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List of schools with little to no core curriculum, or have great flexibility with double majors

jellyjam123jellyjam123 58 replies15 threads Junior Member
in College Search & Selection
When i write little core curriculum, i mean a curriculum that takes up less than a third of your time at the university/college. Also, please feel free to add schools that allow you to take classes outside a double major (aka the flexibility of a school's requirements)

Well, I'll start:

Brown
Wesleyan
John Hopkins

17 replies
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Replies to: List of schools with little to no core curriculum, or have great flexibility with double majors

  • jellyjam123jellyjam123 58 replies15 threads Junior Member
    University of Rochester
    Amherst
    Vassar
    Grinnell
    Smith
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  • ucbalumnusucbalumnus 82796 replies738 threads Senior Member
    edited August 2017
    In many cases, if you have majors in different general areas (e.g. one science and one social studies), you may find that they cover more of the general education requirements automatically compared to one major.

    The number of colleges whose general education requirements make up one third or less of the course work needed to graduate is likely quite large.
    edited August 2017
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  • merc81merc81 11679 replies199 threads Senior Member
    This site lists colleges with notably flexible requirements or other innovative curricular aspects:

    http://www.hercampus.com/life/9-most-flexible-colleges-country

    Brown
    CMU
    Amherst
    NYU Gallatin
    Hamilton
    UMass-Amherst
    Smith
    URochester
    Vassar
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  • MidwestmomofboysMidwestmomofboys 4144 replies27 threads Senior Member
    Kalamazoo College.
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  • ucbalumnusucbalumnus 82796 replies738 threads Senior Member
    Re: #3

    Seems like most of these lists forget that Evergreen State exists.
    http://www.evergreen.edu/registration/degrees
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  • happy1happy1 23830 replies2384 threads Super Moderator
    My D went to Lafayette College and there were.very flexible distribution requirements. Many students double majored.
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  • dadof4kidsdadof4kids 883 replies80 threads Member
    I'm not an expert and haven't looked a that many, but I thought the distribution requirements at Williams looked pretty lax compared to others I have seen. S noticed that he could get away with no more foreign language, which bumped them up a few notches in his mind!
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  • rosered55rosered55 4735 replies124 threads Senior Member
    Johnston Center for Integrative Studies, at the University of Redlands (Calif.).
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  • MrSamford2014MrSamford2014 404 replies4 threads Member
    Rice has no core (aside from a freshman writing requirement) and very flexible distribution requirements. That curricular flexibility is evidenced in the fact that around 40% of students double major, many in quite disparate disciplines.
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  • merc81merc81 11679 replies199 threads Senior Member
    edited August 2017
    @ucbalumnus wrote:
    Seems like most of these lists forget that Evergreen State exists.
    Then this one would be worth noting:

    http://www.thecollegiateblog.org/2012/07/30/pros-and-cons-of-the-open-curriculum/

    Fully Open

    Amherst College
    Bennington College
    Brown University
    Evergreen State College
    Hamilton College
    New College of Florida
    Smith College
    Wake Forest College of Wake Forest University

    Minimal Requirements

    Beloit College
    Eugene Lang College of The New School
    Grinnell College
    Sarah Lawrence College
    Vassar College
    University of Rochester
    Marlboro College
    edited August 2017
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  • MidwestmomofboysMidwestmomofboys 4144 replies27 threads Senior Member
    Kalamazoo College requires only foreign language and two writing seminars plus a capstone or interdisciplinary project . It revised its curriculum within the last few years, so perhaps that is why it does not appear on some lists of open/flexible curriculum.
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  • lvvcsflvvcsf 2412 replies58 threads Senior Member
    Not a university but Ohio University's Honors Tutorial College has no core curriculum. You do have a major but you kind of design your program. You can take grad level courses if approved and have a lot more flexibility in your curriculum.
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  • suzyQ7suzyQ7 4633 replies65 threads Senior Member
    edited August 2017
    Northeastern University, Boston. (A LOT of combined majors - which removes the crossover courses/requirements in normal double major programs). Also, the core is not a set of required courses but competencies so there is so much flexibility in choosing courses in your major or that interest you to meet the competencies.
    edited August 2017
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  • ucbalumnusucbalumnus 82796 replies738 threads Senior Member
    Re: #10

    Odd that Hamilton and Smith are in the "fully open" category but Grinnell is in the "minimal requirements" category. All three have a limitation the number of courses in one department that can be applied to the degree, which is their main requirement that enforces breadth.
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  • jellyjam123jellyjam123 58 replies15 threads Junior Member
    Nice list guys. I was at NYU earlier this summer and I heard that it's easy for students to double major with a minor or to even triple major (I'm not sure if this meant going over 4 years at NYU). And I read on Union's curriculum web page that it's easy to triple major -- so I guess the new question is where can we triple major with 'ease' and knock off some core requirements easily?
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  • OHMomof2OHMomof2 13237 replies247 threads Senior Member
    @jellyjam123 an interesting opinion piece you might want to read:

    http://amherststudent.amherst.edu/?q=article/2015/09/22/rethinking-double-major

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  • jellyjam123jellyjam123 58 replies15 threads Junior Member
    It is a very interesting article. ^

    Hamilton is also open if you guys want to continue adding to the list.
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