<p>im wondering if williams has stringent core requirements for its students. would someone who doesnt love math and science struggle to succeed academically at williams. ideally i would just take IR and poli sci classes.</p>
<p>Williams doesn't have a core curriculum at all. The only thing is, before the end of junior year, you should have taken at least 3 classes from each division [DivI - Arts, DivII - Social Sciences, DivIII - Math/Sciences]...then beyond that, there are other rules like: you can't take two classes with the same prefix in one semester, you must take at least 2/3 quantitative courses [math, phys, econ, compsci, or anything else involving calculations] and 3 writing intensive courses before you graduate.</p>
<p>All this is off the top of my head, so it may not be quantitatively accurate, but that gives you a good idea. You can pretty much do what you like as long as you fulfil those requirements, and the earlier you get them out of the way, the better. </p>
<p>But to answer your question: you absolutely don't have to struggle with stuff you don't like. You won't get stuck, cos there's always a way to get around the obstacles. You'll find interesting stuff to take care of your requirements. Things are quite flexible here to some point, at least</p>
<p>The no-two-classes-with-the-same-prefix rule is only for freshman year, after that you can take two theater/poli sci/chem/whatever classes at once if you want to. Divisional requirements are easy to fulfill, very few people have trouble there. Many departments have non-major classes for people just looking to fulfill a requirement with an interesting class but aren't planning to go any further in the department.</p>
<p>I agree with Jrock that the requirements are far from onerous, but you can't (and, frankly, shouldn't) stay within only two departments for your entire education. </p>
<p>Check out the online course catalog for specifics, it's very easy to find on the website.</p>
<p>i think it is just 2 writing intensive courses (not 3) before you graduate...</p>
<p>Yeah, you're right. One by end of sophomore year, one by end of junior year.</p>