All students pursuing a bachelor’s degree must complete The Bethany Plan – a detailed academic and co-curricular program, focused on building skills employers seek, and grounded in the liberal arts. Bethany has achieved national distinction as one of the few institutions requiring a Senior Capstone Project and written and oral Senior Comprehensive Exams.
First-Year Experience
The First-Year Experience provides a small seminar of students with a faculty mentor/advisor and is designed to meet the following goals:
- To provide a bridge between the high school experience and the Bethany experience to provide students resources to engage actively with the campus and community
- To provide resources to explore self-identity and personal growth in the context of the college experience and to demonstrate an appreciation for physical, mental, emotional, intellectual, and financial well-being
- To improve college-level writing, communication, research, and critical thinking skills in the context of both a focused subject area and the broader liberal arts with a faculty mentor and guide.
Students will:
- explore identity development, including personal and professional identification
- employ and enhance college-level academic skills through a topic-driven learning experience work as a professional learning community to better the campus or community through a service learning project
- develop an appreciation for and demonstrate areas of personal health and
wellness - increase awareness and knowledge of and utilize available Bethany staff and resources and
informational technology - familiarize themselves with the history and importance of the liberal arts traditions
All students who meet one of the following conditions are required to complete successfully the First-Year Experience, including BFYE 110, 111, and 112 or HSEM 101 and 102.
- The student has graduated from high school but never attended college, even if she or he has completed college credits while in high school.
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The student has enrolled in another college and is transferring fewer than 13 credits to Bethany.
Students who have been enrolled as a full-time, degree-seeking student at another institution and who have completed 12 or more credit hours at that institution are considered transfers and are exempt from the Bethany First-Year Experience (BFYE) requirement.
Further information on the BFYE courses can be found in the First-Year Experience section.
Note on Completions: Students who do not successfully complete their first-year seminar in the fall term will be required to make up this course during the spring term of their first year. Students who do not successfully complete BFYE 112 will be required to register for, and successfully complete, the course in the May term of their first year, at additional expense. If these courses are not successfully completed, students will not be eligible for graduation.
Capstone Project
Each student must successfully complete a project consistent with the guidelines and requirements of the department of the student’s major. Guidelines are available from the chair of each department. A student may propose a capstone project earning two, three, or four credits as determined through consultation with the faculty of the major department. Projects are proposed, scheduled, and evaluated in accordance with guidelines established by each major department. The project is supervised and evaluated by the student’s capstone project advisor and by at least one additional faculty member. The project grade is submitted by the department chair. The completed project is filed in the library archives.
Senior Comprehensive Examination
Culminating the Bethany education is the Senior Comprehensive Examination. Comprehensive examinations assure the College of qualitative accomplishment and lead the student to a sense of self-confidence and achievement.
A student who has attained senior standing, has completed all the requirements for a major, and has a grade-point average of at least 2 .0 in the major is eligible to take the Senior Comprehensive Examination. To take the Examination, the student must register for the appropriate zero credit 495 placeholder course. Students must submit a Comprehensive Exam Registration Form in the spring semester prior to the academic year in which they will take the exam period. The application form can be obtained from the Office of the Registrar or online and requires the signature of the department chair, and a copy of the student’s most recent Degree Audit must be attached. The Examination, which is offered in January and in May, includes both written and oral sections. In some majors, portions of external examinations may be part of or prerequisite to the Senior Comprehensive Examination. A full description of the policy governing the administration of the Senior Comprehensive Examination may be found in Bethany College Policy Manual, Vol. VI, Academic Policies.
Students who wish to take the Comprehensive Examination must resolve their financial obligations to the institution at least one week prior to the first day of the written section of the examination. Examination dates are listed in the College calendar which appears on Page 2 of this Catalogue.
Students who have completed all requirements in their majors except the senior project may take the examination in January with the consent of their advisors. Students who do not pass the examination in January may take it again at the end of the Spring semester or at any time that it is regularly given within the following twelve months. If the student fails a second time, the student may petition the faculty for a re-examination during the following year. No student may take the examination more than three times. Students who do unusually well in the Senior Comprehensive Examination earn a pass with distinction.