Skip to content

    Join Pacific Admission on:

    • Print
    return to Undergraduate

    General Education

    General Education Requirement when applying to Pacific

    All students entering the University of the Pacific must complete an approved General Education Program before graduation. The general education program at Pacific explore the question of a good society through a series of three academic seminars. These seminars develop students' critical thinking skills about significant personal, social, and political issues by means of extensive writing, reading, and class discussion.

    The University General Education Program consists of:

    1. Fundamental Skills requirements when accepted to Pacific (reading, writing and math),
    2. Pacific Seminar requirements and,
    3. Breadth Program.

    For more information and to learn more, please visit the General Education web page.

     

     

    Students at Pacific explore the question of a good society through a series of three academic seminars. These seminars develop students' critical thinking skills about significant personal, social, and political issues by means of extensive writing, reading, and class discussion.

    Pacific Seminar I: What is a Good Society? (First Semester)

    PACS 1 is a broad introduction to the question of a good society. Based on a common course syllabus and course reader, PACS 1 is a shared intellectual experience for students and faculty. It also constitutes the first-part of Pacific's writing requirement.

    Read more about Pacific Seminar I.

    Pacific Seminar II: Topical Seminars on a Good Society (Second Semester)

    In PACS 2, students choose from over forty different seminars that examine in greater depth one or more of the themes from Pacific Seminar 1. These seminars are offered from every School and virtually every department in the College of Arts and Sciences. PACS 2 constitutes the second-part of Pacific's writing requirement, and the signature assignment is a scholarly research project.

    Read more about Pacific Seminar II.

    Pacific Seminar III: Ethics of Family, Work, Citizenship (Senior Year)

    In their senior year, students from all majors mix together again in PACS 3. This seminar is a culminating general education experience that develops students' capacities for ethical self-understanding and ethical reasoning about theoretical and applied ethical issues. The centerpiece assignment is the students' own ethical autobiography.

    Read more about Pacific Seminar III.