Uniform Certificate of General Studies

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Plan Code 695, CIP Code 24.0199

Award: Certificate

Program Head: Tina Dressler

Length: Two semesters (One year of full-time study)

Purpose: The Uniform Certificate of General Studies is a one-year curriculum of study that consists of 30-31 semester hours where all courses shall be transferable and satisfy a lower-division general education requirement at any public institution of higher learning, except as approved by the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia. The Passport, a component of the UCGS, is a subset of courses in the UCGS and consists of 16 semester hours. The courses in the UCGS may satisfy the general education requirement without having a specific course equivalent at the receiving institution.

Admission Information: The UCGS consists of seven course blocks. To satisfy the UCGS students are required to complete the appropriate number of courses in each block as described below. Student course selection should be carefully considered since the UCGS program is not designed to capture the complexities of individual programs of study at the four-year institutions. Students should be advised to take the UCGS course that best suits their intended program of study at the four-year institution. The UCGS Course Roster for the Virginia Community College System (VCCS) is below.

Admission Requirements: Students whose placement test scores indicate the need to increase their level of proficiency in reading, writing and/or mathematics will be required to take appropriate developmental or corequisite courses. Enrolling in developmental or corequisite courses may increase the length of time necessary for completing the chosen course -level coursework and increase the chances for successful attainment of academic, occupational and personal goals.

Program Requirements

Block I: Written Communication

(6 Cr, select two classes)

ENG 111 - College Composition I Credits: 3
ENG 112 - College Composition II Credits: 3

Block II: Humanities/Art/Literature

(6 Cr, select two courses chosen from different categories. Note: the two courses cannot be from the same category.)

Block III: Social and Behavioral Sciences

(3Cr, select one course)

ECO 201 - Principles of Macroeconomics Credits: 3
ECO 202 - Principles of Microeconomics Credits: 3
PLS 135 - U.S. Government and Politics Credits: 3
PSY 200 - Principles of Psychology Credits: 3
SOC 200 - Principles of Sociology Credits: 3
SOC 268 - Social Problems Credits: 3

Block IV: Natural Sciences

(4 Cr, select one course)

BIO 101 - General Biology I Credits: 4
BIO 102 - General Biology II Credits: 4
CHM 111 - College Chemistry I Credits: 4
CHM 112 - College Chemistry II Credits: 4
PHY 201 - General College Physics I Credits: 4
PHY 202 - General College Physics II Credits: 4
PHY 241 - University Physics I Credits: 4
PHY 242 - University Physics II Credits: 4

Block V: Mathematics

(3 Cr - 4 Cr, select one course)

Quantitative/Statistics Pathway

MTH 154 - Quantitative Reasoning Credits: 3
MTH 155 - Statistical Reasoning Credits: 3
MTH 245 - Statistics I Credits: 3

Calculus Pathway

MTH 161 - PreCalculus I Credits: 3
MTH 162 - PreCalculus II Credits: 3
MTH 167 - PreCalculus with Trigonometry Credits: 5
MTH 261 - Applied Calculus I Credits: 3
MTH 263 - Calculus I Credits: 4
MTH 264 - Calculus II Credits: 4

Block VI: History

(3 Cr, select one course)

HIS 121 - United States History to 1877 Credits: 3
HIS 122 - United States History Since 1865 Credits: 3

Block VII: Specialized GE Requirements

(6 CR - 8 CR, select two courses. Note: For Block VII, students may complete courses from Blocks I-VI above or any additional course below. Students should align their Block VII course selection with their intended transfer destination’s specific general education or programmatic requirements)

CST 110 - Introduction to Human Communication Credits: 3
FL 101 - Foreign Language I Credits: 4
FL 102 - Foreign Language II Credits: 4
FL 201 - Foreign Language III Credits: 4
FL 202 - Foreign Language IV Credits: 4
ITE 152 - Introduction to Digital and Information Literacy and Computer Applications Credits: 3

Minimum Credit Hours for Certificate: 30

Note:

Note: Courses offered at Mountain Gateway Community College are listed above. Approved UCGS courses taken at other VCCS colleges may be transferred and applied to the UCGS with approval for course substitution provided at least 25% of all credits needed for the UCGS are earned at MGCC.

See approved UCGS course roster on the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia (SCHEV) website: https://www.schev.edu/docs/default-source/students-section/transfer/approved-ucgs-course-roster.pdf.