. - Language proficiency
You must demonstrate proficiency in a language other than English through AP scores, department testing, or Northwestern coursework. - Writing proficiency
Most students complete this requirement through their first-year seminars. - Major in a field of study
You must choose and complete a major. Minors, second majors, and adjunct majors are optional ways to concentrate on other fields.
The first four requirements ensure that you acquire important skills and gain a breadth of knowledge spanning multiple disciplines; the fifth guarantees depth of understanding through intensive study within one area.
Special policies and exceptions apply to students who transfer to Northwestern from another institution. See details on the Degree Requirement pages based on your time of matriculation .
Special exceptions to how courses completed in Winter Quarter 2020 and Spring Quarter 2020 apply to degree requirements can be found in the addendum to the 2019-2020 Undergraduate Catalog.
Number of courses and quarters
Policies require a certain number of quarters and credits that must be earned at Northwestern and Weinberg College.
NOTE: Students who start taking classes at Northwestern after Spring 2023 should refer to the page that discusses their degree requirements. The information above pertains to students who started at Northwestern Spring 2023 or earlier.
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