<p>Hello everyone! This is my first thread here, so go easy on me.</p>
<p>I'm very interested in Sarah Lawrence's program of self-directed learning, and I'm fairly committed to dedicating myself to it. However, I'm a bit nervous.</p>
<p>I am an intellectual sort of person that wants a rigorous, wide-ranging education in literature, and I'm somewhat worried that the Sarah Lawrence program of curriculum will limit my abilities to have an expansive education. As you can only take 12 (or 24, I guess) courses over college, I'm sort of concerned that I won't receive the same education as I would at say, Bard or another school within my range.</p>
<p>Any posts that either alleviate (or confirm!) my concerns would be great.</p>
<p>My child is a first year at SLC and I have watched as the educational experience there has unfolded. Literature is quite strong at SLC. And although the normal course load there is 3/semester, you will notice that the “conference” system transforms this into quite a bit more work than it seems. “Conferences” are, essentially, independent studies that emerge within the context of a particular course. They can come to require a lot of reading and writing, though alternate forms of expression are also possible. If two of your three courses in a semester were “conference” courses, you would be facing as much if not more work than a more standard 4 courses/semester load. Here is a brief description of “conferences:”</p>
<p>My impression is that your courses will be more interdisciplinary and wide-ranging than courses in many colleges, so you may cover some of your different interest areas in a single course. Also, with the emphasis on independent learning and working with tutors, you should be able to get support to pursue your interests.
Are there specific offerings at Bard you don’t see in the SLC catalog? If so, you should ask the Admissions people how to pursue those subjects. Don’t be afraid of a substantive conversation with Admissions - at good colleges, this is welcomed.</p>