<p>I hear that at Harvey Mudd it's much more difficult to take the classes you want because of the common core. Is it really that restrictive or is that just a pessimistic way to look at it? And how does the humanities requirement work? Can I take classes on whatever humanities courses I want or does Harvey Mudd give you specific classes to take?</p>
<p>Also, I wasn't sure where to post this next question but I thought maybe people attending Rice on this forum may know about this:
Rice says they have a physics/astronomy department and on their supplement form where they ask you to mark which major you want to go into, they only have Physics and Astronomy, not Physics. Then on the website it talks about specific classes needed for each major, and it separates the physics majors from the astronomy majors. So my question is: Can I go to Rice and major in JUST physics, and not astronomy, or do the two always come in a package?</p>
<p>The core at Mudd has been updated as of this coming school year to be less restrictive, but no one has experienced it yet, so it’ll be hard to tell how effective it is.
For humanities, 12 (though it may be 11 now) humanities courses must be taken, and there are restrictions on these. The department defines three areas of HSA courses: humanities, social sciences, and arts, languages and literature. You must choose a concentration in a certain subject of humanities/social sciences/arts (a lot of people do economics, I’m attempting media studies, full list here: [List</a> of Approved Concentrations](<a href=“http://www.hmc.edu/academicsclinicresearch/academicdepartments/humanitiesandsocialsciences1/nosidebar/concentrations.html]List”>http://www.hmc.edu/academicsclinicresearch/academicdepartments/humanitiesandsocialsciences1/nosidebar/concentrations.html)) in which you take at least 4 courses. You have to then take at least two courses in different subjects in the two other areas. Half of the courses should be at Mudd. The other half can be at any of the other 5C colleges. The college doesn’t really dictate which courses you take, you just need to fulfill your concentration and distribution requirements. The first semester writing course is the only one chosen by the college for you.</p>
<p>trueblue, I believe so. I think the confusion might arise because Rice has Astronomy and ASTRO-Physics. Just got back from Rice Wednesday night. It’s a great institution!</p>
<p>Harvey Mudd’s core could be considered restrictive in that it is comprised of a lot of classes, which reduces the number of “extra” classes you can take considering you have major and humanities requirements as well. Whether it prevents you from taking any classes you want however, depends on what kind of classes they are and how many. If the classes you want are hums, braden described how the humanities requirements work, and I’m sure you can fit a lot of classes you want within them. If they are engineering classes, the major requires at least 3 electives so you can choose what you want there. “Extra” classes, those that satisfy no requirements but provide the units needed to graduate, have been limited to just one class for engineers, but with the new core should be 2-3 classes. You can also overload and take extra classes, but I wouldn’t recommend it.</p>
<p>Also, the director of Los Angeles’ Griffith Park Observatory is a Pomona College alum, and he is quite active with the Pomona Astronomy department. </p>