@bluebayou I’m confused. What public flagships only require 6 gen eds? UMass requires far more than that and pretty much all schools we’ve looked at require more than 6 (except for the rare schools that have no gen ed requirements). Maybe I’m misunderstanding what you’re saying.
For example, I looked up a Chem major requirements for UMass. The College requires 10 GE’s of which 3 can be satisfied by major requirements (double-counted?). That leaves 7, 2 of which are Writing courses. 1 is a basic math course, which any Chem major would pass with Calc 1. Then of course, there is 2 bio/physicial science courses which again, a Chem major will cruise thru with a Chem/science elective
What’s left is really 4 lit/hume/social classes + 2 writing classes, i.e., a total of 6 outside the field or major. My point is that a physical science major can get by with as few as 6 non-STEM courses.
Here are U of Alabama’s required courses:
Here are U of Nebraska’s:
https://catalog.unl.edu/undergraduate/academic-policies-other-units/general-education-requirements/
Here are U of Iowa’s:
https://clas.uiowa.edu/clas-core/requirements
All a lot more than 6 classes, & not much different from BC.
Yeah I’m not seeing BC doing anything ground breaking in regards to their core curriculum.
@collegemom9. Nothing nice to say…
This was about it being overly burdensome not novel.
@privatebanker I think you’re misunderstanding what I said. I’m responding to the comment about few universities having a common core. Simply untrue. BC requiring strong liberal arts is not unique. It’a not an insult, it’s a fact.
Ok. Sounds good.
The point that seems to be traveling through the thread was it was a possible burden.
Maybe not worth the time and effort.
People posted it’s not an unusual requirement. Personally, I suggest it is actually a real benefit to have distributions or core requirements. It’s a great way to be broadly educated.
It seems that no one never suggested it was “ground breaking”. The concept goes back to ancient Greece. Lol.
@privatebanker my son is going to Emory. The don’t even allow you to start your major until your junior year. It’s the ultimate liberal arts education so I certainly have no problem with the common core and it’s importance. “Ground breaking” was the wrong word to use, it’s not unusual. That seems to be what most were responding to, including myself.
@collegemom9 wow! Emory is an awesome school. Congrats. It’s just the kind of place I had hoped for my d last year.
So hard to get into these schools isn’t it? Not for the feint of heart when looking at these Uber elite USA universities.
@privatebanker Indeed.
My son applied ED so we were lucky enough to get off the crazy train in December.
And thank you 
@bluebayou Good luck to you. Glad you are having fun here.