Science requirements in the core curriculum?

Colleges and Universities A-Z Columbia University
1

<p>Hi, I am an international student looking to apply to Columbia for 2012. While the core curriculum that Columbia is so famous for sounds completely amazing and looks to be a great learning experience, I'm not sure whether I'd be able to handle the science courses well. </p>

<p>(because of the differences in the educational system, instead of grades I'll refer to specific years instead because I'm not too familiar with the US system)</p>

<p>I did biology, chemistry and physics when I was 13-14, chemistry only from 15-16 (this is because I chose to do history, literature and geography, which meant that I took one science only) and from 17-18, I'm not taking any science at all (save for math) because I am a humanities student.</p>

<p>Obviously I wasn't the most gifted at science - wouldn't say I'm completely disinterested in it but if it came down to hardcore science I don't think I'd do too well and I'm not sure if I'd be able to cope.</p>

<p>Anyone familiar with the science/frontiers of science modules, would you mind advising me on the difficulty of these courses? (and perhaps prior knowledge/science foundations required to do these?)</p>

<p>Thanks!</p>

2

<p>Hey! I’m a rising high school senior, so I’ve never taken any of the classes, but I was actually download lectures from iTunes university. Columbia, along with other prestigious schools like Yale, Harvard, MIT, Princeton, Stanford, Oxford, etc., post whole lectures of some of their classes for free in iTunes university. It’s truly an amazing tool. Anyway, going back to topic, I downloaded a whole Astronomy course from the Columbia section and found it to be rather manageable and enjoyable (BTW this is coming from a social sciences oriented person, the only “hard” science I’ve liked a lot is Biology). I would suggest you try downloading one of these lectures and see for yourself if you can handle the science requirements.</p>

3

<p>The science requirement at Columbia is nothing. You can take intro Psych, intro Astronomy, Physics for Poets, and other courses aimed at non-science majors. You don’t have to take hard sciences like Biology, Chemistry, or Physics. You definitely shouldn’t let this concern dissuade you from taking the Core.</p>