Academic Core Overview

Marist achieves its ideal of excellence in undergraduate, graduate, and professional education by actively engaging each student through exemplary teaching and distinctive learning opportunities. At the undergraduate level, this begins with a firm foundation in the liberal arts and sciences. Through the Core curriculum and major fields of study, students learn to think logically and creatively, to synthesize and integrate methods and insights from a variety of disciplines, and to express themselves effectively orally, in writing, and through media.

The Marist Core

I. Academic Foundation Courses

Students typically take these courses in fall or spring of a student's first year. Both courses engage with at least one of the following themes: Cultural Diversity, Nature & the Environment, Civic Engagement, and/or Quantitative Reasoning.

Courses 

• FYS 101 First Year Seminar
• ENG 120 Writing for College

II. Distribution Courses

Breadth and Pathway courses may overlap, but students must complete a total of 36 distribution credits in order to graduate. Students who have completed Breadth and Pathway requirements in fewer than 36 credits can reach the threshold using any Core Breadth or Modern Languages course.

Breadth Requirements

• 1 course in each topic

Pathway Requirements 

• 4 courses engaging with an interdisciplinary topic

III. Skill Requirements

The Skill requirements include “Intensive” Core or major courses in Technological Competency and in Public Presentation.

IV. Capping

This course typically addresses academic skills, values awareness, and professional issues related to particular majors.

Capping Requirement

• Senior-level course in the major