<p>Anyone have insight on schools that are known for their core curriculum and helping students choose the best major for them? It doesn’t matter the level of school. Thanks in advance.</p>
<p>University of Chicago and Columbia University are the two places known for their core. Unfortunately, neither of them will help you especially to pick a major. You can talk to professors about it, but do not expect them to have much perspective outside their field. Chicago has an advisor system, and some students do form a bond with their advisors. The advisors are special staff- they are not professors. When I was there however, each advisor concentrated on one division- Physical Sciences, etc. I’m not sure how much perspective they had either. To pick a major, I think that you need to talk to a range of people and also do research- read up on careers of interest, etc. A liberal arts college may help you to explore your interests more than a major university would. If you like a core, at least go with an LAC that takes a rigorous and traditional approach. There are also a number of small great books based schools. At most, it’s as if your whole program is core- few if any choices. St. John’s (Maryland and Southwest) is one. There is also Shimer (tiny, in Chicago). There are quite a few Catholic ones- a big one in California (can’t think of the name), St. Thomas More in New Hampshire, another one in Front Royale, Virginia.</p>
<p>Most schools have distribution requirements of some sort, designed to give you a tasting menu of what’s out there. As an undecided major, distribution requirements are good-- you’ll probably end up experimenting with a few different fields anyway, but dist. requirements help you diversify your course load.</p>
<p>Additionally, some schools (Duke, Harvard, Cornell, and I’m sure many others), offer some sort of freshman seminar, which is designed to put you in a small, intimate class your first year (as a freshman taking intro classes, you might not otherwise be put in a smaller-sized class). </p>
<p>The school with the most stringent course requirements is St. John’s College. There, everybody takes the same curriculum and there are no majors.</p>
<p>The only schools that I know of, elite or otherwise, that have any extensive core curriculum are University of Chicago and Columbia U. Both Chicago and Columbia’s core curricula are focused around great books-- the idea is to get acquainted with these works (Plato, Marx, Kant, et. al.) </p>
<p>Chicago’s core and Columbia’s core take up about the same amount of space and time. Chicago likes to say 1/3 of classes one takes throughout college are core classes-- I don’t know if Columbia says something similar. However, at Chicago, no course is REQUIRED, and one has a few options for fulfilling the humanities, social sciences, civilization, bio, physics, language, math requirements, whereas Columbia pre-enrolls you into science, contemporary civilization, and humanities (I don’t know about the others).</p>
<p>Again, like OneMom said, these programs are not specifically designed for students who are undecided, though they might be helpful in the same way that distribution requirements are helpful. Deciding on a major at Columbia or Chicago would be as difficult as it would be elsewhere (and your major is bound to change a few times before you really settle), but at Columbia/Chicago, you would have the added benefit of having studied some of the great works, and would be able to apply what you learned in your core to your area of interest.</p>
<p>Thanks for the great information. I was aware of Chicago’s Core but don’t think the school itself will be a fit for me. I am concidering Columbia and Barnard . Sounds like I am more interested in the benefits of distribution requirements than a true Core curriculum. I really like the idea of Freshman Seminars too. Anyone know off hand the schools that offer these.</p>
<p>I think Boston College has a fairly strong core curriculum that reminded me of Columbia’s or a classical schooling, based on its Jesuit heritage.</p>
<p>Illinois Wesleyan has a freshmen Gateway seminar program that sounds interesting. Honors programs often have seminars.</p>
<p>Barnard may offer more of what you are seeking. They have a strong but more flexible core than Columbia. Called the Nine Ways of Knowing, the Barnard core requires students to explore major areas of knowledge, however there are multiple choices for courses that meet each aspect of the core (Nine Ways of Knowing includes requirement to take courses in the the following categories: Reason & Values, Social Analysis, Historical Studies, Cultures in Comparison, Lab sciences, Quantitative and Deductive Reasoning, Languages, Literature, and the Visual and Performing Arts). In addition there is the First Year Foundations requirement (2 freshman seminars); one is a First Year English course and the other deals with historical, cultural and other contexts). Barnard also has very strong academic advising and close relationships with faculty and advisors. My D is a freshman, currently enjoying the New Student Orientation Program this week, but the core, the close advising (her advisor is the Dean of the College!) and some of the joint degree programs influenced her decision.
Good luck to you!</p>
<p>I like Colgate’s approach-- 4 core courses plus some distribution requirements. If I recall correctly professors from all fields teach the core, so their interests aren’t too narrow. I won’t get the details right even though I was at the info session less than two weeks ago. I think Colgate puts a lot of emphasis on advising and does not expect students to know their major when they come. </p>
<p>I recommend you focus more on advising than on the core or distribution requirements. Even at schools with no core or distribution requirements you will have a chance to explore a number of fields. Good advising will help you do that in a way that helps you discover your interests.</p>