Beginning Fall 2025
For students entering Gettysburg College Fall of 2025 or later the Curriculum has four core components.
Modes of Inquiry
- Arts (1 course)
- Humanities (1 course)
- Formal Science (1 course)
- Natural Science with lab (1 course)
- Social Science (1 course)
Classes counting for First-Year critical skills and/ or Gettysburg Seminars may not count toward Modes of Inquiry. Classes counting for the Modes of Inquiry courses may also satisfy one of the Perspectives and Social Change requirements.
Perspectives & Social Change
- Identities & Cultures (1 course)
- Race, Power, & Equity (1 course)
- Non-Native Language (2 courses in sequence in the same language)
Classes counting toward First-Year Critical Skills and Gettysburg Seminars may not count toward Perspectives & Social Change.
Gettysburg Seminars
- First-Year Seminar (first year, 1 course)
- Sophomore-Year Seminar: Communities & Change (sophomore year, 1 course)
First-Year Critical Skills
- First-Year Writing (1 course) - May be satisfied by an FYS with an attribute of FY Writing OR other courses approved for this category.
- First-Year Data & Society (1 course) - May be satisfied by an FYS with an attribute of FY Data & Society OR other courses approved for this category.
The Gettysburg Curriculum
The Gettysburg Curriculum aims to equip students with the knowledge, skills, and dispositions to navigate a rapidly changing global environment and seeks to inspire our students to lead lives of meaning, service, and consequence.
There are two hallmarks of the Gettysburg Curriculum:
- We ask students to be self-reflective, to write and think in ways that express a growing self-awareness about the progress and impact of their education.
- We ask students to make connections in what they are learning, to see relevant implications across courses, to achieve an education that is more than a transcript of self-contained courses.
While completing their studies at Gettysburg College, students must complete 32 course units, including a major field of study and the following curricular requirements. For Bachelor of Music and Bachelor of Music Education, students must complete a total of 36 course units.
Guidelines
The Gettysburg Curriculum includes specific guidelines for fulfilling academic requirements. Gettysburg Seminars can also count toward First-Year Critical Skills, such as First-Year Writing. However, courses taken for First-Year Critical Skills or Gettysburg Seminars cannot be applied toward Modes of Inquiry or Perspectives & Social Change.
Some courses may fulfill both a Mode of Inquiry and a Perspectives & Social Change requirement.
First-Year Critical Skills may be completed through designated First-Year Seminars or other approved courses.
Individualized study courses and internships do not count toward curriculum requirements. If a course is categorized under both Identities & Cultures and Race, Power & Equity, students may only use it to fulfill one requirement, and two distinct courses must be taken for these areas.
Satisfactory/Unsatisfactory graded courses do not fulfill Gettysburg Curriculum requirements. For questions about First-Year Critical Skills or Gettysburg Seminars, students should contact Professor William O’Hara at wohara@gettysburg.edu.