<p>I was wondering if anyone could weigh in on which departments at MHC are particularly strong, and which are weak.</p>
<p>I would not consider any departments “weak”. My daughter has taken courses over multiple departments (yes, distribution requirements ensure that students gain a well rounded liberal arts education), double majored and mentored in yet others. She has NEVER mentioned an easy course.</p>
<p>Perhaps you are thinking that some departments are larger than others, due to the nature/popularity of the subject. That doesn’t impact the strength of the department.</p>
<p>Mount Holyoke is a rigorous college where you will be afforded the educational opportunity of a lifetime.</p>
<p>In my experience all of the departments are excellent. I double majored in Computer Science and Philosophy but also took many classes in Psychology. All of which were fantastic.</p>
<p>I was wondering this too. While I believe that there aren’t really any deficient programs, what departments does Mt. Holyoke really excel at?</p>
<p>IMO, Mount Holyoke’s biology, chemistry, IR, politics, and religion departments are all stellar. My only complaint would be the lack of support for less-popular foreign languages, such as Arabic and Hindi. (I may be a little biased, being an Arabic student and seeing the program go through so much trouble due to lack of funding.)</p>
<p>embord</p>
<p>It’s really important to me to take Arabic in college. What sort of trouble has the department been through?</p>
<p>^ yea i was kinda hoping to sharpen my Arabic skills. Do the other 4 colleges offer easy access to their Arabic courses, if they’ve any?</p>
<p>Actually, the program will be improving this year due to the addition of a new professor to the department. Most of the problems in past years have been due to a lack of support from the Asian Studies department; we had only one Arabic professor–Dr. Mohammed Jiyad–for the ENTIRE program. To clarify, that meant he was teaching the entire first-year section (usually 40 students to start out), the entire second-year section (usually 15-20 students), and any independent study students who wanted to work with him (usually 10-15). There was also only enough money for one TA.</p>
<p>HOWEVER, never fear, this should all be changing this year! The teaching is going to be split between two different professors (Dr. Jiyad and one new one, Heba Arafah), and I will be trying to get a drop-in tutoring session together to be available to first-year students one or two times per week. Once you’ve finished Mount Holyoke’s program, many students study abroad for a semester or year, and this year Smith College is offering a Third-Year Arabic program for the first time in the Consortium.</p>
<p>I’m not trying to discourage you all–our Arabic program is good, but it’s never going to be as good as, for example, Middlebury, which is specifically KNOWN for its languages. I’d still encourage you all to take Arabic at Mount Holyoke, though, our program and Smith’s are about on-par with one another.</p>
<p>Good luck!</p>