Table of Contents
A Stanford Computer Science degree requires 180 units to graduate. However, only 58 of these units—less than a third—consist of actual computer science coursework. The mathematics major is a similar story, requiring just 57 units of mathematics coursework. Strip away the peripheral requirements, and a dedicated student could complete their degree in just three or four quarters.
The remaining two-thirds of a Stanford degree—and the additional three years it demands—consists almost entirely of largely unrelated, mandatory diversions like physics and faux-ethics. As we confront mounting student debt and growing skepticism about the value of a college degree, it's high time to assess whether our current system serves students' best interests.
The reason why lies within the labyrinth of additional requirements Stanford has constructed under the guise of a "liberal arts education." Take the mandatory COLLEGE program for freshmen, for instance—two-quarters of discussion-based courses, where it's an open secret that virtually nobody completes the readings, and assignments are graded on completion only. Without any reason to engage meaningfully with the content, COLLEGE just becomes a useless 6-unit obstacle for already overwhelmed freshmen.
The WAYS requirements also illustrate this academic padding. For example, the Exploring Difference and Power (EDP) requirement, featuring classes like Intersectional Feminism, Black Feminist Theater, Introduction To Queer Theory, or Antiracism and Health Equity, generally translates to courses that seem more focused on ideological conformity than academic rigor. Similarly, the Creative Expression (CE) requirement compels software engineers and mathematicians to briefly dabble in theater, art, or dance—enjoyable hobbies perhaps, but hardly relevant to their chosen disciplines.
Even within the technical majors, there is no shortage of unnecessary padding. Computer Science students must fulfill science electives requirements, leading to the common spectacle of future developers memorizing rock formations in an introductory geology class. Extensive physics and mathematics requirements, though theoretically relevant, seldom connect practically in any way with computer science applications.
The financial incentives here should not be overlooked. By stretching what could be a one-year intensive program into a four-year quest to fulfill peripheral requirements, universities generate substantial additional revenue from dorms, meal plans, and sky-high tuition rates. At the current cost of tuition, a computer science degree would cost about $250,000 less if students only took CS courses. While they justify this as producing "well-rounded graduates," it seems that forcing students to engage superficially, against their will, with random disparate subjects in a tedious box-checking exercise doesn’t achieve this goal.
This stark contrast becomes even more evident when we look abroad. In places like my home country of New Zealand and other comparable nations like the United Kingdom or Australia, undergraduate education is more streamlined. Students complete courses largely within their chosen fields with maybe a handful of electives, resulting in shorter degrees with deeper specialization. These programs accomplish in three years what Stanford and other American universities extend to four, arguably without any loss in competency.
This critique isn't inherently a dismissal of the liberal arts education itself. There is value in exposing students to a variety of disciplines and making them well-educated scholars rather than vocational experts. But the issue lies in the complete imbalance, where two-thirds or more of our degrees consist of unrelated courses and come at the cost of hundreds of thousands of dollars. We’ve strayed from the equilibrium for which a true liberal arts education should strive.
As a computer science sophomore, it is a common complaint amongst my cohort that students find it difficult to land internships because, even after taking two years worth of classes, they don’t have the skills to pass technical interviews or build their own projects. Interviews for software engineering internships and jobs almost universally ask candidates to solve coding problems, which requires significant practice with data structures and algorithms. These concepts are only briefly addressed for a few weeks in the introductory programming sequence.
The solution isn't to abandon the liberal arts model but to reform it. Universities could still provide a broad education while reducing the proportion of peripheral requirements and instead making it relevant to students’ chosen fields. This compromise would allow students to delve deeper into their chosen fields without giving up the benefits of interdisciplinary exposure. In the face of global competition and soaring educational costs, this is a question we can no longer afford to ignore.
