<p>How many classes do students typically take per semester at Oberlin? What's the minimum? Maximum?</p>
<p>Thanks!</p>
<p>Currently, most people take four, but some do three or five. Starting next fall, the credit system will be standardized so that everyone in the college takes four courses.</p>
<p>That’s not counting things like ExCos, athletics classes, and music lessons, which I’d bet most students take at least one of in any given semester.</p>
<p>I’m not so sure standardization is such a great idea. I admit, however, I don’t know exactly how it will work. My kid --a senior-- will be graduating in May with three majors and a minor. Would she be able to do that under standardization? Standardization sounds like handcuffs.</p>
<p>As I understand it, the new system will standardize course credit and make most courses 4 credits. Students will be required to have 32 (4 credit) courses, of which 2 courses could be fulfilled with half credit courses. Some sciences will be more credits due to labs etc. The distribution requirements appear to be changed as well…I don’t think that dramatically, but it’s a little confusing to track, so I could be wrong. I think it may be harder to take more substantive courses now, but I don’t know how it will play out.
<a href=“http://new.oberlin.edu/parents/academics/requirements-2013.dot[/url]”>http://new.oberlin.edu/parents/academics/requirements-2013.dot</a></p>
<p>The big question is why were the distribution requirements changed? Don’t fix what isn’t broken. What was wrong with the way things were? Change for the sake of change isn’t always a good idea.</p>