eliana

What are Bryn Mawr's distribution requirements? I can't seem to find them on the site...

b@r!um

You can find the requirements here: The Academic Program: Curriculum and Requirements| Bryn Mawr College Catalog

The distribution requirements are very lose and easy to fulfill. After AP and SAT scores I only needed one social science and two humanities classes and the College Seminar and I was done with all of my requirements.

We have to take 2 classes each in humanities, social sciences and sciences which we get to pick freely. Those are called divisional requirements. One of the science classes has to be a lab class (physics, chemistry, biology, geology, or psychology), and another class has to be quantitative (sciences, economics, sociology, psychology). We also have to demonstrate proficiency in a foreign language (650 on a language SAT, a good AP score or passing a 4th semester language class) and all freshmen take a writing class called College Seminar in their first semester. I think that's it.

eliana

Thank you!

englishivy

Will these classes fulfill my Div II requirements?

MATH B101, B102 Calculus with Analytic Geometry I and II
PSYC B101, B102 Experimental Psychology (Lab)

Just browsing courses and wondering if this would work. Div II is the area I'm most concerned about since it's my weakest area! Could I just take two psych/science courses or do I need to have one be a math?

b@r!um

Psycho (101 or 102, not necessarily both) will satisfy your lab requirement and give you one Div II credit. Math (one of 101 or 102, unless you want to take both) will give you another Div II credit and satisfy your quantitative requirement. You don't need to take a math class, but you do need a quantitative class (physics, computer science, etc). Experimental psychology will not count towards the quantitative requirement. Experimental Methods and Statistics (another psych class) does, but I heard that it's a lot more work than the intro classes offered by the math department. Physics classes for non-majors are said to be fun as well.

Another class that counts towards the lab requirement and is guaranteed to be fun is How the Earth Works (Geo 101) with Arlo Weil. He is probably the most entertaining lecturer I have met at Bryn Mawr.

englishivy

Thank you for your great input.

I'm really dreading this quantitative requirement...what would you suggest? most interesting maybe?

Div II or not, I AM SO EXCITED FOR BMC!

EDIT: I noticed that on the website under Physics 101 it says it fulfills the Div II Lab & Quantitative...so could I just take that one class to fulfill my entire Div II or do I still need another course?

b@r!um

Physics 101/102 is Div II and L or Q, meaning that a single class may count towards the lab or quantitative requirement but not both. You could take 2 semesters of physics though to get both requirements out of the way. That being said, Physics 101/102 is the physics sequence for pre-med students. 121/122 is the intro sequence for prospective physics majors, and 108 (offered in the spring) is an intro for non-science majors. Note that Physics 108 counts towards the lab requirement but not the quantitative requirement.

In my opinion, the most interesting classes that count towards the quantitative requirement are Natural Hazards (geology), Econ 136 (Working with Economic Data/The Economics of Personal Finance) and Intro to Computing. The computer science class is probably the quantitative class that involves the least math. You would learn how to program a robot to draw hearts, dance and navigate a pyramid, and there will be some discussions about the ethics of robotics. (If we programmed a robot to be as intelligent as a human, should it have human rights? Would it be ethical to give a machine a free will?) Here are a few robot pictures in case you are interested: Flickr: roboteducation-showcase

Just to mention it, the economics class counts towards the Q requirement but does not count as a Div II class. You would have to take another science class on top of it to get a second Div II credit.