<p>When I searched Brown University online, most posts I saw were about open curriculum. I read some of them, but still have some questions. I am interesting in engineering majors. I saw that there are some core I need to take. So how does open curriculum work with these required course? Does open curriculum mean that I can choose the courses I like beside these required courses? If so, I thought every college or university allows students to take the course outside of their majors as long as they meet the requirements.</p>
<p>The Open Curriculum is a bit different when it comes to engineering concentrators, since the ABET-certified engineering degree requires very specific courses as well as a “core.” You will have more required classes as an engineer.</p>
<p>Brown engineering has a lot of required classes. However, outside of those classes there are no requirements (other than establishing that you can write). So you don’t have to satisfy distribution requirements or take required classes outside of what engineering demands – no foreign language, no humanities. Many colleges require that you satisfy these distribution requirements in addition to the engineering requirements.</p>
<p>And if you decide to get a BA in engineering, your ability to take a wide range of classes increases.</p>
<p>The Open Curriculum has little to do with concentrations (or majors elsewhere) which still have required courses, often organized 1/2-2/3s core + electives in that concentration.</p>
<p>The Open Curriculum is typified by the lack of university-wide common requirements, either course requirements or distribution requirements, for graduation.</p>
<p>Engineering has the largest number of required courses of any concentration, largely because of requirements set by outside organizations for certification as referred to above.</p>
<p>Typically Sc.Bs require between 18 and 21 courses, with as many as 4 being outside of the concentration but in related fields (for example, chemistry requires 4 science electives that can be in chemistry or any other natural or physical science). The AB degree requires between 10 and 14 courses, which rarely includes more than 2 courses outside of the concentration. A standard course load at Brown is 4 courses per semester for 32 total courses.</p>
<p>Thank you guys. The replies help a lot.</p>