<p>That’s really interesting- Swat is one of my top choices too, even with the requirements…I just love it too much! I thought about Bryn and Haverford, but some people on this forum told me that it’s a huge hassle for Bryn and Haverford students to cross-major at Swat. I’ll visit them both and if I really love one, I’ll find some way to make it work out. Yeah, I’m already checking out the Five Colleges, Claremont colleges, and Mac and Carleton…haha, good job reading my mind! I sent an email to Amherst asking whether I’d be able to complete my entire major by fulfilling the requirements specified by UMass, but I haven’t received a reply yet. I emailed Smith with the same question and was told that it is definitely possible, but, like you said, the commute would be a hassle. Anyways…good luck with admissions and everything :). I know we’ll both end up happy somewhere…but right now I feel totally stressed about the college search! I have a list of 22 colleges I’m interested in applying to, and that definitely needs to be narrowed down because those application fees add up. And managing 22 apps would be a nightmare.</p>
<p>Bard is not really the same as Bennington and Marlboro in terms of academics. Bard has a fairly “traditional” liberal arts curriculum with several requirements (although they’re pretty easy to work with), whereas the other two are primarily student-directed, like Hampshire.</p>
<p>I yield to jarsilver’s expertise in alternative school. XD</p>
<p>Honestly, the Five-College commute sounds much worse to me than the Tri-Co one, although it is a hassle both ways; but that may just be mental perception. If you go to BMC/HC, maybe you could live a semester at Swat and take a lot of ling courses.</p>
<p>Yeah, I’m pretty sure majoring at another school is a lot more rare in the Five Colleges than it is in the Tri-Co. Taking a class at another Five Colleges member is no big deal, but completing a major there would probably be a big headache. Amherst and UMass are pretty close, though.</p>
<p>I met a few people at Vassar, which has virtually no requirements, that were pursuing independent majors in linguistics or similar subjects (one person called her major “language acquisition”).</p>
<p>^ Yes, being in the same town is useful. And since linguistics is such a small field, you’ll likely have quality classes even at the big state U.</p>
<p>Vassar lists linguistics as an independent-major example, so it has been done; looking at the course offerings, though, that “linguistics” major must have been made up of a lot of language offerings–there are very few true linguistics offerings. And with recent budget cuts (google S.A.V.E. Creative Writing for linkage), I predict ling at Vassar will fall even more by the wayside. Oberlin, too, has a surprising lack of ling oferings when all of its peer Midwestern schools offer a linguistics major.</p>
<p>Yeah, I looked at Vassar and though they offer a self-designed major, I looked at related disciplines in the course catalog like anthro, psychology, and foreign languages, and it didn’t look like there was much to choose from.</p>
<p>Based on what jarsilver said, it seems like the only one of the Five Colleges that I could go to without driving myself insane is Amherst. I’m going to check it out this summer, but based on some things I’ve read about it on CC (preppy, snobbish), I don’t think it’d appeal to me. But I don’t tend to buy into stereotypes, so who knows…</p>
<p>oh, Brandeis has a linguistics program and has reasonable distribution requirements.</p>
<p>Princeton kind of. they make you take a certain number science, history ect. but the actual class you take is totally your choice.</p>
<p>^ Princeton does have distribution requirements, but rather more on the strict than the lax side. “A certain number science, history[, etc.]” is the very definition of distribution. I’m also not at all a fan of the only-one-major policy, although that is OT from this discussion.</p>