Is there a problem with "Core Curriculum" schools?

skieurope
Tue, 05 Jul 2022 00:40:51 +0000

ucbalumnus:

Columbia’s core curriculum is very humanities heavy, while MIT’s core curriculum is very science heavy.

I think you need to distinguish between common course requirements that all take vs distribution requirements that have flexibility.

MIT requires everyone to have intro bio, intro chem, calc-based mechanics and E&M, and calc through MVC plus 8 humanities courses chosen from a wide range of courses (plus other requirements, including phys ed).

Columbia College requires everyone to take LitHum, ArtHum, MusicHum, Contemporary Civilization, plus a 3 course science requirement (of which one, FroSci, everyone takes) plus some other stuff, including phys ed.

So yeah, overall, Columbia’s requirements are more humanities driven, But MITs is pretty balanced; it’s just that the 6 STEM courses are chosen from a very short list of options