Office of the Registrar Graduation Requirements

A. APPLICATION FOR DEGREE

All candidates will receive an Application for Degree three semesters prior to completing the requirements for the degree. This is typically completed during the second semester of their junior year.

The Student Records Office will email second-semester juniors and provide instructions for completing an Application for Degree on Waypoint. Instructions for completing an Application for Degree are also found on this webpage. 

  1. Your degree requirements are listed on the My Progress tab in Waypoint and will indicate the following details :
    1. Total units completed.
    2. Total units remaining to be completed.
    3. General education requirements remaining (including those in progress).
    4. Number of units outside major completed.
    5. Cumulative GPA at time Application for Degree is distributed.
    6. Major GPA at time Application for Degree is distributed.
  2. Instructions to complete the Application for Degree will be sent to the student. 
  3. The student and major advisor will schedule a meeting, and in that meeting will :
    1. Plan all courses needed to fully complete all degree requirements. 
    2. Plan all GE, major, and minor courses that are not yet planned until all degree requirements are fully planned.
    3. Check the overall GPA and GPA in upper-division major courses (student must have a 2.00 in both of these areas).
    4. Plan for the remainder of “outside major” units, if necessary. 
    5. Check to be sure that at least half of upper-division units in major have been or will be completed at Westmont.
    6. Check the green Total Credits bar on the My Progress tab to verify that at least 124 credits are planned.

B. SENIOR RESIDENCY

The senior residency requirement may be satisfied in one of two ways:

  1. The final two semesters (minimum 12 units each term) prior to graduation must be taken at Westmont or in a Westmont program
  2. 32 of the last 40 units for the degree must be completed at Westmont (fall or spring semester or Mayterm) or a Westmont approved off-campus program.

C. UNITS REQUIREMENTS

  1. Minimum of 124 units.
  2. To encourage academic breadth, sixty (60) of the total units must be taken outside the major department.
    1. For all majors, required courses outside the major department may be counted in the 60.
    2. For interdepartmental majors, courses taken outside the department of highest concentration may be counted.
    3. The department is defined according to catalog prefix (PSY, BIO, etc.).
    4. For cross-listed courses, units are counted according to the prefix under which the student registers for the course.

D. GENERAL EDUCATION REQUIREMENTS

A Minimum grade of “D-” is required to satisfy all General Education Requirements.

I. Common Contexts
Common Contexts courses must be taken at Westmont College or at an approved institution similar to those in the Christian College Consortium. For transfer students, the Common Contexts requirements are prorated at one course in each of the two subcategories for each full year of attendance at Westmont until either graduation or the subcategory has been completed.

A. Biblical and Theological Canons

1. Life and Literature of the Old Testament

2. Life and Literature of the New Testament

3. Introduction to Christian Doctrine

B. Introduction to the Christian Liberal Arts

1. Philosophical Reflections on Reality, Knowledge, & Value

2. World History in Christian Perspective

 

II. Common Inquiries – Courses satisfying each of the 8 categories.

A. Reading Imaginative Literature

B. Exploring the Physical Sciences

C. Exploring the Life Sciences

D. Reasoning Abstractly

E. Working Artistically

F. Thinking Globally

G. Thinking Historically

H. Understanding Society

 

III. Common Skills and Emphases

A. Three writing-intensive or speech-intensive courses:

1. Writing for the Liberal Arts

2. Writing/speech within the major

3. Writing/speech outside the major

B. Quantitative and Analytical Reasoning

C. Modern / Foreign Languages

D. Justice, Reconciliation and Diversity (effective Fall 2023)

E. Physical Education (four 1-unit courses) Fitness for Life plus three activity courses. For transfer students, the Physical Education requirement is prorated at one course for each full year at Westmont College. In any case, Fitness for Life is required, At total of 8 PE Activity units, at the rate of 1 course per semester, may be applied to the degree.

 

IV. Compassionate Action (effective Fall 2015)

Complete one of the following two options:

1. Serving Society; Enacting Justice

2. Communicating Cross-Culturally


Note: Although mathematics competency is no longer a GE requirement, students who do not have three years of high school mathematics, including Algebra II, or who have not satisfied the requirement by means of their SAT or ACT Math score must successfully complete (C-) a Westmont-approved mathematics course (College Algebra and above) at a community college or other institution of higher education. The units from this course will be transferable to Westmont. Until this requirement is met, students will not be allowed to enroll in any mathematics classes at Westmont.

E. ACADEMIC MAJOR

The student must complete the academic major requirements outlined in the catalog that was in place at the time of their initial enrollment at Westmont, or an interdisciplinary major as approved by the Academic Senate; reapplicants may petition for catalog of current entry.

 

F. GRADE POINT AVERAGE

1. A minimum 2.0 (C) grade point average for all courses taken at Westmont is required.

2. A minimum 2.0 (C) grade point average in all courses of the major (and minor if applicable) program is required.

 

G. GRADUATION HONORS

Honors at graduation are awarded as follows:

Cum Laude:3.50
Magna Cum Laude:3.75
Summa Cum Laude:3.90

Graduation honors are determined from the cumulative GPA earned at Westmont and from Westmont sponsored off-campus programs. A minimum of 56 units must be completed at Westmont (including Westmont sponsored off-campus programs) to be eligible for graduation honors. Graduation honors and awards announced at Commencement are based on the cumulative GPA at the conclusion of the preceding fall semester. The honors printed on the diploma and transcript are based on the cumulative GPA at the time all academic work has been completed and posted to the academic record.

H. DEGREE CONFERRAL DATE

Degrees are awarded in December for those who finish at the end of fall semester, and in May for those who finish at the end of spring semester. Students who finish their degree requirements in a summer session will be awarded a degree in August.