How It Works

Structured with the belief that every student is an individual, Arcadia's flexible curriculum allows you and your adviser to design an academic path specially tailored to your interests. As you pursue your major, you will make the connections—across disciplines and global cultures—that will prepare you for success after you leave Arcadia. Choose from more than& 65 fields of study in the arts and sciences, social sciences, humanities, education, and business.

Students’ chosen majors are their primary pathways through the rest of Arcadia’s Undergraduate Curriculum since courses taken to fulfill a chosen major also fulfill some of the required Integrative Learning Experiences, Areas of Inquiry, and Intellectual Practices. However, which Undergraduate Curriculum requirements are fulfilled by major courses differs by major. Therefore, each student works with his or her academic adviser—who is a faculty member from the student’s major department—to determine which Undergraduate Curriculum requirements the student will fulfill in major courses and which requirements he or she will fulfill in courses outside the major. Students can also use the Find Courses function in Self-Service to determine how courses fill various requirements.

Courses both within and outside students’ chosen majors sometimes fulfill multiple Undergraduate Curriculum requirements simultaneously. For example, it is fairly common for courses around the University to satisfy both an Area of Inquiry and an Intellectual Practice. Similarly, the First-Year Seminars (which is a required Integrative Learning Experience) also satisfy at least one Area of Inquiry. Similarly, all University Seminars (which all satisfy one of the required additional Integrative Learning Experiences) also satisfy at least one Area of Inquiry and at least one Intellectual Practice.

Undergraduates need a total of 128 credits to graduate from Arcadia University—the equivalent of eight semesters of 16 credits each. However, Undergraduate Curriculum requirements are defined by courses rather than credits. Most courses that fulfill Undergraduate Curriculum requirements carry 4 credits. For example, most courses that fulfill an Area of Inquiry or Intellectual Practice requirement carry 4 credits.

However, there are some exceptions: 

• The Global Connections Experience is often fulfilled through a semester abroad or through a semester-long domestic exchange with a partner university. When done away from campus (either internationally or domestically), the “experience” is connected to the semester as a whole that one is away from campus, rather than connected to a specific course.
• The Global Connections Reflection is often fulfilled by completing a specific 2-credit Reflection course during one’s Global Connections Experience.
• In addition, 3-credit courses also sometimes may fulfill Undergraduate Curriculum requirements when appropriate.