Minimum Academic Preparation Standards
Students who graduated from high school in spring 1988 or later are expected to have completed courses that meet certain minimum academic preparation standards (MAPS) before enrolling at CU-Boulder. The MAPS courses for the College of Arts and Sciences are listed below.
Students may be admitted to CU-Boulder even though they have not met all the MAPS requirements. If that is the case, they are required to complete the appropriate MAPS courses once enrolled, and the credits may be applied toward graduation. All MAPS deficiencies must be completed prior to graduation from CU-Boulder. Students may also complete missing MAPS course work in high school, at other colleges or universities, or through approved credit-by-examination programs. MAPS deficiencies not completed in high school or college are factored into the admission decision.
The policies of the Boulder campus with respect to completing MAPS course work after enrollment are as follows.
- Appropriate missing MAPS course work is included in the hours for graduation.
- All course work toward fulfillment of the MAPS must be taken for a letter grade.
- Students are required to enroll in and complete at least one MAPS course each term, beginning in the first term of enrollment, until such time as all MAPS are completed. This policy applies to new freshmen, transfer students, and students transferring from other academic units on the Boulder campus and from other campuses of the university. Failure to comply with this requirement may result in suspension at the end of the term in which the student ceases to complete missing MAPS units.
- All students who first enroll in one academic unit at CU-Boulder and subsequently transfer to another unit are required to meet the MAPS specified for the new unit, irrespective of their completion of MAPS units in their previous college or school.
- Students in double-degree programs must meet MAPS requirements of both degree-granting units.
- Students must consult with a CU-Boulder academic advisor (or read their college or school's academic publications) to determine which specific courses may be used to meet a MAPS requirement.
- Students who complete 50 percent or more of their secondary schooling in a non-U.S. system are exempt from MAPS.
The College of Arts and Sciences MAPS requirements apply to students who graduated from high school in the Spring of 1988 or later. Students are required to complete 16 units of course work at the high school level or to make up the deficiencies at the college level.
The MAPS requirements consist of 5 categories: 4 units of English, 3 units of mathematics, 3 units of natural science, 3 units of social science and 3 units of a single foreign language. The following is a list of the MAPS requirements for the College of Arts and Sciences and the Colorado Community College courses which meet the MAPS requirements. Some courses are listed under more than one MAPS area. Please note that a single course may be used to fulfill only one MAPS deficiency. Community College Core courses taken at Colorado Community Colleges , where applicable, may be used to fulfill both a MAPS requirement and an Arts and Sciences Core Curriculum requirement.
ARTS AND SCIENCES (16 units)
One unit equals one year of high school study or one semester of college course work. Students should consult their high school transcripts to determine the number of units and discipline areas completed.
- 4 units of English (includes 2 of composition)
- 3 units of mathematics (includes 2 of algebra and 1 of geometry)
- 3 units of natural science (includes 2 of laboratory science, 1 of which must be either chemistry or physics)
- 3 units of social science (includes 1 unit of U.S. or world history and 1 unit of geography. If U.S. history is used to meet the history requirement, then the geography requirement may be met with 1/2 unit of geography and 1/2 unit of world history.
- 3 units of a single foreign language*
*In order to graduate from the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Colorado at Boulder, all students must demonstrate third-semester college proficiency in a single foreign language.
