University's Core Requirements (most strict and most free)

<p>Providence College also has a pretty strong core including a two year multi-disciplinary civ class.</p>

<p>bumppp anyone else?</p>

<p>Hampshire, you create your own major from whatever classes you choose.</p>

<p>oh, someone said that…</p>

<p>All of the Jesuit schools – not just BC – have a core curriculum that is required for undergraduates and is based on the Jesuit philosophy that students should be exposed to all of the disciplines that define a liberal arts education (including philosophical and theological reasoning).</p>

<p>worriedmom: do they tend to be very extensive and demanding… i know bc has 15 but you are somewhat flexible when satisfying the requirements. do they make up the majority of the courses youll take?</p>

<p>Grinnell has only 1 required class (freshman tutorial)…the rest is up to you!</p>

<p>nyorker, the Jesuit core curricula are usually defined in very broad terms, so that there are always dozens of courses to choose from to fulfill each requirement – and AP credit can be used to waive some of the requirements as well. For example, to fulfill BC’s natural science core requirement, you can take classes in biology, chemistry, geology, physics, astronomy, oceanography, etc.</p>

<p>At most schools with a core curriculum, roughly 1/3 of your classes would go to satisfy the core requirements, 1/3 to satisfy the requirements for your specific major, and the remaining 1/3 would be available for electives (or a double major or minor, if you like).</p>

<p>aside from language, is Tufts still pretty rigorous in terms of core?? and does anyone know about Georgetown??</p>

<p>as far as i know, Columbia has a verrry prominent core, while Brown has the most lenient (obvi)</p>

<p>I’ve heard WashU has a very light “core”. I’m not even entirely sure of what it consists of, but I know that it makes for very easy double majoring in anything you want, even if the majors are in completely different schools (business/engineering, etc.)</p>

<p>WashU has the cluster system, and a couple of other required courses. It’s kinda similar to URochester but is a little more extensive.</p>

<p>Arts&Sciences Requirements:
Textual Histories: 8-9 credits, 6 must comprise a “cluster”
Natural Sciences: " "
Social Sciences: " "
Liberal Arts: " "</p>

<p>Cultural Differentiation: 3 credits
Social Differentiation: 3 credits
Quantitative Analysis: 3 credits
Writing I</p>

<p>Actually comes out to be quite a bit of requirements though the actual courses you take allow for some freedom.</p>

<p>Strictist: Columbia
Most Free: Brown, Amherst
Almost Free: Pomona</p>

<p>Even more strict than a “core” model (Chicago, Columbia) would be a Great Books model (St. John’s College), which presents the same set of materials, in the same order, to virtually all students.</p>

<p>But the “open”, “distribution” and “core” curriculum models would cover the vast majority of liberal arts programs. I would think the “distribution” model is the most common.</p>

<p>There are variations. Reed College basically follows a distribution model, but all students must take “Humanities 110”, which covers lots of Great Books ground. Whitman has its “First Year Core”. Some schools require a thesis (or senior project), many others do not. Notre Dame has both a Religion requirement and community service requirements. Etc.</p>

<p>what about the other ivys and top schools? anyone know?</p>

<p>I know Dartmouth has 10 distribution requirements for graduation, and a required freshman writing seminar.</p>

<p>doesn’t dartmouth require you to be fluent in a foreign language by the time you graduate? Do students find that to be strict at all?</p>

<p>I think you got your answer already about top schools</p>

<p>Brown (an Ivy) is open curriculum
Amherst (a top school) is also open curriculum
Hamilton is also a very good school</p>

<p>Here is a list of open curriculums schools</p>

<p>[College</a> Lists / Open Curriculum - schools with more flexible curricula](<a href=“College Lists Wiki / College Lists Wiki News and Information”>College Lists Wiki / Open Curriculum - schools with more flexible curricula)</p>

<p>When we visited Amherst there was mention that Amherst participated in a consortia of open curriculum schools is doing research or setting standards in this area but I can’t find anything documenting that. I rfemember many of the schools on the above list participate in the consortia, so I think it is a good list.</p>