Credit hours to complete a major should comprise a reasonable proportion of course work that must be taken in residence at The University of Iowa. A list of CLAS majors is available at this link.

Ordinarily, a maximum of 56 semester hours of credit from one academic department is accepted toward the minimum of 120 semester hours needed for the BA or BS degree. The BFA and BM degrees do not fall under this 56-hour rule. Some departments have been granted a special exception to this rule as well.

In many cases, students may use courses approved for the GE CLAS Core to satisfy requirements for majors, minors, and certificates in addition to the CLAS General Education Program.

Students in CLAS graduating with the BA, BS, BFA, and BM degrees must earn a minimum grade point average of C (2.00) in the following GPA calculations:

• All college work attempted (both at UI and at any other institution)
• All work undertaken at The University of Iowa (cumulative UI GPA)
• All work attempted in the major (cumulative GPA in the major, regardless of institution)
• All University of Iowa work in the major (UI GPA in the major)

Within the College's requirements for graduation, departments may restrict the use of transfer credit  and credit by exam applied toward the requirements for a major. Such restrictions must be approved by CLAS but are encouraged for intermediate and upper-level courses in the major.

The College does not allow P/N courses to count for the major (for exceptions in cognate areas, see the Academic Policies Handbook).

Departments proposing a new major should follow these guidelines.