To a student who attends Grinnell because they are trying to avoid certain subject areas, or because they want to hyper-concentrate in a specific area, yes Grinnell’s open curriculum matters. But that is not a common student type, even at Grinnell. Most students at open curriculum schools such as Grinnell, Brown etc. end up taking a course load that would fulfill distribution requirements at most schools, Whitman included. And the OP made no indication that their student was even prioritizing an open-curriculum school. So for the majority of students, the academic experience at Whitman and Grinnell is more alike than different: small classes, academics-focused peers, professors for whom excellence in undergraduate teaching is priority #1.
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