Williams College: A move from English to Comparative Literature

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Reflection towards the move of LAC to Science and Math Arts Colleges. These lacs should be embarrassed that their top majors are math, Econ, and Chemistry.

Math and Chem are both foundational to the liberal arts and I’ve found that most students studying them are passionate. Chem gets some pre-meds, but they are still good at LACs.

I agree with Econ. If done right, Econ can totally be part of a liberal arts college. However, most Econ programs at LACs now just serve as dumbed down pre-finance programs for dude bro athletes.

I was an idiot con major at Williams, and Econ is definitely not a dumbed down program. Lots of the students you describe ended up majoring in psychology. One of the best parts about being an Econ major there is you can take classes at their center for developmental economics (a grad program that ends up with many finance ministers from developing countries). While requiring lots of work, the classes were fascinating and tied in nicely with political economy classes, too. Ironically, I did end up going into finance on wall st, but didn’t have that goal initially and hate when Econ majors get stereotyped to that. Econ is definitely not an easy major there.

I don’t think they meant that Econ is a non-rigorous degree, but it really has stopped being a liberal arts one for many of these colleges.

The worst offender is Claremont McKenna College, which is a great institution, but essentially a trade business school that happens to dabble in other subjects.

claremont mckenna scores high on salaries and roi.

It's a great trade school.

that's what many top stats kids are looking for today

[Anonymous]

Good for Williams. There are a lot of students interested in literature and writing, but English departments have lost them with their arcana - whether it's medieval literature or Chicano-lesbian poets. None if it is resonating. English departments have done so much to kill a love of reading and writing among young people. This seems like a cross-disciplinary approach to get the reading and writing students interested. Which is good.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Reflection towards the move of LAC to Science and Math Arts Colleges. These lacs should be embarrassed that their top majors are math, Econ, and Chemistry.

The traditional meaning of liberal arts includes science and math. It doesn't just mean humanities and fine arts. Math and chemistry are liberal arts programs, and they're both very strong and have been popular at Williams for decades Business and engineering are pre-professional, which is why you don't find them at LACs (except in engineering partnership programs). Also what is embarrassing about students studying math?!?!

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Reflection towards the move of LAC to Science and Math Arts Colleges. These lacs should be embarrassed that their top majors are math, Econ, and Chemistry.

Math and Chem are both foundational to the liberal arts and I’ve found that most students studying them are passionate. Chem gets some pre-meds, but they are still good at LACs.

I agree with Econ. If done right, Econ can totally be part of a liberal arts college. However, most Econ programs at LACs now just serve as dumbed down pre-finance programs for dude bro athletes.

I was an idiot con major at Williams, and Econ is definitely not a dumbed down program. Lots of the students you describe ended up majoring in psychology. One of the best parts about being an Econ major there is you can take classes at their center for developmental economics (a grad program that ends up with many finance ministers from developing countries). While requiring lots of work, the classes were fascinating and tied in nicely with political economy classes, too. Ironically, I did end up going into finance on wall st, but didn’t have that goal initially and hate when Econ majors get stereotyped to that. Econ is definitely not an easy major there.

I don’t think they meant that Econ is a non-rigorous degree, but it really has stopped being a liberal arts one for many of these colleges.

The worst offender is Claremont McKenna College, which is a great institution, but essentially a trade business school that happens to dabble in other subjects.

claremont mckenna scores high on salaries and roi.

It's a great trade school.

One of the best law school feeders and it’s a trade school? Not to mention the stellar PhD and med school placements? You know nothing. Only about 50% go into finance and consulting, similar to UPenn. Looks like UPenn is a trade school too!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:None of you have ever actually looked at an English department's course catalog.

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Students are bored by reading nothing but Wordsworth and Shakespeare, and I don't blame them. There's more depth and research in literature.

What a gross misstatement about students' interests. If anything, they should be reading more classics such as Wordsworth and Shakespeare., which takes effort.

Archaic Fetishist.

Wordsworth and Shakespeare didn't spend their time studying 400 year old literature. They wrote in the common language of their time.

Dumbest statement on Reddit today.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Reflection towards the move of LAC to Science and Math Arts Colleges. These lacs should be embarrassed that their top majors are math, Econ, and Chemistry.

Math and Chem are both foundational to the liberal arts and I’ve found that most students studying them are passionate. Chem gets some pre-meds, but they are still good at LACs.

I agree with Econ. If done right, Econ can totally be part of a liberal arts college. However, most Econ programs at LACs now just serve as dumbed down pre-finance programs for dude bro athletes.

I was an idiot con major at Williams, and Econ is definitely not a dumbed down program. Lots of the students you describe ended up majoring in psychology. One of the best parts about being an Econ major there is you can take classes at their center for developmental economics (a grad program that ends up with many finance ministers from developing countries). While requiring lots of work, the classes were fascinating and tied in nicely with political economy classes, too. Ironically, I did end up going into finance on wall st, but didn’t have that goal initially and hate when Econ majors get stereotyped to that. Econ is definitely not an easy major there.

I don’t think they meant that Econ is a non-rigorous degree, but it really has stopped being a liberal arts one for many of these colleges.

The worst offender is Claremont McKenna College, which is a great institution, but essentially a trade business school that happens to dabble in other subjects.

claremont mckenna scores high on salaries and roi.

It's a great trade school.

One of the best law school feeders and it’s a trade school? Not to mention the stellar PhD and med school placements? You know nothing. Only about 50% go into finance and consulting, similar to UPenn. Looks like UPenn is a trade school too!

Who is going to med school form Claremont McKenna? Sounds bogus.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Students are bored by reading nothing but Wordsworth and Shakespeare, and I don't blame them. There's more depth and research in literature.

What a gross misstatement about students' interests. If anything, they should be reading more classics such as Wordsworth and Shakespeare., which takes effort.

Archaic Fetishist.

Wordsworth and Shakespeare didn't spend their time studying 400 year old literature. They wrote in the common language of their time.

Um, how do you think that Shakespeare knew all of that ancient history? A lot of the stuff he was reading was a LOT more than 400 years old.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:None of you have ever actually looked at an English department's course catalog.

+1

My daughter is an English major.
Her degree can be summed up as Coleridge, Medieval, and rarely contemporary literature. If you want to study English and aren’t interested in reading 100s of year old texts, you will really hate the subject

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Reflection towards the move of LAC to Science and Math Arts Colleges. These lacs should be embarrassed that their top majors are math, Econ, and Chemistry.

Math and Chem are both foundational to the liberal arts and I’ve found that most students studying them are passionate. Chem gets some pre-meds, but they are still good at LACs.

I agree with Econ. If done right, Econ can totally be part of a liberal arts college. However, most Econ programs at LACs now just serve as dumbed down pre-finance programs for dude bro athletes.

I was an idiot con major at Williams, and Econ is definitely not a dumbed down program. Lots of the students you describe ended up majoring in psychology. One of the best parts about being an Econ major there is you can take classes at their center for developmental economics (a grad program that ends up with many finance ministers from developing countries). While requiring lots of work, the classes were fascinating and tied in nicely with political economy classes, too. Ironically, I did end up going into finance on wall st, but didn’t have that goal initially and hate when Econ majors get stereotyped to that. Econ is definitely not an easy major there.

I don’t think they meant that Econ is a non-rigorous degree, but it really has stopped being a liberal arts one for many of these colleges.

The worst offender is Claremont McKenna College, which is a great institution, but essentially a trade business school that happens to dabble in other subjects.

claremont mckenna scores high on salaries and roi.

It's a great trade school.

One of the best law school feeders and it’s a trade school? Not to mention the stellar PhD and med school placements? You know nothing. Only about 50% go into finance and consulting, similar to UPenn. Looks like UPenn is a trade school too!

Who is going to med school form Claremont McKenna? Sounds bogus.

Many students do! Maybe do your research before spreading your nonsense online.
https://www.cmc.edu/soll-center/medicine