All colleges require General Education for graduation and transfer students should complete as much of this as possible prior to transfer. Palomar maintains the following General Education patterns to meet the General Education requirements for all UC and CSU campuses and many California Private colleges. Students are urged to see a counselor for help in choosing the most appropriate General Education pattern. Students may meet GE/Breadth requirements in three ways:

1. IGETC (Intersegmental General Education Transfer Curriculum). This GE pattern meets all lower division GE
requirements at all University of California State University and is recommended for those who are certain of their plans to transfer to a CSU campus. The IGETC pattern is also acceptable at some Private/Independent colleges; however, verify with a counselor that the IGETC is the appropriate pattern for you to use at one of these campuses, or for your major at any campus!

2 CSU GE (California State University General Education). This GE pattern is designed for students who wish to transfer to a campus of the California State University and is recommended for those who are certain of the plans to transfer to a CSU campus.

3. By meeting the individual campus GE pattern.

Important Notes about General Education
Advantages and Disadvantages of:

IGETC
The most popular of the GE pattern options, IGETC ( Intersegmental General Education Transfer Curriculum) will complete the Lower Division G.E. requirements for the California State Universities (CSU) and the University of California (UC) campuses (except for Roosevelt College and Revelle College at UC San Diego and some UC Professional Schools).

Advantages:
1. Keeps students' option opens if they don't know where they are going to transfer
2. With careful selection, closely parallels the CSU GE Pattern
3. Provides flexibility in course selection with most areas
4. Completion of IGETC satisfies high school admission requirements, which some students may be missing
5. Completion of IGETC satisfies UC transfer admissions criteria

Disadvantages:
1. Certain high unit majors (i.e. sciences) require more lower division preparation, leaving little room to complete a GE pattern before transfer
2. Students completing math admission requirements in high school may not wish to take more math, as required on the IGETC, if math is not required for their major
3. Must be completed before enrolling at the transfer institution in order to "count" for meeting graduation requirements.  If IGETC is not completed, students must fulfill the GE pattern of transfer campus before graduating from that campus
4. No grade lower than a "C" may be used on the IGETC. A grade of "C-" will not count
5. No foreign course work may be used to meet IGETC requirements

CSU G.E. Breadth
The 24 campuses of California State University system have agreed upon a CSU G.E. pattern that can be certified by Palomar to satisfy lower-division requirements for any CSU campus. There are still variations among the CSU campuses as to how each views the CSU G.E. breadth, but the following comments represent the safest course of action.  For most schools, students must complete all of "Area A" and "Area B.4" plus 30 units of G.E. course work before transfer. Completion of these courses will make up any high school deficiencies for admission to a CSU campus.

Advantages
1. Pattern usually does not have to be completed prior to transfer. Students can finish any uncompleted "area" after transfer
2. Grades of "D" may be used except for "Area A" and "Area B-4"
3. Compared to IGETC, CSU GE/Breadth is more flexible and offers more choices in many of the Areas
4. Students transferring to meet most CSUs can double count their Social Science and American Institutions courses; IGETC does not allow this.

Disadvantage:
Students may change their mind and wish to transfer to a UC campus, and find that they have taken courses which do not transfer, as well as find deficiencies in those courses they will need for the UC system specifically.

INDIVIDUAL CAMPUS G.E.
Each independent campus and some colleges of the UC and CSU system have their own G.E. pattern. Depending upon a student's individual case (math preparation, major, etc.), it may be easier to follow campus college-specific G.E. If students transferring to UC do not finish IGETC before enrolling, they must revert to the campus G.E. and complete any missing work before graduation.

Advantages:
1. Pattern does not have to be completed prior to transfer
2. Some campuses allow "D" grades to be used
3. Some campuses do not have math on the G.E.
4. Campus GE patterns are not certified by Palomar; each campus does its own

Disadvantage:
1. Some campuses are heavy in certain subject areas (religious studies requirements, for example; writing; math; sciences; etc.)
 

Important Notes about General Education

1. While it may be possible to transfer before completing all GE requirements, some colleges require that the entire pattern be completed prior to transfer. See minimum requirement below.
2. It is extremely important that you begin taking the English and Mathematics portions of GE as early as possible, particularly if your assessment scores indicate that you must take pre-college courses in these subjects.
Following are the minimum GE requirements that must be completed prior to transfer.

University of California Campuses (also known as the "7 course pattern")

1. English 100
2. English 202 or 203 or Philosophy 115
3. Math: One of the following: 110, 120, 130, 135, 140, 141, 205, 206, Psych. 205, Soc. 205
4. Four additional courses from two of the following three areas: (1) Arts and Humanities, (2) Physical and Biological Sciences, (3) Social and Behavioral Sciences

All of the above must be completed with a grade of "C" or better.

California State University Campuses

Completion of 30 semester units of CSU General Education courses including the "Golden Four":

1. Speech 100
2. English 100
3. One of the following: Eng. 202, 203, 115, 120, or Speech 105
4. Mathematics: One of the following: 100, 105, 106, 110, 115, 120, 130, 135, 140, 141, 205, 206, Psych. 205, Soc. 205

All "Golden Four" courses must be completed with a grade of "C" or better.

Private/Independent colleges

Private colleges vary greatly in the minimum GE requirements necessary to complete prior to transfer. See a counselor for specific information.

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