Sarah Lawrence College

Student Handbook

Academic Program Planning

Student Life
Undergraduate Student Handbook Undergraduate Academic Policies and Procedures
Undergraduate Academic Policies and Procedures Academic Integrity Attendance Policies Course Registration Enrollment Status Evaluating Student Academic Progress Parental Notification Policy Academic Program Options Academic Program Planning Special Arrangements Students in Academic Difficulty Study Away and Exchange Programs Transfer Credits
Residential Life Dining Student Involvement & Leadership Spiritual Life Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion NYC & Local Area Career Services Community Partnerships Meet the Student Life Staff International Student Services Health & Wellness Campus Safety Student Handbooks Admissions

Students are encouraged to use their own interests as the key to engage with the subject matter and to choose the course of study most meaningful to them. Dons and students work together to design educational plans and approaches best suited to the students’ needs. The College’s degree requirements are designed to foster these ideals as well as to expose students to different means and methods of learning and to a variety of subjects.

Degree Requirements

Students are responsible for knowing and satisfying degree requirements. Course requirements for the Bachelor of Arts degree are as follows:

  1. Satisfactory completion of 120 credits, at least 60 of which must be Sarah Lawrence credits.
  2. Satisfaction of the residency requirement with:
    1. A minimum of two consecutive years of full-time study at the Bronxville Campus. Global education semesters cannot be used to fulfill academic residency requirements.
    2. Successful completion of full-time study at Sarah Lawrence in Bronxville for either the junior or senior year.
  3. Fulfillment of the distribution and lecture requirements as outlined below.

Students are expected to keep track of their academic progress and requirements by regularly reviewing their Credits by Distribution Area and Unofficial Transcript, both available on MySLC.

Lecture Requirement

Students are required to complete a minimum of 20 credits in lecture courses at Sarah Lawrence and are strongly encouraged to do so prior to their senior year. Students enrolled prior to fall 2020 may satisfy the requirement with four semesters of lecture rather than 20 credits, provided a minimum of three credits were earned in each lecture course.

The lecture requirement may also be met with five credits for every 15 transfer credits and/or with each Sarah Lawrence global education semester. The lecture requirement is never waived.

Distribution Requirement

Sarah Lawrence seeks to give its students a broad and balanced liberal arts background and, as such, does not impose specific course requirements. For this reason, students plan their programs with their dons in accordance with the following guidelines:

  1. The curriculum consists of four academic areas: creative and performing arts, history and the social sciences, humanities, and natural sciences and mathematics. Degree candidates are required to complete a minimum of 10 credits in at least three of the four academic areas. Practicum courses do not satisfy any distribution credit requirements.
  2. Within the 120 degree credits, a fixed maximum exists for each of the four academic areas. Students may take no more than:
    1. 60 credits in creative and performing arts
    2. 80 in humanities
    3. 80 in history and social sciences
    4. 80 credits in natural sciences and mathematics

The 60-credit creative/performing arts limit is never waived.

The disciplines included within each academic area are as follows:

Creative and Performing Arts: dance; music; visual arts which includes digital imagery, drawing, filmmaking, screenwriting, media arts, painting, photography, printmaking, sculpture; theatre; writing

History and the Social Sciences: anthropology; Asian studies; economics; environmental studies; geography; history; politics; psychology; public policy; science, technology, and society; sociology

Humanities: art history; dance history; film history; language; literature; LGBTQ studies; music history; philosophy; religion

Natural Sciences and Mathematics: biology; chemistry; computer science; mathematics; physics; environmental science

Of the 120 degree credits, no more than 50 can be in a single discipline, (e.g., math or literature or photography). In order to advance their curricular and academic interests, students may occasionally wish to seek an exception to the residency or distribution requirements. Such exceptions are decided by the Committee on Student Work in accordance with the Exceptions to Academic Policies section below.

Semester Enrollment

Students are expected to enroll in successive fall/spring semesters. If a student is not enrolled on the Bronxville Campus, it must be for one of the approved following reasons:

  • Studying on a global education program
  • Taking a leave of absence for personal or medical reasons
  • Taking a leave of absence for full-time study at another institution
  • A senior completing their final degree semester with off-campus study

View the appropriate section of the Student Handbook for more details for each of the above statuses.

Students not enrolled either at Bronxville or for one of the above approved reasons are withdrawn for failure to return. Full-time enrollment requires students to be enrolled in at least 12 credits. International F-1 students must be enrolled full time in order to maintain visa status. Sophomores, juniors, and seniors may register for up to 18 credits at no additional tuition. Semester credits over 18 are charged the regular per-credit tuition rate. Students, excluding first-years, are permitted a maximum of two semesters at part-time enrollment, not including semesters on an approved reduced course load. View more information in the Part-Time Enrollment section of this handbook. First-year students are required to be enrolled full time in three five-credit courses unless approved for a reduced course load.

Exceptions to Academic Policies

Students requesting exceptions to the College’s academic policies must email a letter of appeal to the Committee on Student Work at deanofstudies@sarahlawrence.edu. The letter should state the requirement or policy for which the exception is requested and provide a rationale for why the exception should be made. When possible, requests for exceptions should be submitted to the Committee on Student Work in the semester prior to the one for which the exception is requested.

The following academic policies are never waived:

  • The 60-credit creative/performing arts maximum
  • 20-credit lecture minimum
  • Changing a five-credit course to three credits during Add/Drop