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, social sciences, creative 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 also asked 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.
• 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.