College with an Open Curriculum

List down any college with an open curriculum other than Brown or Rochester.

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Smith, Hamilton, Grinnell, Amherst.

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http://collegelists.pbworks.com/w/page/16119530/Open%20Curriculum%20-%20schools%20with%20more%20flexible%20curricula

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Kalamazoo College.

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I’m pretty sure Columbia is one too.

@TheDidactic Columbia College, or Columbia University (in NYC)? Columbia University actually has a very extensive core curriculum.

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I was thinking of Columbia University…knew they were well-known for their curriculum but wasn’t sure what type of curriculum they have! That was my bad.

Re: http://collegelists.pbworks.com/w/page/16119530/Open%20Curriculum%20-%20schools%20with%20more%20flexible%20curricula

That is an odd list of “open curriculum” schools. St. John’s College has a core (“great books”) curriculum that is the entire curriculum, with no electives.

Note that many of the others are not as “open curriculum” as commonly believed. For example, Grinnell limits the number of credits that one can apply to degree requirements in any one division (division is humanities, social studies, or science) or department, effectively having some breath requirements; see http://catalog.grinnell.edu/content.php?catoid=7&navoid=1220 . Sarah Lawrence has similar limitations on how many credits may be taken in a given subject area; see https://www.sarahlawrence.edu/undergraduate/requirements.html .

Not sure how Rochester is seen as an “open curriculum” school, since it requires a major, minor, or cluster of three courses in each of the areas of humanities, social studies, and science (i.e. a basic breadth requirement).

Evergreen State probably has the most open curriculum possible for those seeking a BA degree – just take the specified amount of college credit for the degree, with no general education, major, or other courses specified; see http://evergreen.edu/registration/degrees . Amherst and Brown add the requirement to have a major; Brown also adds a writing requirement. Brown students studying in ABET-accredited engineering majors have humanities and social studies breadth requirements (though a relatively smaller amount compared to many other schools), as required by ABET accreditation.

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@ucbalumnus in case you didn’t see, the top of the list you’re referring to says “List of Schools with Different Levels of Curricular Freedom.” Many of the schools listed there have distribution requirements but no core curriculum. The only schools that have a true open curriculum are listed at the top. The reason Evergreen State is probably not counted as one of them is because they do have requirements for BS degrees. St. John’s was probably listed just because it has a very different sort of curriculum with very different types of requirements than most schools (but they do offer electives for juniors and seniors, by the way).

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@ucbalumnus in case you didn’t see, the top of the list you’re referring to says “List of Schools with Different Levels of Curricular Freedom.” Many of the schools listed there have distribution requirements but no core curriculum. The only schools that have a true open curriculum are listed at the top. The reason Evergreen State is probably not counted as one of them is because they do have requirements for BS degrees. St. John’s was probably listed just because it has a very different sort of curriculum with very different types of requirements than most schools (but they do offer electives for juniors and seniors, by the way).

Pitzer, Hampshire, New College of Florida, Eugene Lang/New School, Bennington (I think), possibly Warren Wilson . . .

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Grinnell is listed at the top, but is not a true open curriculum school, due to effectively having breadth requirements (see http://catalog.grinnell.edu/content.php?catoid=7&navoid=1220 ). Smith is similar (see http://www.smith.edu/registrar/registration_reqs.php ).

If the Eugene Lang division of the New School counts, why wouldn’t Evergreen State’s BA degree option count?

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I’m always curious for the reason for these kinds of questions. Why do you want an open curriculum? And, if it’s the case, why do you want to avoid divisional/breadth/core requirements?

University of Redlands - Johnston Center

@ucbalumnus I have no idea why they did it the way they did. I just found that list and posted it because I was trying to be helpful. I’m sorry that you have problems with it. There’s no need to attack me about it.

@juillet I think that’s kind of an odd question. Why would you not want an open curriculum? Different things appeal to different people. But anyway, I think that an open curriculum makes sense for many people. If you’re positive you know what you want to study, or you just really know what you don’t want to study but trust yourself to explore many areas, you might feel burdened by curricular requirements. It would be especially burdening for kids who spent all or most of their high school career without any electives available (like me!!)

Well, of course different things appeal to different people - that’s precisely why I asked the question :slight_smile: I’m interested in the OP’s motivations behind asking the question.

Mostly because I am quite curious about this idea that curricular requirements are a “burden” on students. I went to a college with some curricular requirements - there were some classes that we were absolutely required to take and then there were divisional requirements that I had to satisfy, but there were dozens of classes that I could’ve selected. Some of the best classes I took in college were classes I would’ve never taken on my own but were required by the divisional requirements. In fact, my favorite class in all of college was a biology class that I definitely would not have chosen to take without being required to take a science course. Many Columbia students say that their Core classes were some of their favorites or at least are a cherished part of the experience. Of course, not all students feel this way, so I like understanding the thought patterns behind people who’d simply rather not.

In addition, I feel like a liberal arts education requires a well-rounded selection of classes. Most professors at colleges seem to feel this way too; in fact, both Brown and Amherst (noted for their open curricula) note that their professors usually encourage students to select a wide range of classes in different areas. So a student saying that they wanted an open curriculum because they wanted the freedom to select any combination of classes without constraints (and made it clear that they planned to explore) would get a different reaction from me, at least, than one saying they didn’t want curricular requirements because they just want to focus on their own major.

Vassar.

@julliet there’s a lot of reasons, the most basic one being that if you’ve already established you really don’t like a specific subject, it wouldn’t make sense to go somewhere where it’s a requirement. I also think only a certain type of student would need core/distribution requirements in order to ensure that they took a wide range of courses. Many of us have a lot of interests and are intellectually curious people and would naturally want to take courses in a variety of subjects. So why would we want to get stuck taking required classes when there’s so many things we want to study?