There are eight general requirements which all students must meet in order to earn the bachelor's degree from Cal Poly and participate in commencement. The more students understand their progress toward meeting these requirements and relate them to the many programs available, the better the chance of creating an exciting educational experience and avoiding errors which may delay graduation.
Students must be formally admitted to the major in which they wish to graduate, and must matriculate, in order to earn a degree.
The specific requirements for each degree program are shown under the academic department offering the major and include a curriculum display with courses listed by Major, Support, Concentration (if applicable), General Education, and Free Electives. Each major has a degree flow chart, which shows the recommended sequence of courses leading to the degree; see the "Degree Flowcharts" link at the top of this page.
Students are responsible for meeting all requirements, and should embrace the responsibility. Advice is available from faculty advisors, college advising centers, the Office of the Registrar, and students’ online Degree Progress Reports. Students should plan their degree programs carefully and review them frequently with their advisors. Students are strongly encouraged to access their Degree Progress Report frequently, including after they register each quarter, to verify that courses in which they enrolled are fulfilling requirements as expected. They are also encouraged to address any unanticipated deficiencies in the information shown on their Degree Progress Report, while realizing that recently received substitutions, transfer credit, etc., may not yet be reflected in the Degree Progress Report. As they approach graduation, careful attention to the Degree Progress Report will help ensure that they complete degree requirements in a timely fashion.
| Degree | Minimum # of major units at 300-400 level |
|---|---|
| Bachelor of Arts (BA) | 18 |
| Bachelor of Science (BS) | 27 |
| Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) | 27 |
| Bachelor of Architecture (BArch) | 41 |
| Bachelor of Landscape Architecture (BLA) | 41 |
The Notification of Earlier Expected Graduation Term--Undergraduate form should be used by students who wish to move their graduation term earlier than the one assigned for them by the university. Advisor approval is not needed to move to an earlier graduation term. Once notified that their graduation term has been set, students should access their Degree Progress Report each time they register, to ensure that they are fulfilling the requirements for their degree. Students are encouraged to submit any and all paperwork (substitutions, transcripts for requirements completed elsewhere, etc.) in a timely fashion in order to expedite conferral of degrees.
When undergraduate students reach 72% or more of degree completion, as indicated on their Academic Progress Gauge on Poly Profile, the Office of the Registrar will assign an expected graduation term for them that is a full four years after their initial admit term, or one year away, whichever is greater. Transfer students will be assigned an expected graduation term that is two years after their initial admit term, or one year away, whichever is greater (three years after initial admit term for Architecture and Landscape Architecture majors). Students will receive an email from the Evaluations Unit of the Office of the Registrar informing them that their expected grad term has been set. The expected graduation term can be viewed in the Student Center and Poly Profile.
Graduate (Master's) students must submit a Graduate Application for Graduation Form to the Graduate Education Office at least two quarters prior to the anticipated term of degree completion.
The actual date of graduation (degree conferral) is the end of the quarter in which all requirements have been met. This date may differ from the student’s last quarter of enrollment (for example, a student who completes the Graduation Writing Requirement [GWR] or submits Senior Project for final grading after the last term of enrollment).
Graduating students receive one complimentary diploma. Additional diplomas may be ordered from the Office of the Registrar’s Online Diploma Service. The diploma is not ordered until all degree requirements have been completed. The diploma is mailed to the student’s mailing address by the Evaluations Unit in the Office of the Registrar approximately three to four weeks after the degree has been conferred. It is the student’s responsibility to update their mailing address on the Cal Poly Portal prior to the end of the final quarter of enrollment, to ensure the receipt of their diploma.
Concentrations and minors are not noted on the diploma; they are noted on the transcript. Latin honors are noted on both the diploma and the transcript; the Distinction notation for Master's students is noted on both the diploma and the transcript.
Once a degree has been awarded, subsequent revision or alteration of any transcript entry is permitted only for correction of proven error as certified by the appropriate academic dean and the Registrar. No changes are made to the academic record 60 days following the degree conferral date.
The Commencement Office provides graduates and guests with a memorable and meaningful graduation experience that symbolizes the culmination of their academic achievements. Commencement ceremonies are coordinated in collaboration with the Office of the Vice President for Student Affairs and the university’s Commencement Operations and Policy Committees, which are held twice annually in June and December.
To be eligible to participate in commencement ceremonies, students must satisfy at least one of the following:
Students completing all degree requirements in the Winter, Spring or Summer terms are automatically eligible to participate in the Spring (June) Commencement. Students completing all degree requirements in the Fall term are eligible for Fall (December) Commencement. Graduate (Masters) students must submit a Request for Graduation Evaluation Form to the Graduate Education Office at least two quarters prior to the anticipated term of degree completion.
Students who wish to participate in a commencement ceremony other than the one for which they are scheduled and in which they are eligible to participate must complete a Commencement Request Form.
The Graduation Writing Requirement (GWR) is a CSU Board of Trustees mandate designed to ensure that students demonstrate effective written communication skills at the upper division before they enter the professional workforce. All undergraduate students who are seeking a Cal Poly degree must fulfill the GWR before a diploma can be awarded.
Undergraduate students with 90 or more completed units should attempt to fulfill the requirement before their senior year. Upper-division transfer students who completed the requirement at another CSU campus prior to enrollment at Cal Poly may transfer completion of the requirement.
Students should review the requirements of their major program of study to determine which of the following options is the appropriate pathway for GWR completion:
Further information on pathways to meeting this degree requirement may be obtained from the Office of Writing and Learning Initiatives, Kennedy Library (35) Room 202A (805-756-2067), or on the GWR webpage, https://writingandlearning.calpoly.edu/gwr.
All Cal Poly undergraduate students shall complete a senior project as part of their baccalaureate degree program requirements.
Definition: A capstone experience is a high-impact educational practice in which students (a) integrate and evaluate the knowledge and skills gained in both the General Education (GE) and major curricula and (b) demonstrate career or postgraduate readiness.
As a bridge from college to career/postgraduate success, the senior project at Cal Poly is a capstone experience with achievable outcomes that culminates in a self-directed final production or product carried out under faculty direction. Senior projects analyze, evaluate, and synthesize a student's general and discipline-specific educational experiences; relate to a student's field of study, future employment, and/or postgraduate scholastic goals; and include an element of critical, self-reflectiveness to facilitate student development and promote the metacognitive awareness that leads to lifelong learning.
Expected Outcomes: While major programs of study are responsible for designing specific senior project learning outcomes, all senior projects at Cal Poly provide an opportunity for holistic, competency-based assessment that demonstrates a strong foundation in general and discipline-specific knowledge as well as an advanced proficiency in the core competencies of critical thinking, written and oral communication, information literacy, and quantitative reasoning.
Furthermore, senior projects broadly address program learning objectives, which align with one or more University Learning Objectives.
Forms & Examples: Senior projects may be research-, project-, and/or portfolio-based; individually supervised or course-based; independently completed or team-based; discipline-specific and/or interdisciplinary. They may take forms including, but not limited to, the following:
Requirements: Each academic department determines specific senior project requirements, yet all senior projects and senior project policies adhere to the following requirements.
Senior projects shall
Note: Senior projects shall neither consist solely of a co-op/internship experience nor solely of a test/exam of any kind, and senior projects shall not be unsupervised.
Archiving: Each academic department determines a process for archiving senior projects, whether at the department or college level and/or in collaboration with Kennedy Library. Policies and procedures governing submissions to Kennedy Library's institutional repository are based on University policies pursuant to the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), intellectual property rights, and CSU accessibility requirements. Senior projects submitted to Digital Commons, the institutional repository hosted by Kennedy Library, become part of university's scholarly record.
Adopted by the General Education Governance Board on April 7, 2021.
The General Education (GE) program is one of the primary means for realizing Cal Poly’s vision of a comprehensive polytechnic education. GE integrates all disciplines in a program of liberal education accessible to all Cal Poly students. GE complements the major and promotes an understanding and appreciation of the foundational disciplines that ground all intellectual inquiry. The program affords students the opportunity to contextualize the knowledge from their major programs by presenting relevant scientific, humanistic, artistic, and technological perspectives. Because Cal Poly students declare their major upon matriculation, their experience of GE develops side-by-side with the major. Through the university’s distinctive commitment to Learn by Doing, GE imparts transferable skills, nurtures creativity, fosters critical thinking and ethical decision making, supports integrative learning, and prepares students for civic engagement and leadership. In GE, students work inclusively with peers from diverse intellectual, disciplinary, and social backgrounds. Cal Poly’s GE program also provides an opportunity for students to develop intellectual humility, an interdisciplinary mindset, and lifelong habits of mind.
Consistent with the California State University (CSU) General Education Breadth Requirements, Cal Poly's General Education (GE) program has been designed to complement major courses and electives completed by each baccalaureate candidate. The GE program seeks to cultivate well-rounded and informed persons. GE requirements are designed to provide CSU students with the knowledge, skills, experiences, and perspectives that will enable them to expand their capacities to take part in a wide range of human interests and activities; confront personal, cultural, moral, and social problems that are an inevitable part of human life; and develop an enthusiasm for lifelong learning. Faculty are encouraged to assist students in making connections among disciplines to achieve coherence in the undergraduate educational experience.
Adopted Spring 2014 by the General Education Governance Board
After completing Cal Poly's General Education Program, students will be able to:
Students are expected to complete the GE courses published for their degree program. Cal Poly GE courses must be selected from the approved GE list. Substitutions are not permitted except in extraordinary circumstances. Students requesting exceptions must follow petition procedures, outlined on the GE website https://ge.calpoly.edu/students/petitions. This process may take several weeks.
Students should first review the GE website for study abroad courses that have already been pre-approved for Cal Poly GE credit. If the course is not there, students are strongly encouraged to submit a GE study abroad petition before going abroad in order to determine if the course will be granted GE credit. For assistance with GE study abroad petitions, contact the Cal Poly International Center at studyabroad@calpoly.edu.
Transfer credit for GE courses is accepted from California institutions, as approved by the Chancellor’s Office. For more information, go to How to Use Assist located on the Office of the Registrar’s website. Some Cal Poly programs specify particular GE courses for major or support; these courses must be met with articulated equivalencies. Refer to https://assist.org/ for California Community College both CSU GE lists and specific articulation agreements.
All General Education courses must have an appropriate writing component. In achieving this objective, writing in most courses should be viewed primarily as a tool of learning (rather than a goal in itself as in a composition course), and faculty should determine the appropriate ways to integrate writing into coursework. The writing component may take different forms according to the subject matter and the purpose of a course. Outside of the GE areas specified below, at least 10% of the grade in all GE courses must be based on appropriate written work (e.g., lab reports, math proofs, essay questions, word problems, exam questions).
GE areas A2, A3, Upper-Division C, and Upper-Division D are designated as Writing Intensive. All courses in these areas must include a minimum of 3,000 words of writing and base 50% or more of a student’s grade on written work. GE area C2 is also designated as Writing Intensive, but all courses in this area must include a minimum of 2,000 words of writing and base 50% or more of a student’s grade on written work. All Writing Intensive courses must include process-oriented writing instruction in which faculty provide ongoing feedback to students to help them grasp the effectiveness of their writing in various disciplinary contexts. The kind and amount of writing must be a factor in determining class sizes.
The “Golden Four” classes are a set of foundational learning classes that set the stage for future learning within GE and within the major programs. As such, students are encouraged to complete these four courses within the first year. These courses are all three courses within Area A plus B4: Mathematics/Quantitative Reasoning. The three courses within Area A provide instruction and practice in writing, speaking, and critical thinking. Completion of one or more courses within this area is often a prerequisite for other GE courses. All Golden Four subareas require students to earn a grade of C- or better. (Other GE courses require a passing grade of D- or better.)
Cal Poly’s GE program includes two templates: the Standard Template and the High-Unit Template. A “high-unit” program, as it relates to GE, refers to undergraduate programs within the College of Engineering along with the other ABET-accredited programs of ARCE and BRAE. Only these programs are considered high-unit degree programs and, as such, only students within those degrees will follow the High-Unit Template.
High-Unit: ARCE, BRAE, and College of Engineering majors
Standard: All other majors
X = non-unit requirement
| Standard | High-Unit | |
|---|---|---|
| ENGLISH LANGUAGE COMMUNICATION AND CRITICAL THINKING (AREA A) | ||
| Oral Communication (A1) 1 | 4 | 4 |
| Written Communication (A2-Writing Intensive) 1 | 4 | 4 |
| Critical Thinking (A3-Writing Intensive) 1 | 4 | 4 |
| Unit Sub-total | 12 | 12 |
For students admitted in Fall 2016 or later, a grade of C- or better is required in one course in this GE Area.
| Standard | High-Unit | |
|---|---|---|
| SCIENTIFIC INQUIRY AND QUANTITATIVE REASONING (AREA B) | ||
| Physical Science (B1) | 4 | 4 |
| Life Science (B2) | 4 | 4 |
| Laboratory Activity (B3) | (in B1 or B2) | (in B1 or B2) |
| Mathematics/Quantitative Reasoning (B4) 1 | 4 | 8 |
| Upper-Division B | 4 | 4 |
| Area B Electives | X | 8 |
| Unit Sub-total | 16 | 28 |
For students admitted in Fall 2016 or later, a grade of C- or better is required in one course in this GE Area.
Lower-division courses in Area C must come from three different prefixes Standard: Select courses in Area D from at least two different prefixes High-Unit: Select either a lower-division D2 or an upper-division D course| Standard | High-Unit | |
|---|---|---|
| LIFELONG LEARNING AND SELF-DEVELOPMENT (AREA E) | ||
| Lower-Division (E) | 4 | 4 |
| Standard | High-Unit | |
|---|---|---|
| ETHNIC STUDIES (AREA F) | ||
| Ethnic Studies (F) | 4 | 4 |
| Standard | High-Unit | |
|---|---|---|
| GE ELECTIVES IN AREA B, C, AND D | ||
| GE Electives - Select courses from two different areas; may be either lower- or upper-division levels (Standard) | 8 | X |
| GE TOTAL | 72 units | 72 units |
ENGLISH LANGUAGE COMMUNICATION AND CRITICAL THINKING (AREA A)
| Standard | High-Unit | |
|---|---|---|
| ENGLISH LANGUAGE COMMUNICATION AND CRITICAL THINKING (AREA A) | 12 | 12 |
| Oral Communication (A1) | 4 | 4 |
| Standard | High-Unit | |
|---|---|---|
| Written Communication (A2) | 4 | 4 |
