These courses enable students to use mathematics and quantitative models and techniques to understand the world around them either by learning the general tools of mathematics and statistics or by applying them in a subject area.
Requirements
The Bowdoin curriculum was designed to ensure that you receive an exceptional liberal arts education—one that allows you to specialize, while also building skills and connections across many subjects and areas of study.
To qualify for your Bowdoin degree, you will need to pass thirty-two full-credit courses, including:
- a First-Year Writing Seminar,
- at least one full-credit course in each of five distribution areas,
- at least one full-credit course in each of three divisions of the curriculum,
- all of the requirements for an approved major.
So what are distribution areas, anyway? What about divisions?
Do you see how this video below says, Stop and Watch?
For real, please do that now.
STOP AND WATCH:
Distribution and Division Requirements
To review: in order to graduate, you must take at least one full-credit course in each of these areas:
That seems like a lot, when will I have time for my major?
You will have plenty of time.
The curriculum is built so that you can fulfill these requirements by the end of your sophomore year, which is also when you will declare a major.
Also, none of the classes that fulfill these requirements exist in a vacuum—if you enroll in SOC 2239: Science, Technology, and Power in order to fulfill your DPI requirement, and then later decide that you want to be a sociology major or minor, that course counts towards your total number of sociology credits.
Your liberal arts advisor will work with you to make sure that you are completing your requirements at the right time, and can help suggest classes that you might enjoy, and that may connect with your areas of interest.