To graduate, students in the HCDE bachelor's program must complete 180 credits of the following:
- General Education Courses (100 credits)
- Core & Elective Courses (82 credits)
- Free Electives (as needed to complete 180 total credits)
Students are encouraged to use UW's MyPlan to plan their schedule. Current and prospective HCDE students may also run a DARS report through MyUW to track their progress. Students interested in substituting a course required by HCDE curriculum with another must fill out the form linked below.
General Education Requirements
HCDE undergraduate students complete up to 100 credits of general education requirements, which includes 12 credits of written and oral communication; 5 credits of Reasoning; 3 credits of Diversity; 30 credits in Arts and Humanities and Social Sciences; and 50 credits of math/statistics and natural science courses. See below for overlap allowances and restrictions.
Written and Oral Communication (12 credits)
English Composition: 5 credits from the University list.
Writing: HCDE 231 or ENGR 231; 4 remaining credits met by coursework in the major
A&H and SSc (30 credits)
Of the 30 credits, minimum 10 credits in Arts and Humanities (A&H, formerly VLPA)
Of the 30 credits, minimum 10 credits in Social Sciences (SSc, formerly I&S)
A minimum of 3 credits of Diversity (DIV) is required. The DIV credits may overlap with other degree requirements.
Courses that count toward these requirements are identified as A&H, SSc, and DIV in the quarterly Time Schedule and in the UW Catalogue.
Math/Statistics and Natural Science (50 credits)
Students must complete a minimum of 15 credits in each of the two following areas, with the remaining 20 credits completed from either list:
Math/Statistics
EDPSY 490 MATH 120 MATH 124 or Q SCI 291* MATH 125 or Q SCI 292* MATH 126 or 136* |
MATH 134 MATH 135 Any 200+ MATH course QMETH 201 Q SCI 381 |
STAT 220 or 221 or 290* Any STAT 300+ course |
*Additional credit may not be earned for a course that overlaps in content with a previously completed course. See course catalog descriptions for specific credit allowances for overlapping courses.
A minimum of 5 credits of Reasoning (RSN, formerly QSR) is required. The RSN credits may overlap with the math/statistics courses above.
Natural Science
ASTR 211 ASTR 301 ASTR 321 ASTR 322 ASTR 323 ASTR 423 ASTR 480 ASTR 481 ATM S 211 ATM S 301 ATM S 321 ATM S 358 |
ATM S 370 ATM S 451 ATM S 452 ATM S 458 ATM S 480 BIO A 201 BIOL 118 BIOL 119 BIOL 130 BIOL 161-162 BIOL 180 BIOL 200 BIOL 220 |
BIOL 250 |
ESS 212 ESS 213 ESS 313 Any 400+ ESS course GENOME 371 GEOG 205 Any 300+ MICROM course PHYS 114/117 or 121 or 141* PHYS 115/118 or 122 or 142* PHYS 116/119 or 123 or 143* Any 224+ PHYS course PSYCH 202 |
*Additional credit may not be earned for a course that overlaps in content with a previously completed course. See course catalog descriptions for specific credit allowances for overlapping courses.
Core & Elective Courses
HCDE undergraduate students complete a minimum of 82 credits of core courses, which includes 41 credits of HCDE core courses, 12 credits of engineering fundamentals, 4 credits of experiential learning, and 25 credits of HCDE electives.
HCDE Core Courses (41 credits)
Students must complete all of the following HCDE courses:
HCDE 300 HCDE 301 HCDE 308 HCDE 310 HCDE 313 |
HCDE 318 HCDE 321 HCDE 322 HCDE 492 HCDE 493 |
Course descriptions are available here.
Planned course schedule is available here.
Engineering Fundamentals (12 credits)
Students must complete at least one of the CSE courses below, plus enough additional credits from the list to reach a minimum of 12 credits.
A A 210 A A 260 CEE 220 CSE 121 or 142* |
CSE 122* CSE 123 or 143* CSE 160 E E 215 |
HCDE 496 (up to 4 credits) IND E 250 I S 300 M E 123 |
M E 230 MSE 170 PHIL 120 |
*Additional credit may not be earned for a course that overlaps in content with a previously completed course. See course catalog descriptions for specific credit allowances for overlapping courses.
Experiential Learning (4 credits)
Students must complete 4 credits from the following list. Credits received from HCDE 499, INFO 497, or ENGR 498 credits associated with the Emerging Leaders in Engineering (ELE) Program may also be considered for this requirement via course substitution petition (see below).
ENGR 321 - Internship |
HCDE Elective
Standard option: Minimum 25 credits of the following HCDE courses.
HCDE 410 HCDE 411 HCDE 412 HCDE 417 HCDE 418 |
HCDE 419 HCDE 438 HCDE 439 HCDE 440 HCDE 451 |
HCDE 485 HCDE 496 (up to 4 credits) HCDE 497 (up to 10 credits) HCDE 498 |
Course descriptions are available here.
Planned course schedule is available here.
Human-Computer Interaction option: To complete the HCI elective option, see the HCI Degree Option page. Admission to this degree option will be suspended effective Autumn 2023.
Data Science option: To complete the data science elective option, see the Data Science Degree Option page. Admission to this degree option will be suspended effective Winter 2024.
Free Electives
As needed to complete the 180-credit degree requirements.
Course Substitution Petition
Use this form to request that a course be applied toward a particular graduation requirement. Substitutions will not be made for Written and Oral Communication, A&H and SSc, or in most cases, HCDE Core Courses.
You are required to submit a syllabus via the form.