Frequently Asked Questions

You need at least 120 earned units to graduate with a bachelor’s degree.

 A maximum of 70 units from a community college can count toward the 120-unit requirement.
At least 50 units must come from a 4-year college or university, or from AP, CLEP, or IB exam credit.

You must complete at least 40 upper-division units [pdf] total.

• Bachelor of Arts (BA): At least 12 upper-division units
• Bachelor of Science (BS): At least 18 upper-division units

You must complete at least 30 units at SJSU.

Within those 30 units:

• 24 units must be upper division
• 12 units must be in your major
• 9 units must be upper-division General Education (GE)
• Only upper-division GE (Areas B, C, D) taken at SJSU (or another CSU) can count toward the 9 upper-division GE units.

AP, CLEP, and IB credit do not count toward the residency requirement.

You must have a minimum 2.0 GPA in all of the following:

• SJSU cumulative GPA
• All college GPA
• Major GPA

Yes. You can use Grade Forgiveness for up to 16 units total. Any repeated courses beyond that will not replace your original grade.

Some requirements were temporarily suspended during Fall 2020 through Spring 2021 due to COVID-19. These exceptions do not apply outside of those terms.

You must complete at least 6 upper-division units for a minor at SJSU.

Grades are calculated on a 0.0 to 4.0 scale. No grade can be lower than 0.0 or higher than 4.0.

No. Upper-division GE credit must come from upper-division courses.

Course-to-course articulation does not always meet GE articulation. Course equivalencies apply to major course requirements only. Students will need to file a petition to request for GE equivalency.

Matriculated undergraduate students who have taken a non-articulated course that may satisfy requirements of a particular General Education or American Institutions area, will need file a petition with Undergraduate Education for review and acceptance of the course for a GE area.

Yes. Students may take courses outside of SJSU. After completing the courses, students must submit an official transcript to SJSU to have the credits transferred.

Yes, you may retake a failed course at a community college. However, the grade will not replace your SJSU grade. Grade forgiveness only applies to courses repeated at SJSU. 

Students who have been matriculated at SJSU for at least one semester, who have fewer than 60 units earned at the time of registration, and would like to register for SJSU Studies and 100W courses that require upper division standing, will need to file a petition. Students must complete the Enroll in SJSU Studies and 100W with Less than 60 Units Petition. If approved, students are eligible to enroll on the first day of instruction with an add code.

SJSU Studies are the upper division GE areas: UD 2/5 (R), UD 3 (V), and UD 4 (S).  Students must have earned at least 60 units in order to take the upper division GE courses.

The GWAR requirement may be satisfied (not waived) at another CSU campus or by approval of a Writing in the Discipline (100W) Petition. The 100W course can be waived if a student scored an 11 or 12 on their Writing Skills Test (WST) and if the student's major permits a waiver. 

Please note: WST exam is no longer offered at SJSU.

No, waivers or substitutions allowed for Area 6 (F) courses (per CSU General Education Breadth Requirements).  Courses need to be passed with a "C- or better" at SJSU. 

Students who took Area 6 (F) outside of SJSU and received a grade below a "C-" can petitioned to use the grade by emailing undergraduate-education@sjsu.edu. 

No. Courses must be officially certified for GE and match SJSU’s GE area requirements.
Courses from SJSU, another CSU, or a California Community College may not count if they are:

• Not GE-certified, or
• Certified in a different GE area than SJSU’s

No. Graduating senior status alone is not a valid reason to waive academic or graduation requirements.

Students can submit a petition to appeal such decisions under Presidential Directive 2009-05 [pdf]. Please see the Appeal a Presidential Directive 2009-05 Decision Petition for more information. 

Not necessarily. Participating in the ceremony does not mean you have completed all degree requirements. You officially graduate only when your degree is posted to your student record.

Please visit the Registrar's website for more information.

Students may check if their degree has been awarded by logging onto MySJSU to view their unofficial transcript. If your degree has been awarded, it will say "Requirements completed for Degree of BS/BA/BFA/BM".

Official proof of graduation is the student's official transcript stating that the degree has been conferred, which can be requested as soon as the degree is posted on the unofficial transcript.  

Yes, but it is not recommended. Students may apply for graduation and finish degree requirements through Open University if they are in Good Standing or on Academic Notice. In some cases, students who have already completed all degree requirements may submit a graduation application as a matriculated student (check with the Registrar’s Office).

However, students are not eligible to apply for graduation through Open University if they:

1. Need to take supervised courses (OU students cannot enroll in these)
2. Have a major, SJSU, or overall GPA below 2.0
3. Are in Disqualified academic standing (reinstatement is required first)
4. Have never been matriculated at SJSU (must be formally admitted and attend at least one semester as a matriculated student)
5. Are not ready to graduate (reapplying for admission is recommended)

If you’re unsure whether Open University is right for your situation, it’s best to check with the Registrar’s Office or an academic advisor.

CSU rules allow a maximum of 24 OU units to count toward the minimum 120 units needed for a baccalaureate degree without the need for a petition. 

Students will need to submit the Open University Coursework to Satisfy Graduation Requirements Petition to have excess units (over 24) be counted towards a baccalaureate degree. There is no limit on the number of OU units that can be approved via the petition. If all other requirements for graduation have been met, the Associate Dean of Undergraduate Education or the University Registrar can approve excess units needed to satisfy residency, baccalaureate requirements, or upper division credits. 

No, Grade Forgiveness only applies to courses for which both attempts were taken at SJSU. For more information, please visit the Grade Forgiveness page in the SJSU catalog. 

Yes, if the course is articulated with (equivalent to) our SJSU course, it will be given grade forgiveness; otherwise, the grades will be averaged. For more information, please see CSU Fully Online.

California Promise is a program to help freshmen graduate in four years and transfers graduate in two years. For more information, please visit the California Promise webpage. 

Yes, if core GE requirements were completed before breaking continuous enrollment, you can petition to return to the earlier GE pattern. It's best to do this when you apply for graduation.

• GE Pattern Fall 2021-Spring 2025, catalog term of when GE was completed will be used,
• GE pattern Fall 2019-Spring 2021, Fall 2020 term is used,
• GE Pattern Fall 2018-Spring 2019 - catalog term of when GE was completed will be used,
• GE Pattern Spring 2018 & Earlier - catalog term of when GE was completed will be used.

If you have been continuously enrolled from a community college, you can also ask your advisor to update your University Requirements catalog rights via Advisor Request (ARS).

No. Departments cannot require a grade higher than a “C” for university or graduation requirements.

The answer depends on your circumstances:

A) If you are planning to return to SJSU as a regularly enrolled student, the answer is yes. Students will need to submit an application for admission through Cal State Apply after their disqualification has been cleared. Detailed information and links to the relevant petition can be found on the Registrar's Reinstatement web page. 

B) If all requirements for graduation have been completed, it's not necessary to reapply for admissions to SJSU. However, if you have been disqualified, you must be reinstated in Good Standing prior to submitting your application for graduation.

C) If you are not planning to complete a degree at SJSU, students are not required to reapply for admissions.

Students who "stopped-out/stopped attending for more than two consecutive semester" (on academic notice or good standing) at SJSU and wishing to be matriculated back to SJSU, and are otherwise eligible for admissions as an upper division student, need to apply for admissions through Cal State Apply.

Reinstatement petitions are only for those students that were disqualified from SJSU.

Students who are eligible for reinstatement should petition for their intended major, which may or may not be the major when they were disqualified from SJSU. Students do not have to be reinstated back to their original major unless it remains their intended major. Reinstatement petitions require signatures and recommendations from the major department, and the College Associate Dean of the intended major. The Associate Dean of Undergraduate Education signature is only required when then the student's GPA is below a 2.0 or the student selected one of the categories that require their signature.

Departments and/or colleges may have their own criteria for Academic Notice and Disqualification for their majors (though many do not). Many departments will give a student a "To-Do List" to complete, with specific steps that a student needs to take in order to be (re)accepted into the original major or a new intended major. 

We encourage these students to contact us at undergraduate-education@sjsu.edu

No other form is required to be completed. 

Students need to reapply for admissions to SJSU if they stopped attending SJSU for two or more consecutive semesters or following an approved reinstatement (after disqualification).

Please note that SJSU is currently not accepting lower division transfer students and upper-division students as Undeclared. Reinstated students need to complete a minimum of 60 semester units (90 quarter units) before they can re-apply for admissions. Please visit the SJSU Admissions website for more information.

In order to be eligible for readmission after a two or more consecutive semester "stopped-out"  or being disqualified, students must:

1. have an all college GPA that is 2.0 or better; and
2. have earned 60 or more semester units (90 quarter units); and
3. satisfied the four basic skill courses with grades of "C-" or better in each.
   • Oral Communication I
   • Written Communication
   • Critical Thinking and Writing
   • Mathematics/Quantitative Reasoning

SJSU cumulative GPA (SJSU CUM GPA) determines Academic Standing (e.g., Good Standing, Academic Notice (formerly Probation), or Disqualification status). All College GPA determines admissions and/or (re)admissions to SJSU. 

Writing Skills Test (WST) is no longer required.

For first baccalaureate students at SJSU, successful completion of the GWAR means: passing a 100W course with a  grade of "C or better".

Students are encourage to take the Online WST Directed Self-Placement (WST-DSP)