# What are the Ways of Thinking/Ways of Doing Requirements?

**Source**: https://advising.stanford.edu/current-students/advising-student-handbook/ways
**Parent**: https://advising.stanford.edu/incoming-students/designing

The Ways of Thinking/Ways of Doing (Ways) are Stanford's unique "breadth" requirement, and form the core of your General Education Requirements.  The Ways comprise a total of 11 courses across 8 broad areas.  Ways courses both complement the classes required for a major and may also count towards your major.

[Student Services: General Education Requirements](https://studentservices.stanford.edu/my-academics/earn-my-degree/degree-requirements/undergraduate-degree-progress/undergraduate-degree#general-requirements)\
[Ways of Thinking/Ways of Doing](https://ways.stanford.edu/)

## Ways Categories

The Ways system requires that classes be taken from 8 broad categories:

- Aesthetic and Interpretive Inquiry (AII - 2 courses)
- Social Inquiry (SI - 2 courses)
- Scientific Method and Analysis (SMA - 2 courses)
- Creative Expression (CE - 2 units in 1 or 2 courses)
- Applied Quantitative Reasoning (AQR - 1 course)
- Formal Reasoning (FR - 1 course)
- Ethical Reasoning (ER - 1 course)
- Exploring Difference and Power (EDP - 1 course)

Check out the [Ways website](https://ways.stanford.edu/) for a more detailed description of each of these categories.

This system provides a great deal of flexibility in that various classes from a range of departments can fulfill each requirement. For instance, the AQR requirement could be fulfilled by taking a Way-AQR certified course in departments such as Engineering, Economics, Anthropology, or Political Science (among others).

## Rules for fulfilling Ways requirements

Generally speaking, Ways requirements must be taken for a Letter grade.  The exception to this is a class is Ways certified and offered ONLY for a Satisfactory/NC grading option.  In that case, the class will fill that Ways category.

The other thing to watch out for is if the course is a [variable unit course](https://advising.stanford.edu/current-students/advising-student-handbook/variable-units "What Does It Mean When a Class Has Variable Units? (3-5, etc.)"), it must usually be taken for at least 3 units.  The one exception to this rule is Creative Expression (Way-CE).  A Way-CE course may be taken for fewer than 3 units (note that if you take a Way-CE class for only 1 unit you will need to take another unit of Way-CE as you need at least 2 units of Way-CE).

Some courses may be certified to fulfill more than one Way: for example, a class might be certified for both Way-AII and Way-ED.  But each course can only be counted towards fulfilling *one* Ways requirement.  If you take a course that is certified for more than one Way, you can optimize your Ways in MAP.   You can see which Ways you've fulfilled, and make changes, by going to [your MAP page](https://map.stanford.edu/).

A single course can be used to fulfill both a Ways requirement and a major requirement at the same time, or a Ways requirement and some other General Education Requirement at the same time.  For example, you could use the same course to fulfill both your [COLLEGE requirement](https://college.stanford.edu/) as well as Way-SI.

## Can I request to have a course count for Ways?

*There is no student-led process for requesting a Ways certification for a course.* Only instructors can request to have their course certified for a particular Way. Instructors apply for certification in a particular Way and then must submit course information and materials for review by the Breadth Governance Board.  Once a course is Ways certified, it is certified from that year onwards; the certification is not usually retroactive to prior years.

## Finding Ways Courses

[Navigate Classes](https://navigator.stanford.edu/classes) allows you to filter for classes that will fullfil the Ways you seek. Similarly, the [front page of ExploreCourses](http://explorecourses.stanford.edu/) links to lists of Ways-certified courses; just scroll down the page to filter for classes that fulfill a particular Way.  You can also check out our guide to [Choosing Courses for General Education Requirements](https://advising.stanford.edu/current-students/choosing-courses/gers).

## See Also

- [Ways of Thinking/Ways of Doing](https://ways.stanford.edu)
- [What are my graduation requirements and how do I check them?](https://advising.stanford.edu/current-students/advising-student-handbook/graduation-requirements)
- [Choosing Courses for General Education Requirements](https://advising.stanford.edu/current-students/choosing-courses/gers)

[Return to the Advising Student Handbook](https://advising.stanford.edu/current-students/advising-student-handbook "Advising Student Handbook")

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