Academic Catalog 2026-27

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General Requirements for a Baccalaureate Degree

In order to graduate from Dominican University of California with a baccalaureate (bachelor’s) degree, a student must meet all requirements in the following categories:

  1. University-wide unit, residency, and GPA requirements
  2. CORE Curriculum (CORE) requirements or Adult Degree Completion General Education (GE) requirements
  3. Major (and minor, if electing) requirements

For information regarding the CORE and GE requirements and the Major and Minor requirements, please see the applicable sections of this catalog. For information regarding the University-wide and International Language Competency requirements, please see below.

Students who have already earned a bachelor’s degree from an accredited institution and are seeking a second bachelor’s degree at Dominican are not subject to the same unit and Residency requirements; for further details, see the applicable section below. However, second degree-seeking students must meet all CORE requirements in effect at the time of their admission (either through coursework earned in a previous degree program or coursework earned toward the second degree), as well as all major requirements for the second degree.

Unit Requirements

To graduate, a student must complete a minimum of 120 semester units (effective Fall 2026).

  1. At least 36 of these 120 units must be in upper division courses, though some majors may require more than 36 upper division units. For students earning two concurrent degrees (not double majors), must complete the Upper Division requirements of both majors.
  2. A minimum of one half (50%) of the upper division major or minor requirements must be completed at Dominican.
  3. At least 30 of the student’s last 36 units prior to degree conferral must be completed at Dominican.

Residency Requirement

To fulfill the residency requirement, all students must complete at least 30 in-class units at Dominican. Up to 12 credits of unsponsored Prior Learning Credit may be used toward satisfying this requirement.

Second Degree-seeking Students: Unit and Residency Requirements

Second Bachelor Degree candidates are required to fulfill all major requirements, but CORE or GE requirements are waived. They must complete:

  1. A minimum of 30 units of coursework at Dominican for students whose first bachelor degree was obtained at an accredited University within the United States, or a minimum of 24 additional units of coursework at Dominican for students whose first degree was obtained at Dominican
  2. At least one half of the upper division units required for the major at Dominican

Effective Spring 2024: Students who have previously earned an academic Associates of Arts Degree from an accredited post-secondary Institute at the time of matriculation, will have all CORE requirements will be considered met through the AA.

GPA Requirements

A student must earn a cumulative GPA of ‘C’ (2.0) in each of the following areas:

  1. All courses taken at Dominican
  2. All CORE or General Education courses taken at Dominican
    • Students who fall below the cumulative 2.0 must make up the deficiency by (re)taking courses in disciplines in which they received a grade lower than a ‘C’ (2.0). If a student takes another course in the same CORE Category or GE area, the higher of the two grades will be used to calculate the CORE or GE cumulative GPA.
    • For CORE or GE transfer courses, each transfer course must have a minimum grade of ‘C’ (2.0) or higher to fulfill a CORE or GE requirement
  3. All college-level work completed, including transfer credit
  4. All courses which fulfill major requirements
  5. All courses which fulfill minor requirements (if a student has elected a minor)