Tailor your degree and earn it faster with a Bachelor of Arts (BA) in General Studies degree online. This meaningful milestone can help you maximize already-earned credits and get a degree in the shortest amount of time especially if you're already working in a field you love. At Southern New Hampshire University, your general studies degree can give you a strong foundation in general education courses, including writing, humanities, history, and science. You'll also develop in-demand career skills like critical thinking and communication to gain an edge in the competitive job market.

Learn how to:

- View human culture and the world through multiple lenses

- Adapt communication for various audiences

- Analyze and assess the value of information

- Show empathy toward diverse cultures and perspectives

- Make ethical decisions to promote positive change

- Apply classroom learning to real world situations

With the help of your academic advisor, you'll focus your online general studies degree on a concentration that aligns with your interests and career goals. Concentrations for a bachelor of general studies include information technology, business, communication, creative writing, psychology, sports management and so much more. SNHU's general studies degree online provides a solid foundation of critical thinking and other career skills that can give you a competitive edge. The curriculum offers a broad base of liberal arts coursework that can be customized to your previous college experience and interests. In the general studies program, you'll be on the fast track to a valuable 4-year degree.

"The (general studies) program is designed to help busy students finish their degrees, said Priscilla Hobbs, SNHUs associate dean of general education and interdisciplinary studies. If you have earned credits from other institutions and experiences, but have yet to earn your degree, this program lets you leverage those credits toward a degree that will open opportunities toward achieving your professional goals."

A general studies degree at SNHU includes 120-course credits. Requirements include 42 general education credits, 12 credits in a concentration of your choice, a 3-credit degree planning course, and 63 elective course credits. SNHUs generous transfer policy accepts up to 90 transfer credits toward an online bachelor's degree program. This means you could take as few as 5 terms or 10 courses to complete your degree.

"I was able to transfer in 90 credit hours from other universities and complete my degree in a year," said Cody McKee '20. Not only did McKee save time he gained a much more enriching learning experience. "I have been enrolled in 3 other universities prior to my time at SNHU," McKee said. "I feel like I actually learned more in SNHU classes than any of the other institutions I attended. The discussion posts and essays really required you to know the material you were studying and dive into it in a way that I never felt like I had to before."

The general studies bachelor's degree program kicks off with a degree planning course. This course helps you establish goals and outline your coursework so you have a clear path to graduation. General education courses are designed to give you in-demand skills that employers want and lay the groundwork for lifelong learning.

In these courses, you'll explore a broad range of educational topics, including:

- English composition

- Mathematics

- Humanities

- Social sciences

- Natural sciences

- History

"The courses you take for your general studies degree concentration depends on your career goals and interests. There are several concentration options that you may choose, each focused on the essential skills desired by employers across the spectrum," Hobbs said.

"These skills may be oriented toward a discipline, such as accounting or psychology, or toward a valuable skill, such as leadership or creative problem-solving. With the variety of options, you can choose the path that works best for you and your goals." The concentration options can be explored in more detail during the degree planning course at the start of your program. Your academic advisor is also available to support you through the process of choosing a concentration. Kaylee Castillo '21 chose to pursue the human resources concentration. "I wanted to study this program to gain knowledge pertaining to the human resources field," she said. "

"I was attracted to the organizational leadership courses like Human Resource Management, Employee and Labor Relations, and Total Rewards. Cody McKee '20 studied a concentration that could open up doors for him. "I chose a concentration in environmental science," he said. "I have worked in lawn and landscape my entire life, and I was looking to find a path that would help me branch off of that into a role in conservation and land management."

You can customize your general studies degree even further with your elective courses. Electives give you the flexibility to dive deeper into your chosen concentration. You can also use your electives to explore another area of interest. If you've completed college coursework in the past, electives make it easy to transfer past credits to your SNHU degree. Throughout your degree program, SNHU's student support team can help you stay on track with your studies and get you to graduation and a career faster.

Our admission team tries to make sure you don't miss out on any transfer credit opportunities so you can complete your degree program as quickly as possible. Your academic advisor can offer guidance and support throughout your degree program. And SNHUs career advising team can help you land an internship to strengthen your degree learning. An internship is not required to earn a general studies degree. But it can give you a leg up when applying for jobs, particularly if you find an internship position that aligns with your degree concentration and career goals.

An internship can also further develop the career skills gained through your online general studies degree courses and help you apply them to real-world situations.

These skills include:

- Communication: Effectively share ideas and adapt a message to reach a variety of audiences.

- Collaboration: Build partnerships and work effectively with others to reach a common goal.

- Critical thinking: Analyze information and assess its value to make data-driven ethical decisions.

- Problem-solving: Connect online learning to practical solutions for real-world problems.

Part of our mission to expand access to quality higher education means removing the barriers that may stand between you and your degree. That's why you can apply at any time and get a decision within days of submitting all required materials. Acceptance decisions are made on a rolling basis throughout the year for our 6 (8-week) undergraduate terms.

$150 Graduation Fee, Course Materials ($ varies by course)