<p>Cornell CAS has distribution requirements, language requirements,and major requirements. You cannot just take whatever you want, you need to fill the various buckets. The preponderance of liberal arts colleges in this country have a requirement structure very similar to Cornell’s. There are a few outlier colleges with no requirements, but Cornell CAS is not one of them. There are a mere handful of colleges that have a core curriculum of specific courses like chicago has.</p>
<p>If you have a strong preference for chicago’s curriculum, you should go there. Or columbia. Or Reed. And whatever couple others there may be. Because this particular program of studies is not available outside of this handful, in exactly the same way and format. Virtually everyplace else is like Cornell’s situation.</p>
<p>On the other hand my D1 may in some ways have been a good fit for chicago, but couldn’t stand the idea of being forced to take these specific courses. She strongly preferred traditional distribution requirements, and freedom to choose.</p>
<p>To each their own.</p>
<p>But where there is choice, if you exercise it wisely you can accomplish a great deal. If you don’t, you may accomplish less. On the other hand, you may be able to get more of exactly what you personally want. Such is the nature of choice.</p>