<p>how much of the liberal arts experience (all-around exposure to different fields of study) do you sacrifice by committing to a specialized school in Cornell like CALS instead of CAS? I saw the CALS distribution requirements and a lot of them go into physical/life sciences. I don't really mind this but I would certainly like to study other fields at CALS (i.e. social sciences, humanities, etc.) do most ppl in CAS go into their freshman year knowing what they want to study and consequently pick related classes or do they pick classes from a wide range of fields and later decide what field they want to focus on?</p>
<p>anyone...plz???</p>
<p>well since nobody's answered...i'll do my best to throw my $.02 in. i would think, personally, that you're definitely sacrificing the liberal arts experience by going to CALS or any of the specialized schools. By definition, the specialized schools dont emphasize the liberal arts like CAS does...so you are definitely losing the liberal arts idea if you go into CALS. As for CAS, it seems like a lot of people go in <em>thinking</em> they know what they want to study, but obviously a lot of people in CAS are going to switch their majors many times...just like you would expect in a liberal arts school.</p>
<p>isn't everyone required to take a bunch of classes at CAS anyhow?</p>
<p>BUMP...thx!</p>
<p>bump....thx!</p>
<p>bump (10char)</p>
<p>lol ok</p>
<p>I've been in CAS <em>and</em> CALS so I guess I can take a stab at this question...</p>
<p>I'm currently in CALS as an AEM major after having transferred from CAS where I was bio last year.</p>
<p>You seem to be worried about getting exposure to different fields of study: and here is my opinion on that. CAS <em>forces</em> you to take a whole range of different distributions. The system is so damn complicated that even my advisor confused herself trying to figure out a way for me to do a double major. </p>
<p>Personally, I wouldn't worry about not getting exposure to different studies when you are here at Cornell. Remember that you will be attending Cornell (granted you don't go abroad) for eight semesters, and although that may not sound like a long time it is ALOT. Most majors will not require more than 6 semesters to complete. I transferred into AEM junior year and I am on track to graduate after 3 semesters if I so wished. </p>
<p>My point is that in CALS the distribution requirements are (comparatively) far less than those in CAS so at least you are given the flexibility to explore other courses of interest. Furthermore as a CALS student you can take PAM, ILR, Hotel, and CAS classes to count towards your general graduation requirements, whereas certain CAS distribution can only be satisfied by CAS courses. </p>
<p>I'm not a big fan of the requirements of either school (I'd rather take only those classes that interest me), but if I had to choose CALS is a lot more straightforward and flexible.</p>
<p>I'm a bio major in CAS who hasn't taken a single class (or felt the need to) outside of CAS. I've finished all of the CAS requirements already because I absolutely love taking humanities/liberal arts classes even though I'm a science major. I'm one of those people who love to sample courses in different departments (so far I've taken history, Spanish, sociology, psychology, english, anthropology, Asian American studies classes) and I feel the CAS requirements really encourage you to get a broad education.</p>
<p>^^^</p>
<p>sign up for an ILR class too. Just for the hell of it.</p>