<p>comfortably-numb,</p>
<p>Since Lafayette College is a liberal arts institution, students do have to fulfill a common course of study during their four years here. These required course headings make sure that all students are exposed to as many areas of study as possible. It is not resrictive in any way, and actually helps many students decide on a particular major!</p>
<p>Here it is:</p>
<p>You are required to take a First-Year Seminar (FYS) during your first semester here. These courses are designed to introduce all incoming students to intellectual inquiry through close-knit discussions, student presentations, and by writing a few college-level papers. You have a choice of about thirty FYS topics covering all disciplines, and you must rate your top five choices before arriving in the fall. I took FYS 069: Monuments, which was esentially an introduction to architecture course...cool stuff! The FYS is capped at 16 students to ensure everyone actively participates during each course session.</p>
<p>You are required to take English 110: College Writing your second semester here. Again, there are about ten sections, each with a different professor and theme. You choose the one you are most interested in. This class will help you further develop your college-writing skills.</p>
<p>You are required to take a Values and Science/Technologfyg course (VAST) during the spring semester of your sophomore year. This is just like the FYS, except this time, each course has more of a "scientific" topic. Some are about genetics, some about computers and society...you get the idea!</p>
<p>You are required to take three humanities/social science courses. You could take an art course, a course in english, foreign language, music, philosophy, religious studies, american studies, anthropology and sociology, economics and business, government and law, history, or international affairs. This requirement is easy to fulfill and gives students a lot of freedom in doing so.</p>
<p>You are required to take one math course at Lafayette. This could be a calculus course or the easier "Patterns and Order" course for those who really do not like math.</p>
<p>You are required to take two lab sciences...this could be General Bio, General Chem, Physics, Intro to Psychology, Intro to Geology, or any of the upper level courses in these departments.</p>
<p>You are required to take two "writing-intensive" courses, usually taken during the junior and senior years. They are offered in all departments, and are signified by a little symbol [W] in the course listing. They require students to write a good deal (duh!).</p>
<p>Finally, you are required to reach intermediate proficiency in a foreign language by passing two full years of one particular language. You could also fulfill this requirement by taking three history courses related to one region of the world if you are really no good at learning a second language (this is called a "culture cluster"). Placement tests are offered during the June Academic Advising Session to ensure you are placed in the correct course level coming into Lafayette.</p>
<p>As you can tell, there are course requirements...let me assure you that they are not limiting in any way. Also, keep in mind that Lafayette accepts all AP credits (a 4 or 5 on most exams will get you out of these requirements) and IB credits (a 5 or above on most exams). I came in with many AP credits and got out of the math requirement (BC Calc), the English 110 course (English Lang/Lit), and the two lab sciences (AP Bio) requirement. This allows me even more freedom in selecting courses each semester...I am able to double-major even easier now thanks to my AP credits. Even for those coming in with no high school credits, fulfilling the requirements isn't that big of a deal...people discover interests they didn't even knew they had (I am taking a religous studies course called Religions in West Africa this semester, and it is so interesting!)</p>
<p>We offer placements exams to place out of the foreign language requirement, the lab sciences requirement, and the math requirement during that June Academic Advising Session I mentioned, and a lot of students will take those to determine placement and/or place out of courses.</p>
<p>I hope my little explanation has answered your question completely. If you think of anything else, post away!</p>
<p>J</p>