<p>I'm an incoming freshman going to McGill this year (I am Canadian) but I'm really thinking about transferring to Cornell for sophomore year. For me, it has nothing to do with academics or prestige or whatever but I feel as though I would be more at home in a small town like Ithaca. Unfortunately, none of Cornell's colleges seem like a good fit. My first choice would be to apply under CAS so I can major in physics BUT, I have very little background in the "arts". My lowest grades in high school were always the humanities or arts classes. That wasn't because I was struggling in those areas but more because I hated those classes and was extremely unmotivated all the time.
I have already picked my classes for first year under a BSc program specializing in math and physical sciences.I was limited to 4 courses a semester because some were worth more credits. I ended up taking the highest level calculus available (both semesters), linear algebra, general chem (both semesters) physics-waves and mechanics (both semesters) and biology. I literally could not take any arts or english course even if I wanted to because all those courses above are the basic prerequisites for everything. I know it would be stupid of me to drop one of those courses for an arts course on the chance that I may be accepted to Cornell because it would screw up my degree requirements later on.
Basically, my question is if CAS is really strict on students having a liberal arts background, or is it not as big of a deal? It sucks that there isn't a science and math only college because then I would be set. Has anyone else ever had this problem?? I don't really understand why I would need to take any arts courses anyway if I were to major in physics...</p>
<p>Yes they are. You would need liberal arts courses in the engineering school as well. I don’t like many arts courses either but I agree with the idea that you need to have a broad education to be a successful individual in life. Remember, 4 year colleges aren’t meant to just get you prepared for a specific job.</p>