required curriculum-pros and cons????

bluirinka
Sun, 12 Nov 2006 16:50:33 +0000

I also like the requirements. Where Brown has NO requirements, which is frankly scary, and Columbia has (in my opinion) too demanding requirements (two years of math, science, etc., - Tufts only asks for one year), I think Tufts is right in-between, and in a good way. The distribution requirements try to produce a somewhat well-rounded group. Sure, my science classes were Plants and Humanity and Environmental Biology, but hey, those surprisingly are the classes whose material comes up MOST in daily life and is most useful. It also helps kids who aren’t necessarily sure what they’re interested poke around in random departments, or in subjects they thought they’d be interested in but weren’t offered in high school. It’s also nice to know that everyone in Arts and Sciences has had some math, some science, some humanities and some social sciences. It makes a common thread between the people here.

Also, I’ve found that filling requirements is really easy. For example, I wanted to fill my Science and World Civ requirements this semester, and signed up for Environmental Biology and Democracy and Capitalism in Japan. Turns out, they BOTH fill requirements for my IR major.

Plus, you can use the requirement classes by taking something a little less demanding if you’re not really into that subject area. For example, since I’m taking an “easier” science course (Bio 7) this semester, I was able to do 5.5 credits no problem, since that class does not require virtually any work. I can concentrate much more on my other, more difficult classes that are contributing to my major. Or, you can use them just to do something completely fun - like my neighbor who’s doing African Dance for her Fine Arts requirement, or my two friends who decided to take an art class together.

Also, ITA with sam927. I’d never have looked around to try to find science classes, but turns out there are some that just sound really interesting, like Anthro 20 (Physical Anthropology), Bio 2 (Biology and the American Social Contract) and History of Math, which I may take even though I already filled my Math and Science requirements.