<p>Please someone tell me this isn't true...</p>
<p>You get to pick which classes you take… it’s not like columbia where everyone takes the same exact classes. And, it doesn’t take a full two years of just core classes. it’s more like it takes two years if you space it out with classes that could apply to a major. And it takes about 2 years to fulfill gen ed requirements at other schools… really, it’s not that big a deal.</p>
<p>It’s about a third of the graduation requirements. </p>
<p>I like it. </p>
<p>It is good.</p>
<p>It’s…sort of true?</p>
<p>This is the Core:
- one year-long (three quarters) humanities sequence you take in your first year
- one year-long (three quarters) social sciences sequence
- one year-long civilizations sequence–you can also do a quarter-long study abroad program to fulfill this requirement.</p>
<p>It’s actually not exactly like this–you can replace some of the hum or civ requirements with art classes–but that’s not the point.</p>
<p>The science/math component of the Core is six quarters, but a lot of that can be covered by AP/IB scores if you’re a humanities major. If you’re a science/math major, you’d have to take most of it anyway. Similarly, the foreign language requirement can be tested out of. But if you can’t test out of anything, then yes, the Core can take up the bulk of two years.</p>
<p>Like kitkatkatie said, some of the core classes will apply to your major because you get to choose your core classes. I want to major in physics and minor in French and German. Next year I hope to take a three quarter calculus sequence, a full year physics course, three quarters of French, two quarters of a humanities sequence, and one quarter of an art/drama/music class along with fulfilling the three credit gym requirement. I will only have the SOSC and CIV requirement left after my first year and the HUM class will be the only course I’ll have taken that doesn’t apply to what I want to study.</p>
<p>What happened to Core Bio?</p>
<p>J’adoube, it’s still there, along w/Bio topics.</p>
<p>Haavain, Everyone must take the 3-quarter HUM sequence. From there, one has to take six total SOSC/Civ/FA courses with a minimum of 2 quarters each of SOSC and Civ, and one quarter of Fine Arts. Some take three quarters of Civ, some take 3 SOSC, etc.</p>
<p>To flesh this out, the Core requirements in their entirety, subject-wise, are (lacking quarters attached to them, because things can wiggle between requirements):
Humanities
Social Sciences
Civilization Studies (abroad or on campus)
Foreign language (by examination, abroad, or on campus)
Mathematics
Biological Sciences
Physical Sciences
Art, Music, or Drama
Physical Education</p>
<p>There are many options for specific courses within each area of the Core, although all options satisfy the general philosophy of that requirement (strong critical reading and writing skills for Hum; understanding of general and some topics in biology for Bio; etc). Some core requirements (mathematics, the sciences, foreign language) can be fully or partially satisfied by AB or IB examination, or by sufficient achievement on a placement test; others (hum, sosc, civ) cannot be replaced by test scores and are unlikely to be replaced by coursework at a different college or university unless you are a transfer student.</p>
<p>At the risk of sounding obnoxious, the core will make you smarter. I can’t remember how many times I read some (what I thought of as) obscure piece of philosophy and thought to myself, “You know, I wish that George Bush had read this stuff. Not that I espect him to live by [Max] Weber’s words, but I would have liked to to think that he is at least armed with this knowledge as he makes life and death decisions for millions of people.”</p>
<p>That said, you can certainly avoid some aspects of the core with good AP scores. As someone mentioned, you can pass out of the Bio, Phy-Sci, Math, Language, and Phys-Ed requirements (and perhaps a few others) with a combination of those AP scores and doing well on the O-week tests (make sure you do enough sit-ups!).</p>
<p>But no matter what, you are going to take 3 quarters of Hume (get ready to read the Iliad), you are going to take two quarters of SOSC (get ready to read the Wealth of Nations), and you are going to take some CIV (get ready to read … uh… some history).</p>
<p>How does one test out of Phys-Ed? Is it just the swimming test or is it more? Also, what is the language test like?</p>
<p>Phys Ed- if your moderately atheltic, you’ll be able to pass all 3 quarters. Most people I know though are like me, unatheltic normal people who got out of 2 quarters but still need 1. Its easy to achieve if you game the system and do alot of situps at the end to make up for the points you missed in cardio, grip test, flexibility, and bench press.</p>
<p>Swimming Test is a joke: untimed, as long as you can do a 50M (i think or maybe 100m) swim ANY (including lying on your back and floating like I did on 3rd lap) way you can as long as you dont hit the bottom or touch the sidelines, you will pass</p>
<p>thanks fortune3. One follow-up question - what exactly do they ask you to do?</p>
<p>I believe the Core now comprises about 15 courses out of the 42 needed to graduate. As recent as the 1990s it was 20. Before U of C there were no majors and all courses were specified, along came Chicago which soon invented the Major, that helped some. Columbia quickly adopted the practice and added another innovation, the Elective. Interesting that both innovators have retained a Core.</p>
<p>How easy is it to pass out of the foreign language requirement? I haven’t taken any AP exams, and have only had three years of high school French. Would that be enough knowledge to pass out or would I probably end up needing to take another course?</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>It’s 3 quarters of Sosc, 6 quarters of Huma/Civ/Art.</p>
<p>^^ I’d also like to know more about testing out of the foreign language requirement. I’ve taken the equivalent of five years of HS spanish, but always in the “regular” track where they dump all the people who can barely string a sentence together. I think I’m one of the better ones, but still…I doubt I can get a 3 on the AP Spanish Language test…</p>
<p>^You can just take the competency exam. I took four years of Spanish in high school, with no AP offered. My Spanish wasn’t really up to AP level, but I still passed the competency exam easily. I know someone else who also did this. Don’t worry about the AP test.</p>
<p>^ Can you elaborate more on what the competency exam entails? How many MC and essay questions are there, how long is the whole thing, is it more grammar or vocabulary based, etc? Sorry for all the questions, but I’m a bit of a worrywart.</p>
<p>Could someone also elaborate on the Latin competency exam details too? I saw someone on another thread said it was ridiculously hard and people in IB/with 6 years of Latin got placed into Latin 101…</p>
<p>Also, is it possible to take two competency exams? If the Spanish one is as easy as everyone says here I’d like to take that as well.</p>
<p>It’s completely pointless to take two exams unless you want to prove to yourself that you’re competent. The college doesn’t care.</p>
<p>The Spanish one was about an hour and a half if I remember correctly, with a 15-minute interview. There were some passages with multiple choice, a few short essays (like 20 sentences), and a listening part. The listening part wasn’t as hard as the SAT Subject Test with listening. It does test all the verb tenses, but the amount of specific vocabulary is pretty minimal. The interview was mostly just the proctor asking me things such as what I do on the weekends or what career I plan to have.</p>
<p>As far as that Latin placement goes, that was probably a fluke. This was the first year that the language placement tests were online, and there were a ton of bugs. I don’t really know how hard it is, but someone with 6 years of Latin should have been able to get into at least 103.</p>