<p>I'm a little confused about the Rice Distribution Requirements. The website says you must take 12 credit hours from each group, so does that mean 4 courses from each group for a total of 12 courses? I think 4 courses is almost a minor, wouldn't you say? And can your major requirements satisfy these requirements?</p>
<p>Yes, you’re right… 12 credit hours from each means 4 3-credit classes, and your major requirements can definitely satisfy the distribution requirements.</p>
<p>Assuming you graduate in four years taking the minimal course load per term, you’ll have 60 credit hours to do what you want (72 if you include the distribution requirements you fulfilled in your major area). Also, Rice is extremely generous with AP credit, some of which can fulfill distribution requirements. </p>
<p>The distribution requirements at Rice are very lenient compared to other schools with a core curriculum like Columbia and Chicago. I happen to think it’s a good thing. Plus, I hear Columbia’s Core is overrated anyway.</p>
<p>We have very few minors, so it really depends on what you are doing. Also, as mentioned above, you get a lot of transfer credit that can help satisfy this credit</p>
<p>Ok, thanks. Well here’s my situation: I’m definitely majoring in engineering, but I also really really like history. I don’t want to make a second history major, so can I just fill in the rest of the credit with history classes? If we’re assuming I have 72 open credit hours after a minimum course load and satisfied D3 requirements (from the engineering curriculum), can I make 60 of these history classes? (I only subtracted 12 because history classes satisfy D1 requirements)</p>
<p>Actually I don’t mean all 60 of these credit hours, because that would be more than a major I think. So can I make a big chunk of these history classes?</p>
<p>Yeah but then you would need some D2 classes (side note: aren’t history classes D2?). Also iirc, you need to take classes from at least 2 departments to fill distribution credit…you might want to verify that though.</p>