<p>Does anybody know what the LSA (specifically honors) core curriculum is or if they even have one? I've been hearing some things about its existence but not exactly what it entails. Could someone clear this up for me?</p>
<p>yeah i've been pondering that as well, especially for bio majors.</p>
<p>core curriculum sucks...there's no two ways about it. It's the number one downside of Michigan (and why I'm looking to transfer).</p>
<p>4th year proficiency in language. (8-20 credits worth, depending on what you test in to - and many, many kids fail the third term)</p>
<p>Q/R - means calculus 90% the time - not a hard class, but I've heard some horror stories with "english speaking" GSI's. (3-5 credits)</p>
<p>R/E - thinly vieled indoctrination attempts. You will come out of this class either laughing (if you don't buy it) or a full fledged affirmative action lovin', feminism preachin', apologist if you do buy it (if you're white male). (3-5 credits)</p>
<p>ULWR - 30 page research term paper in whatever your major is (4 credits)</p>
<p>LLWR - freshman composition etc (4 credits)</p>
<p>Distribution reqs: 9 credits in social science, humanities, and natural science (at least 27 credits) the distro reqs must be outside your major.</p>
<p>...probably more I'm forgetting...</p>
<p>Then, you have major requirements, which frequently include classes outside your field. I think bio majors need to have some physics, a lot of chem, and math through calc II.</p>
<p>I can understand why the "core" may be annoying, but it is much more flexible here than it is at many other colleges.</p>
<p>First, the bad. The Language Req. is a pain. You need to have 4 terms of a language or test out of it (Most AP Language exams will exempt you if you got a 4 or 5, but for some languages like Latin, it does not.)</p>
<p>The rest of the reqs aren't bad.</p>
<p>Race and Ethnicity- One course. I personally took Orgins of Nazism for this req and it was much fun. I did not feel like I was being fed AA propaganda as many students feel the R/E req does (it's pretty hard to have AA stuff in an orgins of nazism course). People seem to be pretty polar on the AA issue here, and I can't understand why.</p>
<p>Quantitative reasoning (It doesn't have to be Calc): There are so many ways to fulfill this one with joke classes it is not even funny. There are 5 or 6 econ classes that will fulfill this w/ only basic algebra used. A Stats for non-math majors class is available as well that is really easy. (A note: I have taken math through Diff Eqs here, and only multi-variable calc was atrocious)</p>
<p>Then you need:
9 credits (typically 3 classes) of Social Science (Econ, History)
9 creidts of Natural Science/Math (classe like "coral reefs" count for this, and of course your basic chem, bio and physics do as well)
9 credits of humanities (english, art history)</p>
<p>English Comp
ULWR (a req you fulfill in your major</p>
<p>The Q/R and R/E reqs can be used to fulfill the 9 credits of SS, HU, or NS/M as well.</p>
<p>The only req that I find to be a huge pain is the language one. They are working on changing it so you only need 2 semesters of one language and 2 semesters of another.</p>
<p>-333UM</p>
<p>P.S. The honors college has a slightly modified core. I think you are limited to a particular course in a few instances.</p>
<p>
[quote]
They are working on changing it so you only need 2 semesters of one language and 2 semesters of another
[/quote]
</p>
<p>That got rejected.</p>
<p>What they are still working on is a G/S req so you can be spoon fed homosexual propoganda in addition to the R/E's AA agenda.</p>
<p>this foreign language requirement sounds very evil. what about those people who know a foreign language but can't write in it?</p>
<p>
[quote]
What they are still working on is a G/S req so you can be spoon fed homosexual propoganda in addition to the R/E's AA agenda.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Oh fer pete's sake, sign up for the Nazi class if you're so irritated. LOL It's obviously not impossible to avoid the "agenda" with the R/E requirement.</p>
<p>But for all that, come now. You knew--you had to know--this is something that the University thinks is important. You can think it's misguided to value diversity, and that's fine. There's room for a difference of opinion; lots of people share your viewpoint. But I don't understand resenting the fact that the U promotes it. It's hardly a secret; all throughout the very public legal fight over the points system, they've explained that diversity is a big deal to them, and why they feel that way.</p>
<p>It's like going to Notre Dame and being peeved that they keep talking up Catholicism; griping about how they keep shoving a papist "agenda" on you. You had to know it would happen. </p>
<p>If it's an institutional value, you're going to hear it preached. Just like they'll preach about the importance of a general education, and they'll preach about how flippin' great a research university is. It's what the institution believes in! If you don't agree, that's okay, but I think you should expect to sit through some sermonizing. </p>
<p>Maybe I'm misunderstanding your tone, though. I guess if what you're saying is, "I knew this would happen, but it's more irritating than I'd anticipated" then that makes some sense to me. That I understand--I went to a women's college and the rah-rah feminism got a little tiresome sometimes.</p>
<p>no, I don't resent that stuff, I knew what I was getting in to in that regard.</p>
<p>I think it's stupid and like 3000% over-the-top, but I knew it was coming. I'm just making sure they know it's coming, as well.</p>
<p>and, yes, I do resent the foreign language req - I would have damn near a 4 point without it. I've never been good at foreign language, I'll never speak another word of it as long as I live (Re: it's completely useless), and my 3rd semester "b-" hurt my feelings and dropped my gpa to below 3.9 for the first time.</p>
<p>I mean honestly - 16 credits for those of us who don't remember much from HS. Thats 8500$ worth of schooling I don't want or need (much more if you're oos).</p>
<p>Yeah, I get where you are coming from. </p>
<p>I was a bit snarky there, shame on me.</p>
<p>The only difference in the honors prog is that for the first term freshman year you take Great Books for your writing req. instead of some other course</p>
<p>I was just reading through the thread and I think the core curriculum is an attempt to create well-rounded, socially-aware students. My experience has been that I actually learned some of the most profound things by experiencing or learning things that I wouldn't normally want to consider learning. Sometimes the most important information we attain is the information we didn't want to attain. I also think we take our education structure for granted. In almost every Western European country, the students have to learn English and usually a third language before they even start attending universities. I could open up a large can of worms by comparing our educational system with that of a typical European country but I won't bother.
Nonetheless, I do think its crazy to force certain students to take classes that are polar opposites of their intended major. A good friend of mine is amazing when it comes to social sciences and english, but if you stick'm in a math class, he won't be able to pass it. Instead, he is being penalized with a mediocre GPA because he wasn't born a naturally well-rounded student. I wish colleges would ease up on students who are extremely gifted in one area and deficient in another. I mean no one cares that DaVinci wrote sloppily and backwards (he was -cixelsyd-). Colleges need to realize that not everyone can be well-rounded, and people can do just fine in life by milking their greatest talent whatever it may be. They would be better off with R/E-type requirements because those classes won't make or break a student's GPA whatever their major is. By the way, did the Origins of Nazism class just focus on the topic or was it basically a class on Antisemitism?</p>
<p>Am I correct in assuming that AP credits will be able to transfer me out of those 27 required ones, granted I have 9 in each? I think I get 10 for Physics B, and then Macro, Psych, Micro, APUSH, and gov should cover social sciences, and I'm going to be a math major, so that covers it right? I sure hope I get a 4 on that AP Spanish test....(Just got a middle 4 on the practice one today, but still not very confident).</p>