<p>To current UChicago students (or anyone else who cares to comment): In your opinion, is there enough flexibility within the core curriculum that students are able to study the civilizations, literatures, arts, etc of non-Western cultures, if they so choose? I have heard mixed views on this, but I do know that Chicago recently reformed its civilizations requirement to make it less West-focused, which I like a lot. Overall, I guess I am just trying to ensure that I will not be limited to the Western tradition, not because I have anything against it, but because I consider it beneficial to study ways of thought that are different from our own.</p>
<p>With Humanities, Readings in World Literature, is your best bet. Sosc, frankly, is centered in the West. With Civilization studies, there are several non-Western options to take… East Asia, South Asia, all sorts of Near East and Islamic series.</p>
<p>Thanks! Yeah, as I was looking through the catalog, humanities and civilizations looked like they had a lot of non western options, but it was sosc that looked the most problematic. honestly, though, i am ok with having one sequence of western thought. it’s probably good for me. what i am also worried about is that the course catalog says that not all humanities and civilization courses are offered every year. will the african, latin american, islamic, east asian, etc courses likely be available to me? or do they rarely show up?</p>
<p>There’s no way to be sure, because they’re releasing a new catalog for the next two years, with new courses. At this point, the courses offered will either be offered every year (most) or every other year (some… I think African Civ). In any case, during your four years, you’ll certainly have a shot at all of them.</p>
<p>The Hum sequences have been pretty stable for at least 6-7 years, with everything offered every year. Civ, because there’s such a wide variety, is more subject to things like sabbaticals, but I’m certain there is a substantial commitment to having non-Western offerings.</p>
<p>Hum’s World Literature course, by the way, seems only marginally less Western-centric than its completely Western-centric brethren. There’s a smattering of non-Western readings in it, nothing more.</p>
<p>But so what? There are tons of courses that are NOT Western-centric offered at the University of Chicago. Just not so much in the Hum and Sosc parts of the Core. If you want to study non-Western cultures and traditions, you can go to town, either with your major or using electives. It’s not going to be much of a tragedy if you also have a well-grounded understanding of Western culture and thought, too.</p>
<p>Also, I took a theater and performance studies course for the Core that was Chinese Drama. It was sweet, and cross listed with the Eastern Asian Language and Civilizations major.</p>
<p>Good point. I will be fine taking some Western-focused core courses, just as long as all of them are not, and based on what all of you have been saying, it sounds like I should be good.</p>
<p>Another question – if I get a 5 on AP Calculus, will I only have to take one quarter of math?</p>
<p>^That depends on if you took the AB or BC test. A 5 on AB gets you out of one quarter of math. A 5 on BC gets you out of both. This is all a bit wishy washy, since actually no one has to take two quarters of math. However, if you use calculus to fulfill the math requirement, you must take two quarters. And two quarters of math means that you don’t have to do three of either physical or biological sciences. Keep in mind that there are ways of fulfilling the math requirement that don’t require calculus. There is a course on number theory (MATH 11200), and some of the computer sciences courses count for math as well.</p>
<p>If you consider yourself awful at math, there are certainly ways around it. But most students here just plow through calculus anyway, just because that’s how the U of C is.</p>
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<p>Actually, on the BC exam, there’s a subscore for AB. In the AP exam for BC, some questions are for AB, and some questions are for BC. So, when you are taking Calculus BC exam, you are getting scores for both.</p>
<p>…unless you are saying that University of Chicago only requires the score from the BC one.</p>
<p>^Ah. I don’t have any AP credit, so I’m not the most well-versed on this.</p>
<p>I think what they mean is this:</p>
<p>A 5 on the AP Calculus AB exam gives credit for one quarter of calculus.
A 4 on the AP Calculus BC exam gives credit for one quarter of calculus.
A 5 on the AP Calculus BC exam gives credit for two quarters of calculus.</p>
<p>As for the subscore thing, I would guess that if you got a 4 on the AB part, you wouldn’t get any credit for calculus. However, keep in mind that there is also a placement test. I’m not sure that it grants credit in the way that AP exams do, but it does determine if you should take the 130s sequence, the 150s sequence, or the 160s sequence. The 150s sequence is the one most people take. The people who take 130s are usually students who have never had calculus before, and a few students who drop from 150s placement to take an easier class. It’s still not easy by any means, but it’s not as fast-paced as the regular 150s. 160s is generally for prospective math majors and the like. Taking the 160s sequence means that students forfeit their AP credits.</p>
<p>I’ll stop ranting, since there are other threads about this. I guess my point is that the Core has options for everyone, from people who have never had any calculus to people who took classes in set theory in high school.</p>
<p>I’ll also point out that if one is bringing in credit for AP Stat, one can’t combine it with one Calc class to complete the math requirement. Was just looking at this in re: S2, who has a 4 on AB and is taking Stat this year.</p>