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 A.B./B.S. Requirements

Area Distribution


The Distribution Requirement is the portion of your LS&A degree which adds intellectual breadth to your academic experience. By means of the distribution requirement the College seeks to instill in each student an understanding and appreciation of the major areas of learning - Natural Science, Social Science, Humanities. Students are not expected to master all aspects of each area, but rather to develop a coherent view of essential concepts, structures and intellectual methods which typify these disciplines. The world moves at such a fast pace that it is important for you to be able to consider information from a wide variety of sources and see how that information connects with your own interests, concerns and future. Biological discoveries raise new issues in medical ethics; environmental concerns are often placed in opposition to economic expediency; cultural norms influence popular arts - these are only a few examples of how developments in one area of endeavor have an impact upon another. The Distribution Requirement helps you begin to develop the skills and experiences necessary to consider these connections.

All candidates for the Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Science degrees from the College must fulfill a 30-credit Distribution Requirement. Since it is a "breadth-giving" requirement, none of the courses used for it can be taken from your department of concentration or can be used to meet any concentration requirements.

Each of the courses in the LS&A Bulletin carries a designation - Natural Science (NS); Social Science (SS); Humanities (HU); Mathematical and Symbolic Analysis (MSA); Creative Expression (CE); or Excluded (Excl). Only those courses listed in the LS&A Bulletin can be used for distribution; and they can be used only according to their listed designations. Courses designated as Excluded may not be used for distribution at all. Experiential courses, Independent Study, and University (Division 495) mini-courses also cannot be used in a distribution plan.

Transfer credits, including departmental and divisional credits, may be used in distribution. Your orientation advisor will help you interpret these credits. Advanced Placement credits can not be used in an area distribution plan.

  • This broad intellectual experience, which forms an essential part of a liberal arts education, can be achieved in the following way:
    1. Students must complete 7 credits in each of the following three areas: Natural Science (NS), Social Science (SS), and Humanities (HU), for a total of 21 credits.
    2. Students must also complete 3 additional credits in each of three of the following five areas: (NS), (SS), (HU), Mathematical and Symbolic Analysis (MSA), and Creative Expression (CE), for a total of 9 credits.

    An area distribution plan may include:
    1. prerequisites to concentration elected outside the department of concentration.
    2. courses elected pass/fail, credit/no credit, or by any other non-graded pattern.
    3. courses elected to satisfy one of two concentration plans by students who elect a double concentration.
    4. Transfer credit from other schools and colleges of the University of Michigan and from other academic institution, when applicable.
    5. a course elected outside the department of concentration and concentration requirements to meet the Junior-Senior Writing Requirement, the Race & Ethnicity Requirement, or the Quantitative Reasoning Requirement.