AP/IB Credit Policy
The Credit by Examination Policy outlines the specifics of how the University of Richmond awards credit for AP, IB, and transfer credit. The policy for the current academic year is available from the Registrar’s Office.
General Education Requirements
Life doesn’t always fit neatly into major fields. The University of Richmond is distinctive for its integrated academics, which allow you at all stages of your education to take advantage of multiple schools and departments to better study how things really work in the world. This integration begins in the University's general education curriculum—a liberal arts core that prepares you for life by exposing you to a broad range of academic disciplines and ideas, and by sharpening fundamental communication and critical thinking skills in the process.
The University’s general education curriculum is made up of four main components:
- Two First-Year Seminars, taken in the fall and spring of the first year. A wide variety of seminars are available, drawn from many departments across the University and taught by distinguished faculty from every one of the University's five schools. First-Year Seminars introduce students to academic inquiry and the modes of expression that lie at the heart of a liberal arts education.
- Communication skills, which comprises oral communication and proficiency in a foreign language. The University is deeply committed to providing an international education to all students, regardless of where and when they decide to venture out into the world, so proficiency in a language other than English (typically four semesters of study) is required. There is no required course for oral communication, but the general curriculum is designed to help students acquire and develop the ability to speak so that their ideas are expressed logically, lucidly, and effectively.
- Field of study requirements in six areas: historical studies, literary studies, social analysis, visual and performing arts, symbolic reasoning, and natural science. This is where students branch out and explore the ways that different academic disciplines seek knowledge and understand the world.
- Wellness, which comprises a short alcohol awareness program called URAware and two elective mini-workshops on health- and wellness-related topics such as nutrition, sexual health, and fitness.
For a full description of all requirements and detailed information about satisfying them, please see the Undergraduate Catalog.