<p>What does the core curriculum at Spelman entail and how long does it take to complete it before you can actually declare a major?</p>
<p>At Spelman you can declare a major at any time - you don’t have to finish your gen ed requirements first. But you must declare a major by the end of your sophomore year.</p>
<p>I’m just remembering off the top of my head, so you may want to check the college’s handbook but here’s what I can remember are the core requirements:</p>
<p>-African Diaspora and the World: A required year-long course that every Spelman woman must take. It’s a great class, and a great shared experience.
-4 credits of English (you can get out of this if you have a 4 or 5 on an AP English exam)
-4 credits of math (you can get out of this if you have a 4 or 5 on an AP Calculus exam)
-4 SEMESTERS (16 credits) of foreign language. You can exempt yourself from some of it if you take a placement exam - for example, I got placed into the final semester of French, so I only had to take French 202 and I was finished.
-4 credits of computer literacy. You can either take CIS 100 (which is a basic introduction to computers class) or CIS 121 (which is an intro programming class and the first class in the CIS major) to satisfy this. Or you can take the placement exam. If you know how to use a computer reasonably well, you should be able to pass this.
-4 credits of social science (psychology, sociology, anthropology, political science. You can get out of this if you have AP credit)
-4 credits of humanities (history, English, foreign language literature, philosophy)
-4 credits of a natural or physical science (computer science, physics, biology, biochem, chem, etc.)
-4 credits of fine art (drama, dance, visual art, music)
4 credits of either an international or women’s studies class. So the class has to either be focused on international studies, or on women’s studies. It can be both. There’s a list in the handbook.</p>
<p>Generally these requirements take 2 years to fulfill, but most people spread them out over the course of 3 or so interspersing them with other electives and major courses.</p>