The College of Arts and Sciences offers one degree, the bachelor of arts, whether a student majors in chemistry or history of art. The college faculty communally establishes the requirements for this degree, usually by non-unanimous vote after heated discussion at large meetings. These requirements are set out in Courses of Study (http://cuinfo.cornell.edu/Academic/Courses/). We urge you to read them because they encode intellectual and academic values, and the explanations surrounding them are probably as close as the Cornell faculty can come to shared ideology about undergraduate education. About one-third of a student’s courses satisfy requirements for general education; one-third, for the major; one-third, for electives. Some majors, however, usually in science and computer science, require as much as half a student’s courses.
The following is a summary:
Distribution looks like nine courses. However, courses in the major also count toward distribution. Consequently, science majors automatically satisfy the four courses required in science and quantitative reasoning and need take additional courses only in the social sciences and humanities. And humanities and social science majors satisfy at least two of the five courses required in social sciences and humanities and need take in addition only three for that group and the four courses in science and quantitative reasoning.
Courses counting for breadth may also count for distribution or the major; consequently they are often not courses additional to other requirements.
Cornell also requires two semesters of non-degree credit in physical education. This requirement is surprisingly dear to students and faculty, who value the required physical activity midst many hours of sedentary study. Actually the array of sports open even to beginners, including beginning dance, is one of Cornell’s attractions. Students who cannot thrice maneuver themselves from one end of the swimming pool to another - good form is not required - must take swimming as one of these two courses. (The swimming requirement is a holdover from preparing men who became soldiers to survive a wartime shipwreck.)
We faculty and administrators take degree requirements very seriously. Students may find considerable institutional flexibility about how requirements are satisfied, but they can expect little or no allowance to waive any requirement altogether. Coming close -- even within one credit or one-half course -- to satisfying a requirement won't be close enough.
We expect our students to go beyond the minimal requirements -- to engage in advanced seminars and independent projects, and to work their way through a cumulative process of maturation that involves an extended immersion in the academic and extracurricular life of the Cornell community. This is why students come to Cornell. This is why you pay to send your children to Cornell. There is little long-term benefit and considerable intellectual sacrifice to hastening graduation. Please believe us, the college’s residence requirement is not about Cornell’s finances; it’s about the value of education.