Academic Program Guidelines and Requirements

Planning Programs

At Sarah Lawrence, each student’s program consists of three courses, allowing for intensive study in each field. Every course requires that students spend at least 15 hours weekly in study, for which they earn 10 semester hours of credit a year. Most courses are full-year courses. Sarah Lawrence offers a full range of courses in the humanities, history and social sciences, creative and performing arts, and natural sciences and mathematics.

Each student, in conjunction with her or his don, plans a program for a single year in such a way that the sequence of studies from year to year is well designed. For some students, a four-year program shows an increasing specialization; for others, who may have begun with highly specialized interests, the process of education broadens their interests and reveals new and sometimes more important ones; and, for still others, a program shows a fairly even division of emphasis, perhaps between two fields. In order to foster the best use of a liberal arts curriculum, Sarah Lawrence asks that students and dons design programs in accordance with these basic guidelines:

During their four years, students take course work in at least three of the four academic areas. Students are required to take two full-year lecture courses or the equivalent prior to their senior year.

• Of the 120 credits required for the B.A. degree, up to 60 credits may be taken in the creative and performing arts, up to 80 in history and the social sciences, up to 80 in the humanities, and up to 80 in the natural sciences and mathematics.
• No more than 50 of the 120 credits may be earned in one discipline.
• First-year students select their courses from three different disciplines.
• Students are required to take four quarters (one year) of physical education, half of which must be completed in the first year. Registration for physical education classes takes place four times a year.
• Any student in good academic standing may audit a course with permission of the teacher. The course will appear on the student’s record as “audit.” In exceptional cases, a fourth course may be taken by students who have maintained a record of excellence in three-course programs and whose reports indicate the ability to carry a heavy workload. The Committee on Student Work reviews these requests.

Requirements for the Bachelor of Arts Degree

A Bachelor of Arts degree is awarded at Sarah Lawrence College when a student has earned 120 college credits and has been a full-time student for at least two consecutive years. A qualified candidate for the Bachelor of Arts degree must also have been a full-time student on the Sarah Lawrence Bronxville campus during either the junior or senior year.

The average graduation rate for the first-year, full-time, degree-seeking cohorts who initially enrolled in fall 2000 through fall 2003 was 76 percent.

Students are expected to complete course requirements, to learn to think more clearly and critically, to consider fairly the ideas and attitudes of other people, to demonstrate substantial self-discipline, and to be responsible citizens and members of the College community.

Students are required to take four quarters (one year) of physical education, half of which must be completed in the first year. Registration for physical education classes takes place at the beginning of each semester.

Sarah Lawrence College’s academic policies and procedures are detailed fully in the Student Handbook.