Mount Holyoke College Degree Requirements

To graduate, you must complete a minimum of 128 credits, 64 of which must be taken at Mount Holyoke during your sophomore, junior, and senior years. Two of the last three years must be spent on the Mount Holyoke campus. One of the last three years may be spent in an academic program at another institution. To receive a Mount Holyoke College degree, you must have a minimum average of 2.0, meet the College and distribution requirements, and complete the requirements of a major and minor.

The distribution requirements, described below, are designed to acquaint you with a wide range of knowledge and to expose you to new areas of interest. You must also take a course that meets the multicultural perspectives requirement, meet the foreign language requirement, and complete 6 units of physical education.

Distribution Requirements

To earn a bachelor of arts degree, you must complete approved courses in seven different categories, distributed among the following three curricular divisions:

Group I—Humanities
Three courses from three different disciplines are required from Group I, including at least one course from each of the following two subgroups—A and B.

A. Arts, language, and literature: art, classics, dance, English, film studies, French, German studies, Greek, Italian, Latin, music, Russian, Spanish, theatre arts, or an interdisciplinary course in arts and literature.

B. History, philosophy, religion, or an interdisciplinary course in this area.

Group II—Science and Mathematics
Two courses from two different disciplines are required from Group II, including at least one laboratory course in a natural or physical science; both courses may be laboratory science courses.

• Mathematics, statistics, computer science, or an interdisciplinary course in this area.
• Natural and physical sciences: astronomy, biological sciences, chemistry, geology, physics, or an interdisciplinary course in the natural and physical sciences. (A few science courses are available without labs, but only one non-lab course may count toward the Group II distribution).

Group III—Social Sciences
Two courses from two different disciplines are required from Group III: Anthropology, economics, geography, politics, psychology, sociology, or an interdisciplinary course in the social sciences.

Interdisciplinary and interdepartmental courses meet the distribution requirement in the category indicated for each such course. If a course is cross-listed between a department and an interdisciplinary program, it will meet distribution within the department. Printable chart of Mount Holyoke's distribution requirements (PDF).

Other College Requirements

Language Requirement
A degree-seeking student at Mount Holyoke is expected to study a language other than English while matriculated at the College. She can satisfy the language requirement in a number of ways. Preferably by the end of the sophomore year she should either:

1. complete a formal two-semester elementary course sequence in a foreign language new to her or for which she has little or inadequate preparation. (The self-instructional and mentored language courses offered through the Five College Center for World Languages cannot be used to meet the Mount Holyoke language requirement.)
2. complete a designated one-semester foreign language course or foreign literature course taught in the foreign language at the intermediate level or above.

Note: international students are not exempted automatically from the language requirement.  However, any student whose first language is not English can satisfy the language requirement with:

• documentation that she attended a secondary school for at least one year at which instruction was conducted in a language other than English. 
• documentation that she attended a secondary school outside of the U.S. where the language of instruction was English, but she elected a language or literature course taught in her native language.
• an O-level, A-level, or GSCE language result (for students from India, this would be a Grade X or Grade XII) or an official record of a college-level course in her native language.

If a student meets at least one of the criteria listed immediately above and wishes to be exempted from the language requirement, she must contact dean of international students Donna Van Handle (dvanhand@mtholyoke.edu), who will review the student’s records and inform the registrar's office if she determines that the language requirement has been fulfilled.

Multicultural Perspectives
All Mount Holyoke students must complete one 4-credit course that is devoted primarily to the study of some aspect of: a) the peoples of Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the Middle East; or b) peoples of color in Australia, Europe, or North America; or c) peoples in North America whose primary language is other than English. The course must incorporate a diversity of perspectives.

Physical Education and Athletics
Students should earn 6 physical education (PE) units by the end of the junior year, starting in the first year. Four units are required for sophomore transfer students; 2 units for junior transfer students. See the complete listings under PE in the Schedule of Classes. Students in intercollegiate sports earn 2 units per sport for their participation. If you plan to participate in an intercollegiate sport, be sure to register for the appropriate physical education course. Physical education units do not count toward the 128 semester credits required to graduate.

Non-Liberal Arts Courses
Students who enter the College in or after September 2008 may apply a maximum of 12 credits combined that are earned from Mount Holyoke curricular support courses and from any Mount Holyoke, Five College, or transferred non-liberal arts courses, whether taken before or after the student's matriculation at the College.