The Big 10

You are learning every day—at work, in your family, in your community, through challenges, leadership, care, and survival. The Big 10 Competencies exist to help you name, claim, and grow that learning.

The Big 10 are not about checking boxes or sounding academic. They are about making your learning visible—to yourself, to the college, and to the world beyond College Unbound. 

They help you slow down, reflect, and ask:
Who was I when I arrived at CU? Who am I now? Who do I aspire to be? 

Each Big 10 represents a core skill that employers value, communities need, and leaders rely on—things like communication, critical thinking, equity, resilience, collaboration, and lifelong learning. These competencies, which you  further develop in your core courses, give you a shared language to describe your growth across classes, work, activism, caregiving, and lived experience.