<p>A lot of top colleges have a set of core requirements that ALL students need to complete along with their individual major. Which schools do you know of have the largest core and don't let you pick classes as much as others. Consequently, which universities that you know of don't have much of a core if one at all and let you have the freedom of choosing most of your courses?</p>
<p>The core is a central theme of columbia. Also Brown does not have any core requirements.</p>
<p>Oh okay… what about the rest of the ivys? are the all pretty much averageish?</p>
<p>Harvard has distribution requirements</p>
<p>Agreed with articlights. Dartmouth has broad distrib requirements, cornell’s has some that are a bit more specific. Not sure on the rest.</p>
<p>are distribution requirements like the same as core requirements… classes you need to take regardless of your major?</p>
<p>brown is the most free ivy though right (only take major classes/ whatever you want)</p>
<p>Chicago and Columbia have the most core while Brown, Amherst and to a certain extent Williams have lax core or none at all in the case of Brown.</p>
<p>bump, anything else?</p>
<p>I think it would be hard for someone to comment on requirements for different colleges. The information is available on the college websites. Why don’t you check it out yourself?</p>
<p>Here’s a list of colleges with an open curriculum, which have no requirements. Brown and Amherst of course are the most selective of this list.</p>
<p>[College</a> Lists / Open Curriculum - schools with more flexible curricula](<a href=“http://collegelists.pbwiki.com/Open+Curriculum+-+schools+with+more+flexible+curricula]College”>College Lists Wiki / Open Curriculum - schools with more flexible curricula)</p>
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<p>^^ Be careful to distinguish between “no requirements” and “open curriculum.”</p>
<p>Perhaps it’s semantics, but to me, “no requirements” means you never have to take English if you’re a chem major, you never have to take math if you’re an art history major, etc. No requirements, except those to satisfy your major. There are many schools on the attached list above which do indeed have plenty of core distribution requirements.</p>
<p>“Open curriculum” means there are certain core requirements, which can be satisfied by taking a variety of classes. For example, there may be a math requirement, but it could be satisfied by taking, say, a statistics class instead of calculus 101.</p>
<p>Hamilton, Smith also have no requirements.</p>
<p>From what I’ve seen and am familiar with:</p>
<p>Most rigorous: U Chicago, Tufts (6 semesters of a foreign language!), JHU
Most lenient: Brown and many of the LACs</p>
<p>Re: Language @Tufts</p>
<p>My D had a 5 on the AP Spanish exam and a 740 (I think??) on the SAT II. She placed into an advanced Spanish course her freshman year, took that one semester course and is now done with the language requirement. Unless I am mistaken, it is the equivalent of 6 semesters of language NOT actually taking 6 semesters, unless, of course, you have never had a foreign language.</p>
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<p>That’s not the standard use of that term. As used by, e.g., Brown, Amherst, Smith, and Wesleyan, it means no core curriculum (mandatory courses, e.g. Freshman Comp) and no distribution requirements (a minimum number of courses in each of several areas, e.g., 1 math or “quantitative reasoning,” 1 lab science, 1 social science, 1 humanities, 2 years foreign language). Most colleges have either a core or distribution requirements; a few have both. Brown, Amherst, Smith, and Wesleyan have neither, though they do emphasize that your academic adviser will advise you to take a broad curriculum and in almost all cases students do so, even though it’s not considered mandatory.</p>
<p>Smith’s only requirement is that you take a writing intensive class which can be taken in almost any subject. However if you want to receive latin honors you must take one class in each of seven disciplines.</p>
<p>Hampshire. You make up your curriculum yourself.</p>
<p>Thanks, bclintock.</p>
<p>Then the list for “open curriculum” that katytibbs posted is not entirely accurate.</p>
<p>I know that Bard has distribution requirements (9? 12?), and all freshmen are required to take a very specific freshman seminar.</p>
<p>This is why I may have originally mistook the definition of “open curriculum”.</p>
<p>I guess I’ll re-state what I originally said…that list is not entirely accurate. It’s best to go to the specific college’s website.</p>
<p>Hampshire does not have an open curriculum, it has distribution requirements. However you do create your own major there, and beyond div 1 you really do create your own curriculum.</p>
<p>Boston College has a 15-course “Core Curriculum”, but in terms of course selection for each academic requirement, it seems pretty flexible.</p>