2026-02-26
Students and SGA react to a semester of new WSE Foundational Abilities course requirements
The Whiting School of Engineering (WSE) Class of 2029 experienced the first year of the curriculum redesign labeled as "Foundational Abilities" (FAs), replacing the previously existing distribution requirements that require 18 credits that are categorized under humanities (H) and/or social and behavioral sciences (S), a First-Year Seminar and 6-12 credits of writing intensive courses that can also be double-tagged for fulfilling the S and H requirements listed above.The six new FAs are as follows: FA1 Writing and Communication, FA2 Scientific and Quantitative Reasoning, FA3 Creative Expression, FA4 Engagement with Society, FA5 Ethical Reflection and FA6 Conceiving of and Realizing Projects. FA1 requires one foundational course in writing and one in oral communication, followed up by two ePortfolio assessments in those two courses that require a minimum assessment of "Proficient." FA2 requires four to six courses and a laboratory associated with one of the natural science courses, most of them being fulfilled by a Whiting School of Engineering majors' requirements. A minimum of 12 credits combined under FA3 and FA4 must be completed. FA5 requires one foundational course in ethical reflection with its respective ePortfolio. Lastly, FA6 consists of at least two ePortfolio assignments completed by taking a class that has an assignment eligible for the requirement.These changes follow the Krieger School of Arts and Sciences' (KSAS) updated FA system that was first implemented in the 2024-2025 school year, albeit with differing categories and credit counts. KSAS's FA system also has six categories: FA1 Writing and Communication (15 credits, including 6 within the major), FA2 Science and Data (15 credits), FA3 Culture and Aesthetics (15 credits), FA4 Citizens and Society (15 credits, with 3 credits falling under FA4.1 Democracy), FA5 Ethics and Foundations (15 credits), and FA6 Projects and Methods (6 credits). Courses cannot double count across multiple FA areas, except for Writing and Communication and Projects and Methods.One significant step taken by the University to help streamline the transition is the launching of Stellic, a degree audit program with features that display the FA category a specific class might fill, which has been offered to assist students in mapping out four-year plans.Similar to the criticism toward KSAS FAs, WSE students expressed their concerns about how these new changes increase the difficulty to double major and graduate early, criticizing the University's lack of transparency regarding the FA requirements.In an interview with The News-Letter, an anonymous freshman going by the pseudonym "Robert," majoring in Computer Science, spoke about his experience with FAs and meetings with academic advisors. Robert noted that he happened to take one of his favorite courses from the semester because he registered to a philosophy course for the FA4 requirement. He credited the requirement as an incentive for students to explore outside of their comfort zone, but highlighted his frustration with the current tagging of courses."Firstly, courses for FA6 were not listed in the course catalog. The reason, according to [academic] advisors, is because freshmen can't take FA6 courses in their first semester. I find that kind of off-putting because what if there is an FA6 course that has three semesters worth of pre-requirements?" Robert continued, "That's more of a niche concern but in general, some of the FAs seem pretty arbitrary, specifically with the way they are categorized. Why does Elements of Macroeconomics fulfill FA4 when Elements of Microeconomics does not? The thing is, you can't impose that expectation and then restrict the avenues in which you can pursue those FA requirements. I feel like if they expanded the catalog of courses that fulfilled every FA requirement, it would be a lot better."Currently, the public course catalog does not have a tag for FA6eP, which would be the label corresponding to courses that fulfill the ePortfolio requirement under FA6.Robert also explained that accounting for FAs in his schedule has shaped his decision to double-major and take on minors."When double-majoring, you're unable to take enough higher-level courses in both majors, and I think the FA requirements amplify that. They impact my decision [against] double majoring across schools; since there are already more credits to take for a single major, my double major itself seems less productive. What FAs mean is that instead of going in depth into both majors of choice, you go a little bit in depth into one, fulfill the other [major's requirements], and then the rest of your credits are for meeting FAs. Especially for somebody who wants to graduate early, the FAs [make] minoring [difficult]. Without the FAs, I could possibly have done a minor in Entrepreneurship and Management. That's 14 credits. But with the FAs, that's just not an option," Robert stated.Another freshman, going by the pseudonym "Claire," discussed her experiences double-majoring in Biomedical Engineering (BME) and a KSAS major. As BME is her primary major, Claire is under the WSE FA system."The system is so complicated; you could very easily make a mistake and just take a class that you don't actually have to take. Also it makes double majoring across schools so hard. Whereas you could see our upperclassmen, and they are triple majoring, becoming specialized and ready to go into the career that they want to go into."Claire also stated that one of the reasons for choosing to attend the University was due to her campus tour guide talking about their ability to triple major, one of which included Claire's primary major, BME. She learned about the changed FAs requirements during orientation. Claire expressed her understanding of the administration's reasoning behind the FAs, but she disapproved of the current state of its implementation."I get the merit of FAs - being a well-rounded student - because Hopkins has a lot of pre-med kids, and we want our future doctors to be aware of things outside of medicine. But [the FAs] are unfair because it hinders our actual progress. We need to be able to find the line between creating informed students, but also letting us do what we want to do in our jobs and our education."Tyler Lee, a senior double-majoring in Materials Science and Engineering and Philosophy, offered his thoughts as a student under the previous distribution requirement system before the rollout of the FAs in an email to The News-Letter."My program of study requirements [under the previous system] enabled me to pursue a second major in humanities without having to take substantially more credits. Furthermore, flexibility in my schedule has allowed me to explore research that isn't strictly in my primary department. I'm grateful that I had the time and credit availability because these other topics, while not essential to the completion of my primary degree, are things that I would not have had the chance to learn about if the curriculum had been more restrictive. Looking back, the best aspects of my undergraduate education have been exploring topics that are personally interesting to me," Lee wrote.The Student Government Association (SGA) has been in contact with KSAS Vice Dean Erin Rowe and WSE Vice Dean Michael Falk regarding students' perspectives on the FAs. In an email to The News-Letter, the SGA Executive Board, as well as senators in SGA's Academic Affairs committee, outlined its progress navigating these changes, highlighting the diverse array of experiences heard from WSE students. Complaints include difficulties in planning FA requirements with classes required for their major and double-majoring. SGA also received perspectives from students who are still able to graduate early by a semester or a year. During Fall 2024 and Fall 2025, then-Freshman Senator and current Sophomore Senator Kevin Xu and current Freshman Class Council member Issac Zhang included reducing the intensity of the FAs in their individual campaign priorities for the Class of 2028 and Class of 2029 SGA Freshman Elections, respectively.One of the steps SGA took was to conduct a survey regarding student responses to bring to the administrations of both schools. A timeline provided by SGA to The News-Letter displayed that in January 2025, a survey about student reactions to FA requirements was sent out to the Class of 2028, whose KSAS cohort was the first to experience the school's new FA requirements.Questions from the survey asked about the importance of FAs guiding the student's decision to attend the University, when they first learned about FAs, the FAs' impact on their career plans and more. Results of the survey were shared to the general undergraduate population through Xu's personal website. SGA first met with Rowe and Falk in March 2025 and then held an Executive Board meeting with them during November 2025, and they summarized their interactions in an email to The News-Letter."[Through these meetings,] Dean Rowe agreed to push for retroactive tagging of some courses with FAs but was reluctant to push for the alteration of the FA system in a significant way, [including] the solutions we proposed based on survey results such as more double counting and reduced number of credits. Dean Rowe cited the recency of the implementation and stated that any review and changes to the curriculum itself would only be considered in a few years once the effects are fully clear and the new students are no longer affected by the knowledge of the less restrictive distribution system."The statement added that they intend to continue working on the FAs with the arrival of the class of 2029 SGA representatives. SGA also addressed that the WSE FAs were made to be less credit-heavy than KSAS requirements due to the larger credit hour requirements for WSE majors."Since the implementation of FAs, the university's communication with students has improved. Stellic has been a helpful tool for students to create 4-year plans that [fulfill] the FA requirements but it is not enough," SGA wrote. "There is still a large disconnect between students' understanding of the FA system, the information shared by academic and/or faculty advisors, and the new graduation requirements themselves. As the class of 2029 begins to plan their sophomore and junior years, we are communicating with the schools and sharing the need for more thorough and consistent communication."SGA commented that this year's progress appears to be more productive, although results will be limited to potential intersession and summer courses, as well as FA workshops.Keerthana Rajesh and Alex Pan contributed to the reporting of this article.
