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 Bryn Mawr's mission statement is "to provide a rigorous education and to encourage the pursuit of knowledge as preparation for life and work."  I will agree that the load of requirements put on our plates provides that "rigorous education" that many students were attracted to in choosing to come to BMC. The requirements do, in a sense,  support Bryn Mawr's mission statement. I, however, feel that maybe there just are too many requirements to be able to fulfill the desires of exploration, which is what a liberal arts college promotes.  I feel that my first semester of college is a carbon copy of my senior year in high school.

When Dean Tidmarsh came to class on Tuesday and mentioned that students find that the requirements are what cause the similarities in what our schedules look like then and now; I found myself agreeing with her. Before hearing the changes, I was sure that the new proposal fixed the problem of too many requirements. I was so wrong. The requirements were only, as Anne stated, "fiddled with."  I read the new proposal over and over again in attempts of finding some major differences. The new proposal has a grand total of one less class to fulfill a requirement. Instead of 6 classes, there are only 5. I don't see much of a change really. The one change I did notice was that the "Approaches" were a lot more specific and restrictive than the divisional requirements we have now. 

The other day I was in the Carpenter Library and spotted this study abroad "4 year plan." In order to be able to study abroad by your junior year, the majority if not all of your requirements have to be out of the way by the end of the first semester of your sophomore year. How do all of these requirements allow one to explore their potential majors before studying abroad? I'm not suggesting to get rid of the requirements, but to at least cut them down. I know that BMC wants its students to be knowledgeable in all aspects. However, Bryn Mawr's mission statement doesn't explicitly mention the importance of being well-rounded individuals. Bryn Mawr "values" the liberal arts curriculum, but when does the exploration and "liberal arts" begin? The second semester of sophomore year, when majors are supposed to be declared?