<p>I know that some LACS and universities have open curriculum. How about those with really weak distribution requirements like that of Bowdoin College, in which a student only has to take a single class from each category, so that he/she can freely design his/her coursework for the rest classes? I like such schools because I want to study variety of science classes, including math, physics, biology, and chemistry without being annoyed by heavy requirements of humanities. </p>
<ul>
<li><p>Could you tell me some selective schools with weak distribution requirements? </p></li>
<li><p>Basically, how many classes, unrelated to his major, per semester should a student in a typical university take?</p></li>
</ul>
<p>Brown and Grinnell are two with no distribution requirements. (Grinnell has a required writing intensive freshman tutorial on any one of dozens of topics including science topics). </p>
<p>There is no answer to your second question. It can be different for any given semester depending on the major, what else you are doing outside of class, and what your future plans are (study abroad? a research project that will take a lot of time? your ‘season’ for your sport? a graduate level test you are prepping for?)</p>
<p>You would take between 8 and 11 classes per year. During your first year, I would say you should expect of a bare minimum of 7 classes outside your major, whether for distribution requirements or just by choice, simply because there aren’t tons of first-year classes you can take in a subject you hope to major in (unless you’re already advanced). If there are only small distribution requirements, then you could possibly have 1 freshman seminar and 2 in each of the sciences, with the rest in other areas of interest, but I wonder whether your adviser would really allow you to take 8 sciences classes, 1 FYS, and only 1 class outside science your freshman year - I assume they’d want you to learn about different perspectives and ways of learning so even if you’d have lots of leeway in choosing what to study I imagine you’d be encouraged to take a certain number of classes outside of the sciences.</p>
<p>Thanks for giving me a specific number. In your case, I will totally follow what my adviser will say, since I actually know that only taking science classes isn’t a practical choice in American university.</p>
<p>Brown and Amherst are the best known “no breadth requirements” schools (however, Brown does have humanities and social studies requirements for its ABET accredited engineering majors).</p>
<p>In practical terms, most liberal arts (including science) majors’ requirements (not including breadth requirements) take up about 30-40% of the courses or credits one needs for a bachelor’s degree. Engineering majors typically have about 25% math and science, 20-25% humanities and social studies, and 40-55% engineering.</p>
<p>There are so many schools that fit this criteria. I suggest you choose schools you would be interested in (for whatever reason) and then look at their gen ed requirements. I know even at a more structured school my daughter’s voice lessons counted for her English requirement.</p>