<p>^There is a difference between taking a course in a weaker (as in more difficult for me) subject area voluntarily and taking it because otherwise I can’t graduate. Ahem, MIT. I’ve had plenty of core requirements in high school, regardless of the quality of the courses, and I’m loath to go through that again. I believe that I can become a well-rounded, liberally educated person without distribution requirements or a core curriculum; clearly, some colleges agree with me.</p>
<p>If the work I will do in cogsci will require me to have college-level knowledge of biology, then knowing that, I’ll probably choose a different major, because I wouldn’t be happy in a lab doing bio-related work. (And yes, I do have some lab experience with independently designed research… it’s as much of a slog as lab assignments.) There is a reason, after all, that I started out with an interest in “Symbolic Systems” before doing anything more than smiling and nodding at “Cognitive Science.” </p>
<p>I’m essentially looking for a cogsci program where I can take the equivalent of symsys. More empirically based programs are a negative–though I might end up with one, and be happy with it, I’d prefer not.</p>