Undergraduate Study in Arts and Sciences Core Curriculumn

At the heart of our undergraduate study in arts in sciences is our core curriculum.

The Core Curriculum is the foundation of our undergraduate liberal arts education. This set of carefully-curated courses is designed to nurture curiosity and inspire a love of learning. In every core course, you think, speak, write, and act in fundamentally new ways, with a broadened appreciation for human values and a deepened commitment to the world. At its heart, is the practice of Eloquentia Perfecta, where students learn the right use of reason joined to cultivate expression.

The core curriculum culminates with two capstone courses intended to integrate learning across disciplines and within a broader social and personal framework of values.

The Core Courses:

Expose you to new intellectual vistas
Enhance your understanding of ways of knowing within academic disciplines
Allow you to make connections among various disciplines
Develop writing, research, and quantitative and analytical skills

As a Jesuit university, Fordham helps you shape habits of heart and mind that are the hallmarks of liberally educated men and women. Our core curriculum blends reverence for tradition with openness to new challenges, and new ways of knowing and engaging the world.

The common core curriculum includes:

Two courses of English composition and literature
Two courses of philosophy, two of theology, and two of the natural sciences
One introductory course each in history and the social sciences
Two additional courses in literature, history, or the social sciences, followed by a capstone course
One course each in mathematics and the fine arts
Foreign language up to an advanced level except for students in the sciences
Courses on American pluralism and global studies
Four Eloquentia Perfecta seminars, including a capstone Senior Seminar

The core is spread out over four years, with most courses the first two years. More details can be found in the Undergraduate Bulletin.