Gen Ed

Gen Ed, General Education, or GE refers to courses that schools require for any degree that you obtain through them. For instance, it is usually required that you have at least 6 credits in English/writing/communication credits and most students fulfill this need by taking English Composition I and English Composition II or English Composition 101 and English Composition 102 (the exact name and course numbers will vary depending upon the school).

Again, these will vary widely but, in general, you can expect the following requirements:

6 credits of English/writing
3 credits of public speaking or oral communication
3 credits of math/quantitative literacy; College Algebra is usually required but some schools will accept CSM Learn as a substitute
3 credits of government/civics
3-8 credits of science (some schools require one or more science classes to include a lab component)
3-9 credits of arts/humanities
3-9 credits of history/social science

Some schools that are not the big 3 may require foreign language or even physical education credits as part of their GE requirements. At the big 3, the cornerstone is considered to be part of the GE requirements.