Any school you go to will have General Education (“gen-ed”) requirements necessary for graduation, no matter what your major is. Schools do this to create the “well-rounded” student, giving us a glimpse of every main focus of study as we work toward a specific degree. Gen-eds also allow us to explore all disciplines as we decide what area of study we wish to pursue. They could help shape what we find interesting. No one ever wants to take extra classes that don’t seem interesting at first, but gen-eds are actually a good way to broaden your knowledge. Though what I learned in my biology class freshman year may not have had the most long lasting impact on my collegiate career thus far, I still learned valuable information that could make for some fun facts now.

To graduate from UMass you need a maximum of 39 gen-ed credits, depending on your pre-existing credits or placement exam scores. These credits consist of essential subjects including social studies, global studies, math, biology, physical science, and writing. Luckily, as a large school with many areas of studies, you can take classes you find interesting even if you're not interested in the subject. For example, I was bored to tears in physics in high school, so I plan to take Food Science to fulfill my physical science credit. This way, I can study something I want to learn about while fulfilling a graduation requirement. You can find a list of classes on the UMass website and what corresponding gen-ed requirement they fulfill.

As your collegiate career progresses and you start to take classes primarily for your major, your gen-ed credits will be a nice break from what you’re consistently studying. They’re not meant to be hard or a nuisance to your schedule, but rather just allow you to broaden your scope of learning. They’re usually 100-level classes, making them easier than your higher departmental courses. As I said before, the classes may not be beneficial to your career in the long run, but they still are a way to potentially do well while receiving graduation credits.