The General Requirement requires that a student take a total of ten courses: two in each of Sectors I, II, and III; one in each of Sectors IV, V, and VI; and one additional course either in Sector IV, V or VI or in Sector VII.

In Sectors I, II and III, students may substitute one Distributional course for one of the two General Requirement courses.

Freshman Seminars count as General Requirement courses only when they are specific equivalents of General Requirement courses and are explicitly labeled as such. Other Freshman Seminars may be labeled as Distributional courses in Sectors I, II or III.

Courses that satisfy the Writing Requirement cannot also be used to satisfy any sector of the General Requirement.

All ten courses taken to satisfy the General Requirement must be taken for a letter grade, not pass/fail.

Advanced Placement credits, transfer credits, pre-College credits and study abroad courses can be counted toward the General Requirement only when departments certify that they are equivalent to specific courses at Penn (either specific General Requirement courses or specific Distributional courses). Credits not equated with specific courses at Penn can be given Free Credit and used toward majors or the free elective requirement, but cannot be used toward the General Requirement.

Courses may be used to satisfy both the General Requirement and the requirements of a major without restriction, but where courses are so used, additional Free Electives may be needed to attain the number of courses required to graduate.

Non-College courses approved for the General Requirement are counted as College courses in calculating total credits needed for graduation.