In addition, there is the opportunity to take elective courses that are not required but may enhance the education of the student. Students must earn 120 semester hours of credit with a cumulative grade-point average of at least 2.0 and be in residence at the College at least two academic years, including the last year preceding graduation, in order to graduate. A member of the Faculty is assigned to advise each entering student during his first three semesters.
Freshmen normally take a Rhetoric course and a course in a foreign language.
Students are encouraged to complete many of the proficiency and distribution requirements during their first two years so that in the last two years they can concentrate on their majors and electives. In the second semester of the sophomore year, students are asked to select a major and then are assigned to an advisor in the department of the major. Every student who completes the following requirements in ten or fewer semesters will receive a Bachelor of Arts or, for a student majoring in the natural sciences who requests it, a Bachelor of Science degree. It is solely the responsibility of the student to make sure that he meets all of the stated requirements for his degree. There are two proficiency requirements, in Rhetoric and in a foreign language.