Professional Readiness Experience (PRE) Graduation Requirement
The Professional Readiness Experience (PRE) is a graduation requirement designed to prepare students for the world of work by providing practical and relevant professional development experience aligned with their chosen career field. The PRE gives students the opportunity to demonstrate specific skills and experience in a real-world work setting. Students are expected to couple this experience with resume development, interview and networking skills, and refinement of professional goals.
To meet the PRE requirement, a student must meet with the assigned academic advisor to discuss the options for meeting the PRE. Most students will take a PRE designated course in their major to meet this requirement. The assigned academic advisor can share more about this option. Some academic departments require the PRE designated course within the students chosen major, but others do not. If the chosen major does not require the PRE within the major, the student may choose to pursue one of the five non-credit bearing options below upon approval of the assigned academic advisor. The Professional Readiness Experiences are:
Internship/Clinical/Student Teaching
Research
Study Abroad
Service-Learning
Leadership
Select the option that best suits your needs. If you are required to or decide to take a PRE designated course in your major, your academic advisor will need to register you for that option. If you choose to pursue one of the five non-credit bearing options upon approval by your academic advisor, go to the GWU website and access the PRE information in the Career Development section of Student Life to complete the application linked there. You’ll receive an email reply outlining your next steps from the Center for Personal and Professional Development. Students are required to complete all next steps before they can be enrolled in a PREX experience. As with any course, students will not be registered for a PREX experience after the Drop/Add period for registration as ended.
When a student is taking a non-credit bearing Professional Readiness Experience (PREX) course work will be graded on a Pass/Fail basis. Passing grades for these should reflect a quality of work equivalent to a grade of C or better. A passing grade will be indicated in the student’s records by a grade of “P”; failing will be indicated by a grade of “F”.
As these experiences do not carry credit hours, the Pass/Fail grades do not provide quality points nor are they figured into GPA calculations. A “P” (i.e. passing) in an independent PRE indicates fulfillment of the PRE graduation requirement.