What are the effects of not taking any humanities courses?
What are the potential ramifications of this assuming the college is one of the prestigous ones like Harvard/MIT.


I don't think I've ever been in a humanities courses that had more than 30 people in it.

It is likely the professor will take attendance or require participation to ensure that coursework is being done. In most cases, you have to get a certain minimum grade for core as well.

Looking at Harvard's core in Computer Science as an example:

You have to take 7 of these types courses, and receive a passing grade in each of them.


Foreign Cultures
Historical Study A
Historical Study B
Literature and Arts A
Literature and Arts B
Literature and Arts C
Moral Reasoning
Science B
Social Analysis


So if you decide to just skip them entirely, that will be probably 7 x 3.5 credits = 24.5 credits worth of courses. Let's say you pass with a D, a fantastic 1.0 for GPA calculations.

With an estimate of 120 credits for graduation, and As in every other class (95.5 credits), you'll end up with a GPA of 3.39, which is likely to impact graduate school or professional school applications.

If you AP out or something, and end up with only needing 90 credits for graduation, it becomes a 3.18. I'm pretty sure it's all but impossible to get into any sort of graduate program with a GPA that low.

I'd also like to point out that writing skills are typically looked upon positively as well, in both research and academia.