How open is the open curriculum?

How open is the open curriculum?

Here is a summary of degree requirements at some colleges that are commonly named when “open curriculum” is mentioned on these forums:


College         Major   Writing Quant   Foreign Dept    Div     General
                                        Lang    Limit   Limit   Educ

Amherst         Yes                                             3% first year seminar
Bennington      Indiv   Yes     Yes                             "Plan" approved by advising must include breadth; field work
Brown           Yes     7%                                      13% H/SS for ABET majors
Evergreen State
  BA program    No
  BS program    No                                              40% in NS including 27% upper division
Grinnell        Yes                             <39%    <75%    3% first year tutorial
Hamilton        Yes     9%      3%              <=50%           physical education
Hampshire       Indiv                                           13% total in 4 out of 5 areas
New College FL  Yes     3%      3%                              25% total including at least 3% in each of H, SS, NS
New School
  Eugene Lang   Yes     6%                                      3% first year advising, 6% University Lecture
NYU Gallatin    Indiv   3%      3%                              21% seminars, 6% H, 6% SS, 9% history/culture
Oberlin         Yes     6%      6%                              6% each of H, SS, NS
Redlands
  Johnson Center        must get faculty approval for individualized open curriculum option
Rochester       Yes     6%                                      9% each of H, SS, NS; 16% H/SS for ABET majors
Smith           Yes     3%                      <=50%           13% total in 4 H/SS categories for ABET majors
Vassar          Yes     3%      3%      6%      <=50%   <=75%
Wake Forest             must get faculty approval for individualized open curriculum option
Wesleyan        Yes                             <=50%

Percentages are percent of total credits for the bachelor's degree.
Students are assumed to enter without advanced credit or placement.
Students with advanced credit or placement may not need to take all requirements.
H = humanities
SS = social science
NS = natural science
"ABET majors" = ABET-accredited engineering majors
"Quant" = math or quantitative reasoning requirement
"Dept Limit" = limitation on credits from any one department
"Div Limit" = limitation on credits from any one division (H, SS, or NS)
"General Educ" = general education (some may be fulfilled by student's major)

Is there a way you can word-wrap that? Hard to scroll horizontally to read every line.

Maybe like this?



College         Major   Writing Quant   Foreign Dept    Div<br>
                                        Lang    Limit   Limit   

Amherst         Yes<br>
3% first year seminar

Bennington      Indiv   Yes     Yes<br>
"Plan" approved by advising must include breadth; field work

Brown           Yes     7%<br>
13% H/SS for ABET majors

Evergreen State
  BA program    No

BS program    No<br>
40% in NS including 27% upper division

Grinnell        Yes                             <39%    <75%<br>
3% first year tutorial

Hamilton        Yes     9%      3%              <=50%<br>
physical education

Hampshire       Indiv<br>
13% total in 4 out of 5 areas

New College FL  Yes     3%      3%<br>
25% total including at least 3% in each of H, SS, NS

New School
  Eugene Lang   Yes     6%<br>
3% first year advising, 6% University Lecture

NYU Gallatin    Indiv   3%      3%<br>
21% seminars, 6% H, 6% SS, 
9% history/culture

Oberlin         Yes     6%      6%<br>
6% each of H, SS, NS

Redlands
  Johnson Center<br>
must get faculty approval for individualized open curriculum option

Rochester       Yes     6%<br>
9% each of H, SS, NS; 16% H/SS for ABET majors

Smith           Yes     3%                      <=50%<br>
13% total in 4 H/SS categories for ABET majors

Vassar          Yes     3%      3%      6%      <=50%   <=75%

Wake Forest<br>
must get faculty approval for individualized open curriculum option

Wesleyan        Yes                             <=50%

Percentages are percent of total credits for the bachelor's degree.
Students are assumed to enter without advanced credit or placement.
Students with advanced credit or placement may not need to take all requirements.
H = humanities
SS = social science
NS = natural science
"ABET majors" = ABET-accredited engineering majors
"Quant" = math or quantitative reasoning requirement
"Dept Limit" = limitation on credits from any one department
"Div Limit" = limitation on credits from any one division (H, SS, or NS)
"General Educ" = general education (some may be fulfilled by student's major)

Nice table.
Horizontal scrolling works fine for me just by dragging the grey bar at the bottom.
(Chrome browser on a 15" Macbook).

Hmm. Looks bad on mobile browsers.

On mobile browsers, it looks better if you tell the browser to get the desktop site, if you can read the small print.

May have to look into narrowing the columns or something like that.

When we were looking at Wesleyan- which we all loved and think is one of the best colleges- we found its claim of an “open” curriculum to ring a little hollow. Here is what their website says:

https://www.wesleyan.edu/registrar/majors_information/general-education.html#

So, basically, it is not fully “open” if you want to get honors (and how many of the highly ambitious kids who get into a college like Wes would arrive at college saying, ‘Oh, I don’t plan to get honors’?!!), but rather has distribution requirements that look just like those of Williams and many other similar colleges. Are those distribution requirements onerous? Probably not, to most people. But still not as “open” as the above chart makes it sound…

Just adding to my post above, here is another link to Wesleyan’s website about general education requirements, for the university overall as opposed to linked to majors:

https://catalog.wesleyan.edu/academic-regulations/general-education-expectations/

Want honors? You need to take three courses in each division.

Wesleyan honors and some majors noted. Though the optional honors GEs in question look similar in volume to Rochester, which seems to be seen as “open curriculum” on these forums for some reason.

Posters often recommend schools with minor requirements because colleges aren’t clumped into curricular categories; they exist on a spectrum. Some are much closer to an open curriculum than others.

One can certainly quibble about the degree to which a college curriculum is open, but most students prefer more options than Brown, Amherst, and Evergreen State.

Interesting to me that every single one of these (except Evergeen State?) has something beyond the major required, even if just one semester long class (the 3% schools).

Is Brown a year-long class, at 7%?

https://www.brown.edu/academics/college/degree/curriculum/writing-requirement indicates that two writing courses (out of 30 total courses) are required.

QUOTE=OHMomof2

[/QUOTE]

Yes, Evergreen State’s BA program is completely open; the only requirement to graduate is completion of 180 quarter credit units (= 120 semester credit units): https://www.evergreen.edu/registration/degrees

Revision that may be more readable:


College         Major   All   Dept  Div   Wri Mat Hum Soc Nat FL   Other
                        GE    Limit Limit             Sci Sci
Amherst         Yes      3%                                        3% first year seminar
Bennington      Indiv   "Plan" approved by advising must include breadth; field work
Brown           Yes      7%                7%
  ABET majors   Yes     20%                7%     13% H/SS
Evergreen State
  BA program    No
  BS program    No      40%                               40%      40% NS must include 27% upper division
Grinnell        Yes           <39%  <75%
Hamilton        Yes           <=50%        9%  3%                  physical education
Hampshire       Indiv   13%                                        13% total in 4 out of 5 areas
New College FL  Yes     25%                    3%  3%  3%  3%      25% total including 3% in each of H, SS, NS including math course
New School
  Eugene Lang   Yes     15%                6%                      3% first year advising, 6% University Lecture
NYU Gallatin    Indiv   50%                3%      6%  6%  3%      21% seminars, 9% history and culture
Oberlin         Yes     31%                6%  6%  6%  6%  6%
Redlands
  Johnson Center        must apply for faculty approval for individualized open curriculum option
Rochester       Yes     34%                6%      9%  9%  9%
  ABET majors   Yes     22%                6%     16% H/SS
Smith
  general       Yes      3%   <=50%        3%
  Latin Honors  Yes     28%   <=50%        3%  3%  6%  3%  3%  6%  3% history
  ABET majors   Yes     22%   <=50%        3%      6%  3%      6%  3% history
Vassar          Yes     13%   <=50% <=75%  3%  3%              6%
Wake Forest             must apply for faculty approval for individualized open curriculum option
Wesleyan
  general       Yes           <=50%
  Honors        Yes     28%   <=50%                9%  9%  9%

Percentages are percent of total credits for the bachelor's degree.
Students are assumed to enter without advanced credit or placement.
Students with advanced credit or placement may not need to take all requirements.
ABET majors = ABET-accredited engineering majors
Major = whether a major is required
All GE = all general education requirements; may overlap with major
Dept Limit = limitation on credits from any one department
Div Limit = limitation on credits from any one division (H, SS, or NS)
Wri = writing requirement
Mat = math or quantitative reasoning requirement
H or Hum = humanities
SS or SocSci = social science
NS or NatSci = natural science
FL = foreign language
Other = any other general education requirement

Colleges with notably flexible curricula often enlace the freedom from structure with perhaps more important academic aspects. Most courses will be made available to most students at the most truly open of these schools, and choice of major will not be restricted. By this associated criterion, then, some “less-open” colleges may actually be desirably open, while even some of the “open” colleges listed above may be undesirably restrictive for some students in some instances.

Corrected version of the above:


College         Major   All   Dept  Div   Wri Mat Hum Soc Nat FL   Other
                        GE    Limit Limit             Sci Sci
Amherst         Yes      3%                                        3% first year seminar
Bennington      Indiv   "Plan" approved by advising must include breadth; field work
Brown
  general       Yes      7%                7%<br>
  ABET majors   Yes     20%                7%     13% H/SS
Evergreen State
  BA program    No       0%
  BS program    No      40%                               40%      40% NS must include 27% upper division
Grinnell        Yes      3%   <39%  <75%                           3% first year tutorial
Hamilton        Yes     13%   <=50%        9%  3%                  physical education
Hampshire       Indiv   13%                                        13% total in 4 out of 5 areas
New College FL  Yes     25%                    3%  3%  3%  3%      25% total including 3% in each of H, SS, NS including math course
New School
  Eugene Lang   Yes     15%                6%                      3% first year advising, 6% University Lecture
NYU Gallatin    Indiv   50%                3%      6%  6%  3%      21% seminars, 9% history and culture
Oberlin         Yes     31%                6%  6%  6%  6%  6%
Redlands
  Johnson Center        must apply for faculty approval for individualized open curriculum option
Rochester       Yes     34%                6%      9%  9%  9%
  ABET majors   Yes     22%                6%     16% H/SS
Smith
  general       Yes      3%   <=50%        3%
  Latin Honors  Yes     28%   <=50%        3%  3%  6%  3%  3%  6%  3% history
  ABET majors   Yes     22%   <=50%        3%      6%  3%      6%  3% history
Vassar          Yes     13%   <=50% <=75%  3%  3%              6%
Wake Forest             must apply for faculty approval for individualized open curriculum option
Wesleyan
  general       Yes           <=50%
  Honors        Yes     28%   <=50%                9%  9%  9%

Percentages are percent of total credits for the bachelor's degree.
Students are assumed to enter without advanced credit or placement.
Students with advanced credit or placement may not need to take all requirements.
ABET majors = ABET-accredited engineering majors
Major = whether a major is required
All GE = all general education requirements; may overlap with major
Dept Limit = limitation on credits from any one department
Div Limit = limitation on credits from any one division (H, SS, or NS)
Wri = writing requirement
Mat = math or quantitative reasoning requirement
H or Hum = humanities
SS or SocSci = social science
NS or NatSci = natural science
FL = foreign language
Other = any other general education requirement

Perhaps you may want to start a separate thread comparing colleges based on things like:

  • Percentage of majors that are limited-enrollment (requiring additional admission selection).
  • Percentage of undergraduates in limited-enrollment majors plus unsuccessful applicants to limited-enrollment majors.
  • Percentage of courses that are full, unweighted.
  • Percentage of courses that are full, weighted by number of students in each course plus number of students on the wait list.