General Education Requirements

General Education Requirements

Candidates must have: 

  • A minimum of 45 transferrable credits
  • A minimum of 16 general education credits from the distribution below:

Subject Area Credits
Behavioral and Social Sciences 3
Humanities and Fine Arts 3
Natural or Physical Science 4
College-Level Mathematics/Quantitative Reasoning 3
English Composition/Writing 6
Humanities/Social Science/Natural or Physical Science/or Mathematics 3
Total 22
  • Distribution of general education credits must include:
    • Must include at least one course in English Composition
    • Must include at least one additional Humanities course
  • Candidates should have a GPA of 2.5 or greater. Candidates with less than a 2.5 may be admitted, but must attend part-time for 1 academic year.

If you have any questions about your academic credits, please contact our Program Director, Dr. Kerri Augusto, at kerri_augusto@williamjames.edu.


Options for Completing General Education Requirements Prior to Admission

  • You may complete your general education requirements at any accredited institution of higher education.  For a list of approved courses offered at Massachusetts community colleges, you can review the guide to transferable courses from MA Community Colleges
  • You may complete courses online, using the preapproved, flexible and cost-effective offerings from Study.com, and ACE-credit granting institution. William James College is an ACE-credit accepting institution and will accept official transcripts from Study.com. 

Pre-Approved Study.com Courses

The following Study.com courses are pre-approved and fully transferrable, provided a student earns a grade of C (75%) or higher.

Behavioral and Social Sciences

  • Sociology 101: Intro to Sociology
  • Criminal Justice 101: Intro to Criminal Justice
  • Geography 101: Human and Cultural Geography
  • Criminal Justice 106: Forensic Science
  • Political Science 103: Comparative Politics
  • Criminal Justice 381: Victimology

Humanities and Fine Arts

  • Religion 101: Intro to World Religions
  • Humanities 101: Intro to the Humanities
  • Art 103: History of Western Art
  • Philosophy 102: Ethics in America
  • Humanities 201: Critical Thinking and Analysis

Natural or Physical Science

  • Biology 101L: Intro to Biology with Lab (4 credits)
  • Biology201L: Anatomy and Physiology I with Lab (4 credits)
  • Biology 202L: Anatomy and Physiology II with Lab (4 credits)
  • Chemistry 111L: Chemistry I with Lab (4 credits)
  • Chemistry 112L: Chemistry II with Lab (4 credits)

English Composition/Writing

  • English 104: College Composition I
  • English 105: College Composition II

Mathematics/Quantitative Reasoning

  • Math 101: College Algebra
  • Math 102: College Mathematics