Oddly enough even after 52 years, I can still say what courses I took. I was part-time for 3 years, taking 24 credits per year (including 6 in two summer terms) and then went full-time for a year and a half, the last term taking 3 graduate courses for which I got 4.5 credits each.
There were a lot of required courses: 6 English, 3 lit and 3 comp, but only 2 credits each. Three years (6 terms) of German, a year of Anthropology (one of the most interesting courses), a course in the English novel, a year of chemistry. Math major courses, something like 43.5 credits worth, including analytic geometry, a year of calc, abstract algebra, linear algebra, diff eq, advanced calc, topology, number theory, topological groups, and grad courses in real analysis, complex analysis and homological algebra. Then there were electives, but the only ones I remember were a couple of courses in poly sci and 4 terms of physics.
What would I do differently if I had it to do over? Not much. I would try to fit in linguistics and instead of avoiding the German instructors who insisted on speaking only German in class (as I am embarrassed to admit I did), I would seek them out. I might have actually learned to speak the language.
Probably about 30 credits in my major (Anthropology)
Intro to Archaeology, Intro to Physical anthropoly, Intro to Cultural anthropology; Ethnography, Civs of Near East & Mesopotamia, Environmental archaeology, Cultural resource management, Archaeological conservation, Theories in anthropology (snoooooze), Primate behavior, Senior Thesis (required), Archaeology Field School (6 credits, summer, recommended)
15 or so credits in my minor (theater)
Acting, Theater History (Greco-Roman period), Fundamentals of design, Practicum (propmaster for “Showboat”), Stagecraft (scenery construction)
Plus:
Writing seminar (tested out, took it anyway for funsies)
Russian (3 years, 2 yrs required)
Integral Calculus
Physics
Cosmology
Buddhism (professor signed me in without prereqs)
Political Philosophy (professor signed me in without prereqs)
Wheel thrown pottery (professor signed me in without prereqs)
4 credits for Equestrian team (1 per semester, maximum of 4 credits given for sports)
I’m probably forgetting something here and there, but that’s about the size of it.
Mine is with a bit of an asterisk, as the first three years I was in college, I was on the three-term (quarter) system. Here’s what I can remember:
Computer Science: 12
Mathematics & Statistics: 9 (not including two I got to skip because I passed the AP Calculus BC exam in high school)
Physics & Engineering: 3
History & Political Science: 3
English: 2
Other: 6 (Economics, Geography, Meteorology, Philosophy, Logic (taught in Philosophy), Astrophysics)
That’s 35, and that’s about right as I had 11 terms (3 years of 3, and one year of 2).
I don’t remember how many because you don’t think about it that way. You have a list of requirements, you choose from them and when you’ve satisfied all the requirements, you apply for graduation. It also greatly depends on the program. At my school, engineering and physical therapy students were basically on a default 5-year plan. No way to get through the entire program in four years. So, even though we went to the same school, people who majored in those two things took more classes than I did.
I averaged about 15 credit hours per term; my school was on a quarter system at the time. Each term was 11 weeks, including finals week. That came out to 3-4 classes per term. I went to summer school on scholarship while I was still in high school, so I have 18 terms in. Probably comes out to somewhere around 35-40 classes.
My major was 25% classes in my major and 76% liberal arts, which meant I was basically required to take two classes in just about every academic department. I think I had five core required courses for my major and maybe 4-5 elective courses for my major. The other 25-30 were classes related to Everything Else (e.g., maths, sciences, history, sociology, anthropology, English lit, economics, philosophy, psychology, and a bunch of other stuff I’ve obviously forgotten.)
Often not so much if at a liberal arts school. I majored in chemistry. The school required 32 classes* to graduate, and 20 had to be outside the major. Now those 20 included the two math** and two physics classes I had to take as prereqs for later classes. I really wish I’d gotten 5s on the physics C AP test so that I could have taken something else.
My grad school classmates were often puzzled by how few chemistry classes I took. I was under the impression that they took a ton, but upon looking at the UMass website (PDF) I see that there isn’t much difference. They count labs as separate classes. We did not; organic lecture + lab was 1 credit just like an English class was 1 credit. We only had one semester of genchem, and no analytical or quant.
I also took 5.5 classes for my Linguistics minor.
The other requirements were minimal. I was not required to take a foreign language or any specific classes, but I did have to take at least 3 humanities and 3 social science classes (although my AP credits made that 2 and 2.)
*I think I left with over 40, but that included AP credits and fluff crap like violin lessons and orchestra (those counted as 0.5 credits each). It’s hard to graduate early with chemistry, although I know one person who did it during my 4 years there.
**Most everyone tests out of calc I. If not, make that 3 math classes.
Writing and Rhetoric I
Critical Approach to Fiction
Human Geography
Precalculus
Survey of Astronomy
Physical Geography
Calculus I
History of Art
Writing and Reading
Western Civilization, 1648-1848
Current World Problems
Western Civilization since 1848
US, 1865 to Present
American Environmental History
Non-Western History Before 1750
Non-Western History Since 1750
US, 1600-1865
Nazi Germany
American National Government
Meteorology
Middle East Since 1800
Theater History II
History of Art
Fundamentals of Human Communication
History of the Crusades
Legacy of Genghis Khan
Intro to Sociology
Elementary Spanish
Writing and Rhetoric II
Intro to Law Enforcement Technology
General Psychology
Statistics for Behavioral Science
Criminal Justice
Public Speaking
Introduction to Computers
What did I learn from these courses? Well, that’s a much shorter list.
My first degree, English Major was a long time ago. I took lots of English classes, minimal math, history, survey sciences, statistics, other stuff. Oh, and because it was a Christian college I took heaps of religion, it was mandatory, so Old and New Testament, Comparative, Latin/Greek/Hebrew, other stuff I’ve blocked out. And I had to go to chapel every day. It was awful.
My current degree, in another country, LLB - law, and if I get it, honours (well, when my transfer is done from the program I’m in). So 32 classes, 24 in law, 8 electives in any part of the college. 10 mandatory law classes (Jurisprudience, Tort x2 , Contract x 2, Real Property x 2, Legal Institutions, Constitutional, Legal Ethics), then 14 taken in law taken from a big list and one of those can be your honours class.
BS in Civil & Environmental Engineering:
Math, physics, and chemistry background classwork
Russian language and literature
Anthropology
General engineering work (programming, numerical methods, probability and statistics, technical writing, engineering economics)
Civil engineering basics (statics, materials, fluid mechanics, etc.)
Focused environmental engineering coursework (drinking/wastewater treatment, contaminant transport, environmental systems analysis, etc.)
I’d have to look up any more details than that. Grad school (I’m a PhD student now) required a total of 16 more classes, but those programs are based on research rather than classwork.
Calculus I
University Chemistry I (AP-Exempt)
University Physics I
Intro to Engineering I
Composition I (AP-Exempt)
Calculus II
Geology
American National Government (AP-Exempt)
Intro to Engineering II
Technical Composition II
Intro to Materials
Calculus III
Statics
University Chemistry II (AP-Exempt)
CAD
Thermodynamics
Differential Equations
Computer Methods of Numerical Analysis
Dynamics
Introduction to Machine Analysis
Mechanics of Fluids
Machine Dynamics & Control
Mechanics of Materials
Mechanical Engineering Laboratory I
Circuits & Machine Elements
Macroeconomics
Heat Transfer
Machine Element Design
Mechanical Engineering Laboratory II
Astronautics
Engineering Electronics
Philosophical Logic
Thermal Systems Analysis and Design
Advanced Composition (AP-Exempt)
Professional Engineering Practices
Creative Project Design I
Mechanical Engineering Laboratory III
Aerospace Propulsion
On Death & Dying
Robotics
Electric Circuits
Creative Project Design II
Elementary German I
Elementary German II
Intermediate German I
Elementary Spanish I
Elementary Spanish II
Intermediate Spanish I
Intermediate Spanish II
General Psychology
Personal Finance
Persuasion
Co-op/Internship
I think this is all of them, although I may have missed one or two. I still graduated within 4 years, I just also took summer classes for two of the summers for the foreign language and some other courses I wanted to take but didn’t need.
One semester of psychology. Four semesters of computer science. Two semesters of:
[ul][li]physics[/li][li]French[/li][li]German[/li][li]biblical Hebrew[/li][li]history[/ul][/li]
The rest was math, I think.
EDIT: My master’s degree was all math, of course. Later on, I took some financial mathematics courses, but I didn’t get a degree out of it.
Lots of biology, then some more biology #2 would be quite a few religion classes - I blame** T. Slothrop**. #3 other sciences, chemistry, physics #4 math / science / philosophy/ literature - I recall I had a class with both Orestes and Billy Budd in’t.
Well, I’m still in college but I’m about to finish my AA in liberal arts before moving on to get my BS in Pathobiology.
This is what I’ve taken since last September, to satisfy my 62 credits for my liberal arts degree:
In 2004-2005 - English 1 and 2 and US History
2010-2011
Fall
Intro to Sociology (3)
Intro to Liberal Arts (3)
State and Local Government (3)
College Algebra (3)
Statistics (3)
Spring
Intro to Psych (3)
Climate and Weather (3)
Biology 101 (4)
Precalculus (3)
Spanish 1 (3)
Speech (3)
Summer 1
Intro to the Human Body (4)
Intro to Chemistry (3)
Summer 2
Social Problems and Social Change (3)
Intro to Plant Biology (4)
Technical and Workplace Writing (3)
Fall (now)
Spanish 2 (3)
Nutrition (3)
US Government (3)
Psych - Drugs and Substance Abuse (3)
History (beginning to 1500) (3)
That gives me more than I need for the degree but I didn’t want to be bored this semester so I decided to take a full course load.
This degree gets most of my core classes out of the way so when I get to my next school in January, my classes will be pretty heavy in Biology - specifically PVS (Pathobiology and Veterinary Science) classes plus some chemistry and physics. There will also be a bit more math since the degree requires Calculus. I wont be taking much more than the requirements because at my age, I’m just interested in getting it done and getting into and out of grad school before I turn 40.
I was a business major with a concentration in Management Information Systems. Grand total of about 150 hours or so, spread between U. T. Austin and Texas State University.
Economics 101, Intermediate Microeconomics, Intermediate Macroeconomics, Calculus I, Statistics II, Economics of Taxation, Population Economics Studies, Economic History I and II, ummm… Film Studies I, Western Philosophy I, Comparative History I, Canadian History II… umm… History of Sports was another elective. History of the Industrial Revolution, umm… Law and Economics… gosh, I don’t remember them all.
