Exploring the “Scary” Liberal Arts Requirements

Since I didn’t declare my major until a couple weeks ago, most of my first two years at Carleton were spent taking classes to satisfy the liberal arts requirements. When I was a first year, some of the liberal arts requirements seemed really scary, and I was worried about not liking any of my classes. But that couldn’t be further from the truth. Some of my favorite classes have been the ones that I was the most apprehensive about taking. So here is my list about the requirements I was worried about (and why everything worked out for the best!):

Writing Rich 2

This requirement is basically a writing-heavy class. Now, as a non-English major, I was a little weary of taking a writing-heavy class. But before I went to London last term, my professor recommended that I take an English class so I know what to expect. That’s how I ended up in “Haunting the Margins of American Literature” in the fall. At first, I was really nervous about it since I’m not an English major, but this class was amazing. I learned so much about 19th-century anxieties (which helps with my history major) while also learning how to write about literature. I made some great friends along the way, too, which didn’t hurt 😄. I should also say: English classes aren’t the only way to fulfill this requirement. My Intro to Anthropology class right now is also a writing-rich 2, but instead of essays, we’re writing field notes. 

Lab Requirement

Okay, so for those self-proclaimed “non-STEM” people like myself, a lab requirement seemed like the worst thing in the world. But actually, Archaeology was one of my favorite classes I’ve ever taken. We got to dig for real artifacts, pose historical questions and hypotheses, and then present our findings to the community. I never would have taken this class if I weren’t fulfilling a lab requirement, but I’m so happy that I did. In addition to the classic STEM classes, we have great geology and astronomy departments. 

Formal and Statistical Reasoning

This is another STEM requirement that might seem overwhelming at first, but I promise you there are classes that will work for you. I took Intro to Computer Science (CS), and while I am not going to be a CS major, I learned some valuable skills that might help me in the future. A lot of people take Intro to Statistics since it’s required for so many different majors. What a lot of people don’t know is that Linguistics also counts towards this requirement, which I think is really cool. 

Quantitative Reasoning (3 classes)

This is probably the hardest category to explain. Classes that count for QR credit usually have you using data, but not in a typical way. For example, Archaeology counted for my QR since we used archival data and data from the soil to inform our final projects. CS also counted since we were learning how to organize data in our code. My last QR was my Trains class from the fall, since we were looking at city plans and thinking critically about real-world issues. 

Language

The Carleton language requirement is a bit extensive – depending on the language, you need to take 4-5 classes in one department (or the test equivalent). I tested out of the first level of Spanish but took 102, 103 and 204 to satisfy this requirement.  Even though I did not like taking a language in high school, the Spanish department here is really great, and these classes improved my fluency exponentially. I ended up having some of the most fun out of any classes because we were all there to learn, and the best way to learn is to make mistakes. Unlike the movies, there’s no terrifying professor who is going to kick you out of class if you mess up. It’s all about the learning process. 

As an arts and humanities kid, I got most of my other requirements like arts practice, international studies, and humanistic inquiry through history and theater classes. In my experience, these requirements come more naturally since they aren’t as specific. But in any case, I thought the liberal arts requirements would lock me into a specific schedule that I hated. Instead, it opened my eyes up to new possibilities and majors. 

Kate (she/her) is a sophomore History major from the Bay Area, California. She loves Carleton’s artsy community, and is involved in both the Theater and Dance department and Vocal Studies Program. Kate’s favorite places on campus are the practice rooms, either in Myers or the Weitz, where she can sing or play the ukulele. She loves the campus during all the seasons, but fall is definitely her favorite. When not in class, you can find Kate either petting the nearest cat or forcing her friends to watch bad movies in a study room.