What is the average number of courses for a college/university’s core curriculum? On a separate but related note, how many classes do you usually take just to satisfy distribution requirements and not really for your own major/pleasure?
It really depends on what major. For my school, a physical therapy major (like me) usually has anywhere from 14-17 credits per semester. A pharmacy major, on the other hand, usually has 18 credits per semester. My friend, who is a biochemistry major, has 15 credits per semester. However, programs at other schools vary so it’s really hard to tell from my pov.
To answer your second question, I usually take one to two classes out of the aspect that I’m interested in them. While my program has a lot of requirements, my AP credit took care of some of it, allowing me to take later classes earlier as well as taking interesting courses not related to my major.
Are you referring to general education (gen ed) courses that everyone has to take regardless of major?
That varies widely depending on the university and even the college within the university. The college of engineering usually has different distribution requirements than the college of arts and sciences, for example.
My university requires up to 12 gen ed courses, depending on where you place with foreign language (you have to pass 4th semester in a language of your choice). A class in your major might fulfill a gen ed requirement, and you can get credit through AP exams as well. I only had to take 6 classes for solely gen ed credit, since the rest were covered by my majors & minors, AP credit, and placement.
It really depends on the school. My son went to a Jesuit university that had a huge and fairly inflexible core. My D went to a LAC.that had very flexible distribution requirements. This information can be found on most college’s websites.