<p>Strong in economics or international relations/ poly sci? I know brown fits this, but id like to know of others</p>
<p>i’m also looking for a school like that, but most don’t offer enough aid, but to me personally amherst sounds like a close second to brown. though it’s not much less selective it’s still like 12/13% i think acceptance rate so… but i found dis list hereeee </p>
<p>[College</a> Lists / Open Curriculum - schools with more flexible curricula](<a href=“College Lists Wiki / Open Curriculum - schools with more flexible curricula”>College Lists Wiki / Open Curriculum - schools with more flexible curricula)</p>
<p>Grinnell (from the link in post #2) does not really count as an open curriculum school.</p>
<p>[Requirements</a> for Graduation - Student Handbook | Grinnell College](<a href=“http://www.grinnell.edu/offices/studentaffairs/shb/academicpolicies/requirementsforgraduation]Requirements”>http://www.grinnell.edu/offices/studentaffairs/shb/academicpolicies/requirementsforgraduation)</p>
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<p>(“division” is humanities, social studies, or science)</p>
<p>This effectively imposes breadth requirements. For example, a student majoring in something in social studies must take at least 32 credits in humanities and/or science (although they can all be in humanities or all be in science).</p>
<p>Hamilton comes to mind in terms of having an open curriculum.</p>
<p>I’m not sure about their rep in Econ, IR or Poli Sci, but Hamilton is ranked 17th overall among LACs by USN&WR and it’s supposedly a beautiful campus with a fairly well balanced student body.</p>
<p>Aside from the open curriculum, Hamilton is known for top-notch instruction in writing and speaking/presentation skills, the latter of which (I would think) would come in handy for any sort of international relations/political career. (no need to belabor writing’s importance…)</p>
<p>Ah – as for fin aid, Hamilton claims to meet 100% of demonstrated need. (there may be some small loans included, but looking briefly at their fin aid page it looks like the loans are very small <em>if</em> grants/work-study/parents fail to cover everything.)</p>
<p>Hamilton’s curriculum is not completely open. Of the 32 full credit courses required for graduation, no more than 15 may be from any one department. This means that a student must take at least 17 “breadth” courses, if one assumes that s/he may take up to 15 in his/her concentration/major.</p>
<p>I stand corrected – it’s <em>pretty open</em>. hehe</p>
<p>U Rochester has a mostly open curriculum, but I don’t know how respected their IR/PS departments are. There is one required freshman English/writing class (and plenty of choices of topics - not just freshman comp 101) and you need 3 courses from each area of study (natural sciences, social sciences, humanities I think are their titles) one of which is totally covered by your major, so that leaves two areas. There are oodles of options. It’s quite different from oldest son’s LAC that has quite specific course and/or subject requirements. URoc’s is VERY appealing IMO.</p>
<p>But again, I don’t know about IR there.</p>
<p>All schools with an open curriculum still have requirements to complete a major. They just don’t have distribution requirements. That’s true of Brown, Grinnell, and every school in the US that I know of. Grinnell’s only requirement is a freshman tutorial in one of 20+ possible topics although there is also the limit on the number of units in one dept or division. The latter limit is pretty easy to work around since there are ‘hybrid’ courses in just about every dept. (hybrid meaning the credit can be applied to multiple depts.)</p>
<p>I believe Amherst College fits the criteria.</p>
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<p>As noted in post #3, Grinnell effectively has distribution requirements.</p>
<p>The Evergreen State College has an open curriculum and does not require a major:
[Degree</a> Requirements at Evergreen](<a href=“http://www.evergreen.edu/advising/degrees.htm]Degree”>http://www.evergreen.edu/advising/degrees.htm)</p>
<p>However, its course selection in the OP’s intended majors may not be that suitable for someone intending to major in those subjects (in terms of offering the typical foundational courses, as opposed to what would be considered interesting topical elective courses), and it is not especially selective.</p>