<p>I'm kind of interested in taking an "open/liberal" curriculum, but I don't think I want to attend a full-on liberal arts school.</p>
<p>I've heard that Dartmouth has a great liberal arts curriculum, but I was wondering, how does it compare to, say, the open curriculum at Brown?</p>
<p>Isn’t “open” about as “full-on liberal arts” as it gets?
Liberal arts is usually juxta-positioned against pre-professional curricula, as in learning to think vs. learning to do. Open and structured liberal arts both fit that bill. So what do you mean/what is “full on” in your mind? Do you mean one with requirements to ensure you touch upon all the major disciplines?</p>
<p>Sorry, yes-- I mean I am not necessarily interested in LACs like Williams, because I don’t really want to go to a small college. And I know Dartmouth isn’t the biggest school out there, but I really like what it has to offer, so I was just wondering if there were any differences between its liberal academia and Brown’s.</p>
<p>Interesting question.</p>
<p>Most top schools value the liberal arts, but they have different ways of teaching them. At Brown, like you mentioned, the curriculum is completely open. That is, there aren’t any required classes. At Columbia or Chicago, on the other hand, there’s a core of required classes that can take as many as 2 years to complete.</p>
<p>These are the two extreme ends of the spectrum. Dartmouth lies in the middle. The only required classes at Dartmouth are Writing 5 (which your SAT scores can satisfy) and a First Year Seminar. However, you must also satisfy distributive requirements, a list of which can be found here: [Distributives</a> (and commonly asked questions about them)](<a href=“Home | Undergraduate Advising and Research”>Home | Undergraduate Advising and Research) You can satisfy these distribs however you please, which gives you quite a bit of flexibility. Also recognize that there are some interesting ways of satisfying distribs. For example, you can take “Learning@Dartmouth” for PE credit, or a graphic design class in the computer science department to satisfy your art requirement. So, don’t sweat the distribs.</p>
<p>Tl;dr: Dartmouth values the liberal arts, but its curriculum is still quite flexible.</p>
<p>try this
[Let</a> me google that for you](<a href=“LMGTFY - Let Me Google That For You”>LMGTFY - Let Me Google That For You)</p>