Is it reasonable to request an exemption from certain degree requirements?

Question

I am a physics student at a small North American university. As part of the requirements for my degree, the current policy dictates that all students must take 6 humanities courses before graduation.

I believe I understand the benefit of this requirement: it ensures that students are well-rounded. However, this requirement is making it difficult for me to take two extra math courses that are relevant to my future and my degree.

My goal is to continue my education further after graduating. I have asked two of my professors and they have told me that these two math courses would probably be relevant to my graduate studies. Moreover, I am very keen to take them because they are interesting and challenging. The reason these courses are not in the current curriculum is just due to the large number of physics courses required for the degree; they simply do not fit in the usual honours degree pattern.

As a student, is it reasonable for me to ask for this exemption? If so, what should I say to the department chair to increase the likelihood of getting the exemption?

For context: I am a physics major and the courses I want to take are Discrete Mathematics and Real Analysis.

Answer 1

As a former Humanities Professor and Dean, my answer is "nope." We heard so many times from the Engineering College that they wished their students would have more Humanities, that there's no way I can say okay, go ahead without it. So many students would rather give it a pass, but I can say (besides my being on the Humanities bandwagon just in general), that my father worked for a professional organization of engineers, and the thing they wanted most at their professional conferences was work on writing and communications. And that's what you learn in the Humanities.

Answer 2

Exemption from a humanities requirement generally needs a much better argument than "I have two additional classes I want to squeeze in" -- more like "I've published a novel; can we count that against the writing requirement?"

Greater depth is one of the things the Masters' degree is for. Or you can put yourself on an additional-year degree plan, if you can afford it

Summarizing from the comments: Focus on finding a way to both meet the humanities requirement and acquire the extra knowledge you want. That may mean doing independent/summer study for one or both, or letting the math slide until your Masters degree or later. There is essentially no way to avoid distribution requirements.

Everyone deals with this, even those who plan their schedules three terms in advance and overload their class schedules. If there weren't more classes you wanted to take than you could squeeze into four years, it'd be a pretty lousy school. One of the things you're learning is the art of tradeoffs and compromises.

Answer 3

I would say asking to get out of humanities is a battle not worth starting. Chances are you will lose.

The best course of action for you, in my opinion, if you are really determined to take those 2 math courses is: take them.

If your university offers summer courses try to take one, or both, of them then. If the courses aren't offered in the summer get into contact with the instructor(s) and talk to them about a DS (Directed Study). I took a DS while obtaining my undergrad so that I wouldn't take a semester with just 1 course that I needed to graduate.

If your university doesn't offer summer courses then try to take on an extra course a semester. While you may be faced with a lot of courses at once - if you're really determined to take those 2 courses then taking 1 extra course a semester may be a lot better than trying to wave humanity courses.

All of this aside, the person who will be able to give you the best advice based on the university, grades, etc. Is your advisor

Answer 4

To answer a different aspect of your question, I would say that yes, it is generally reasonable to request an exemption.

In your specific circumstance, the answer would almost certainly be no, for the reasons described in the other answers. But faculty typically appreciate it when students take the initiative for their own education, and in general I think you won't burn your bridges by making such requests. Just be prepared to take no for an answer.

Answer 5

I've been in this position in 2 undergraduate degrees. You can only ask, but be prepared to have a convincing argument.

Ask yourself, is it actually reasonable?

Unless you can answer that and convince yourself you're likely to fail.

Consider the fact that you're asking that question here, so you may have some thinking to do.

Also, keep in mind that some of the humanities courses you'd be missing would have trained you in developing convincing arguments :)

I'm not sure what the deal is with your university, but for most undergrad courses the class numbers are large, you can always sit in on lectures... (not ideal, but it is something)

Answer 6

There's no reason you can't ask, but you should plan for a "No". I don't think you should ask, but rather figure out how to take all of the courses. As the OP says, the requirement makes it "difficult", but it's not impossible.

Personally, as a working engineer, I find as much application in my work for what I learned in the humanities courses I took as an undergrad as I do for my math and engineering classes. No matter how good you are technically, if you can't communicate your work effectively with non-technical people, you're going to be of limited use to an employer. The people with the money don't want to fund work they don't understand, the sales and marketing people won't know how to sell it and customers won't buy it and so on. The days of the mad scientist toiling away in his own world of inscrutable genius are over.

Like you, I wanted to take grad level math classes that I felt would be beneficial, but fell outside the requirements and options for my program. I wound up taking them during the compressed 8wk summer term immediately following my graduation while I was looking for work.

Answer 7

As a student, is it reasonable for me to ask for this exemption?

The worst that could happen would be to get a 'no' for an answer.

If so, what should I say to the department chair to increase the likelihood of getting the exemption?

• Show that you appreciate the reason for the requirement.

• Show that you are by nature a well-rounded person (you can cite classes and experiences in high school, college, school breaks -- and don't forget to mention volunteer work and community service; you need to show that you have spent significant time thinking about the world you live in and how to be a good citizen, that sort of thing).

• Present some programs of study at similar schools, for similar majors, where the number of required humanities courses is smaller. (Six courses strikes me as exceptionally high.)

• Present a letter of support from at least one authoritative person who knows you well -- preferably two or three; someone from a humanities course you took would be great; how about a supervisor at a volunteer position?

A few other thoughts:

• If your college has a Winter Session, that would be a good time to squeeze one or two humanities courses in. If not, how about next summer? Perhaps online courses would work out better for you.

• The two math classes you're interested in sound great. But before you go to bat for them, find out more about the instructors, the syllabi -- make sure they're as good as they sound.

• Check if there's a slightly different degree you could get that doesn't require SIX humanities courses.

Answer 8

Yes, it is reasonable to ask for an exception.

If your motivation is to learn more and without this exception it wouldn't be possible - just ask. But be sure to argument it in a positive way, writing why do you want to take these two specific courses.

Of course, the decision is up to them. (I don't have experience with US system, but I know that in Europe attitudes vary with each department, or dean, or a dice roll.)

However, if your main motivation is to sneak out of the humanity classes - don't do that. Such requirements are exactly because an university wants to have well-rounded students and not everyone would take 6 humanities courses willingly.

Answer 9

It's a very reasonable request. You should get the education that'll better prepare you for the future, and it sounds like these Math courses would do just that.

Arguments in favor:

1. Additional technical competencies are usually worth more than additional writing or presenting skills. Sure it's great if you're a better writer/presenter, but it's usually not worth the loss of talent you'd have by diverting focus away from your core skill set.

2. Writing and presenting skills taught in the Humanities are not the same as those required in STEM environments. I'd go so far as to say that, in a significant number of cases, it'd have been better for undergrads to have not had Humanities classes that taught them bad habits.

3. Technical courses often do require writing. These writing assignments are better for technical students since they're the right kind of assignments. Why prepare to write Physics journal articles in a Creative Writing class when you could instead take a Physics class that includes writing assignments?

4. You're more likely to learn if you're enjoying the course work.

Personally I got exemptions from my Foreign Language requirements in undergrad to pursue my four Science and Engineering majors. This worked out very well for me. It's painfully absurd to think that some folks would've argued that I needed a few semesters of Spanish more than the extra Math major.

I would recommend being polite yet persistent in pursuing the course exemption. It took me a lot of office visits to get my forms signed, but in the end it was very much worth it.