<p>Do you just have to take one course for each of the five or so requirements?</p>
<p>Honestly, the Penn website is just retarded and doesn't at all mention how many are required.</p>
<p>Thanks in advance.</p>
<p>This is for CAS btw.</p>
<p>Yes. 10char.</p>
<p>Thank you, wayward trojan! :)</p>
<p>But, I’m still somewhat confused. So, there are 5 or so sector requirements, and 12 required courses for a typical major. Are we allowed to choose the other 15 or so courses freely? </p>
<p>Thanks again! :)</p>
<p>there are seven sector requirements and 6 foundational approaches. Some courses can count for both a sector and foundation. You can double count one sector as a major requirement if you have one major, two if you are double majoring. Foundational approaches can satisfy major requirements (as in you can use more than one). The requirements here are pretty flexible.</p>
<p>To add on, in the College, the minimum is 32 credits – 12 in major and 20 electives. Electives are anything that you take that isn’t part of your major, so all of your requirements courses count toward the electives. Some majors require up to 18.5 credits, but the maximum overall College credit requirement is 36, so you will just take fewer electives to reach the minimum if you do a more intense major.</p>
<p>If you double major, you may double count many of your courses, so long as you have 18 unique courses between the two majors (making double-majoring pretty easy and popular).</p>
<p>Theoretically, you can find something like four out of the six foundational approaches that will count for both foundational and sector requirements, and if you test out of your language requirement, you could feasibly get away with taking eight courses to fulfill fourteen requirements!</p>
<p>Also, as far as planning, there are three ways to think about it (well more than three, but three common ways).
- Get all of your requirements out of the way as soon as possible. This gives you great flexibility in your later years with regard to what courses you can take as well as when you graduate. The drawback is that if you front load these courses, you may take longer to figure out what you want to major in.
- Spread your requirements out. There are fourteen requirements, requiring up to 17 courses if you start at the intro level in language and don’t double count any courses. This translates to taking two or three requirements courses each semester for eight semesters. Using this method, you can explore the different departments in the College, and you will leave the flexibility to pursue more specific passions earlier on, especially those that may not be covered in requirements. On the other hand, you will probably not enjoy all of your requirements courses, and the fact that you will be taking two courses you may not like as a second semester senior … well that just stinks.
- Push the requirements off until later. But don’t do this.</p>
<p>Realistically, you will probably find that many of your introductory courses fulfill requirements by coincidence, so it shouldn’t be too tough to fulfill them. Advice to you is to spread them out a good bit, but aim to finish up with them by the end of Junior year, so your senior year is filled with stuff you really like.</p>
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<p>Thank you for your response, chrisw.</p>
<p>Sorry if I sound dumb, but are 17 out of the 20 electives, requirements?! That’s insane. I was hoping to take a bunch of courses outside CAS as well.</p>
<p>Also, what if I test out of the language requirement, and get a waiver for certain courses? Does that mean I can substitute any courses I like for those requirements?</p>
<p>Thanks again! :)</p>
<p>Realistically, you are going to double count requirements, and a lot of the time you’ll fulfill requirements without even realizing you’re doing it. </p>
<p>I took three courses outside of the College in addition to five courses that were pure electives (the Ed Rendell course, Latin 101, Photo 1, a random politics course and an independent study). I graduated in 3.5 years with a major and a minor, and in my last three semesters I took 4, 4 and 3 courses. To say that you have flexibility in the College is an understatement.</p>
<p>^ That’s great to hear!! :)</p>
<p>So, I just have one *last question<a href=“I%20promise!%20:”>/i</a>): If a requirement course, be it a foundational approach or a sector requirement, can be fulfilled by a course in one’s major (let’s say Math 114 for Math major), can it count as having fulfilled that sector requirement/foundational approach, or will I have to also take up another course from the list?</p>
<p>Thanks again! :)</p>
<p>You can use as many foundational approaches as you want toward your major, but only one sector requirement can be used toward a major. If you double major, you can count two.</p>
<p>Realistically, however, sector requirements generally don’t overlap with major requirements. You have to really try for most majors!</p>