<p>I've noticed, for a small sample of schools, that for a few social science majors, the number of required classes in the major required varies, with the public U's typically requiring 12 classes in the major, and the private U or LAC requiring 10 classes. Is this typical, or did I just come across some outliers in my small sample? </p>
<p>If it is typical, why? Perhaps larger schools offer more variety of classes, and smaller private schools require fewer simply because they don't offer as many classes in the major.</p>
<p>If that is typical, I wonder if it might be part of the reason for the lower 4-yr graduation rates at public schools. If students change their major or take a while to decide upon a major, it may take more semesters of classes to fit in 12 classes than 10, especially if there are some chains of prerequisites.</p>
<p>Is fewer required classes in the major a reason to either choose or avoid a particular college? For an undecided student, perhaps fewer classes in the major is advantageous.</p>
<p>I don;t know if it is typical, but many of the higher end LACs we’ve looked into have a typical 4 course/semester load vs 5 or 6 classes at the big Us. I would think the credits at the LACs are 4 credit course vs a typical 3 credit.</p>
<p>I agree with Longhaul but another factor are breadth requirements. I’m not sure of the nature of your small sample, but if the ‘small schools’ are liberal arts colleges, they likely require more breadth across areas (for pedagogical reasons, recognizing the huge value in breadth and cross-discplinary study) at the expense of credits available/required within a particular major or area of specialization. I’m a fan of big schools for some reasons, but I also think the breadth is a critical element of an undergraduate education.</p>
<p>Some of those courses in the “typical 4 course/semester load” may actually be more equivalent to 1.5 or even 2 courses if you account for the credit of a normal course and the workload involved. </p>
<p>At my LAC, I’ve taken courses which each ranged from 3 to as much as 6 credits*. As such, while someone may seemingly be only taking 4 courses…they may actually be taking the equivalent of 5 courses…and sometimes more. My LAC’s normal course is typically 3 credits with the possibility of courses with greater credit/workloads. In looking at a friend’s Columbia College catalog…it seems they have a similar system of assigning credits to specific courses. </p>
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<li>Excluding exco courses and winter term –> semester elective 1 credit courses such as Chinese calligraphy.</li>
</ul>