Fulfilling Degree Requirements
Contact
Center for Study AwayMarkim Hall, Second Floor 651-696-6300
studyaway@macalester.edu
Following review and approval of your application, the courses you intend to take during study away will be approved for Macalester credit. The following instructions explain the process for obtaining approval for a study away course to fulfill a requirement for your major, minor, concentration, or general distribution credit. You might also find the following Graduation Planning Worksheet to be helpful as you consider your graduation requirements and timeline.
WHEN
Course approvals can be completed at any time, at the discretion of the department or concentration. However, if you are counting on a study away course to fulfill a specific requirement, we encourage you to seek approval during the application process if at all possible. If you are not able to get detailed information about the course or are not sure exactly which courses you will be able to enroll in advance (such as on a direct enroll program), then we encourage you to seek approval as soon as you can, such as during enrollment of courses on your program, but before you start the course. This will help ensure that you are indeed able to complete your requirements as planned.
Fulfilling a requirement in a major, minor, or concentration:
Meet with the Chair of the academic department or Director of the concentration and bring as much information as possible about the courses you hope to have approved (titles, descriptions, syllabi, etc.). If pre-approved as an appropriate course to fulfill a requirement, the Chair/Director will make a note in DegreeWorks. Students can see these notes by logging into DegreeWorks. The Chair/Director may decide that a course is pending approval, meaning that you will need to bring back information from the course (syllabus, reading lists, written work, exams, etc.) for further review by the department or concentration. After finishing your study away program, it is your responsibility to share these materials with the Chair/Director. Upon receiving your final grades from study away, the Registrar will incorporate courses that have been approved into your major, minor, or concentration plan in DegreeWorks.
Fulfilling a distribution requirement:
Your general education requirements (U.S. Identities and Differences, Internationalism, Writing, Qualitative Thinking) should all be met by Macalester courses. If you are seeking fulfillment of a distribution requirement (fine arts, social science, etc.) with a study away course, it is your responsibility to confirm with the Registrar’s Office ([email protected]) that the course will meet the requirement. In all cases, you must earn a grade of C- or better in order for the course to fulfill a distribution requirement.