<p>"Undergraduates usually take three courses per term, three terms a year"</p>
<p>isnt that sort of little?
If you take three courses per term, how many of the three have to be related to your major?</p>
<p>Well. 3 courses per term and 3 terms per year would equal 9 courses per year. Most peer institutions have their students take 4 or 5 per semester, also equaling 9. Some students opt to take 4 in a single term, but it is not compulsory. 36 classes are required to graduate, and you are required to take 12 terms (3 per year for 4 years), so that means 12*3 is all you need to fulfill 36 classes. Most majors are 10 classes, so that means you have to take 10 out of your 36 classes within your major. This seems pretty low, but some of the classes might have prerequisites which don't count for your major. For example, you might take a physics class that requires you have taken calculus. Calculus may or may not be required for your major, but you still need to take that class before you can complete something that IS required for your major. (note: physics and calculus are just examples, I am not sure if this situation actually happens with physics+calc, but you get the idea). So, let's say that of your 36 classes, 10 are for your major, and maybe 2 are pre-rec's for classes in your major. That's about 1/3 of your classes needing to be within your major, or one of your three classes per term. This is not very much, but remember this is why there is a lot of students who choose to take on a minor, or possibly a double/triple major. I hope this satisfies your question.</p>
<p>thanks! i was worried for a sec because im planning on taking classes like japanese courses and sociology courses which do not really relate to either of my two majors</p>
<p>You can still take japanese classes to fulfill your foreign language requirement and some of your sociology courses may be related to fulfilling your distribution requirement.</p>
<p>pamplemoose, i seem to recall that dartmouth requires 35 credits and not 36. Has something changed?</p>
<p>requirements for the Degree of Bachelor of Arts</p>
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The degree requirements, given in detail below, fall into several basic categories: Residence (fall, winter, and spring of the first and senior years and summer following the sophomore year),** Course Count (35 courses passed),** Specific Course Requirements (including Writing and First-Year Seminar, Foreign Language and General Education requirements), a Physical Education Requirement, and a Major Requirement. </p>
<p>*II. A student must pass thirty-five courses, although this number may be reached in part by specified credit on entrance or awarded by transfer from another institution. *</p>
<p>No student may graduate with the standing of Incomplete in any course even though the count of courses passed may exceed thirty-five.</p>
<p>Requirements</a> for the Degree of</p>
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[/quote]
</p>
<p>The three courses are completed in only 10 weeks, so they really are quite intense. It's not like you're taking a light load while you're there.</p>
<p>bigman12345.... Im sorry you are correct. In my mind I always just thought of it as 3 courses per term and 12 courses total. But I do seem to remember them saying you can take one term with only 2 courses... but I have a feeling that Dartmouth students come in with so many AP credits that they could take a lot more 2 course-terms if they wanted to, but tend not to because they just take the opportunities to take more non-major classes.</p>