Fordham's Core Curriculum

There are many reasons why I chose to come to Fordham, but one of the main reasons was Fordham's broad and comprehensive core curriculum. Fordham's core allows students to take a multitude of different classes in various subjects outside each specific major, such as Fine Arts, Social Sciences, English, History, Math, Science, Philosophy, Theology, and Language. This kind of core allows students to expose themselves to subjects that they wouldn't normally get involved in, and potentially find a new passion.

As someone who went to public high school, I was a little skeptical about the theology classes that were a part of Fordham's core. I had never taken any kind of religion class before, so when I registered for my first theology class, Faith and Critical Reasoning, I was expecting the worst. Naturally, it turned out to be my favorite class that semester, and I realized I had quite an interest in theology. In that class, we discussed and analyzed religious text from Christianity, Judaism, and Islam, which was extremely interesting and enlightening. In addition to Faith and Critical Reasoning, Fordham students are required to take one more theology class of their choice, and I decided to chose something completely different from any kind of religion that I was ever exposed to: Hindu Literature & Ethics. In this class we read all the main Hindu religious texts and moral codes, and discussed their similarities to other religions. I enjoyed this class so much that I actually wound up taking one more theology class outside of the two required courses. The last theology class that I took was Medieval Theology Texts, which was more geared towards my interests in Medieval History. This class gave me a really interesting perspective on Christianity and how it worked in the Medieval world. Since Christianity is so important in Medieval History, I found myself referring to this class during discussions in my other Medieval classes. As someone who was a little worried about taking theology classes, Fordham's core curriculum really opened my eyes to the world of theology.

Ultimately, once you have completed a majority of Fordham's core curriculum, you start to realize how important it is to have such a broad liberal arts background, and how all the classes that you have taken contribute to your knowledge and understanding of the world. Fordham's core has allowed me to take a bunch of interesting classes, which ultimately led me to declare my second major: Medieval Studies. If it wasn't for Fordham's core, I would not have discovered my passion for Medieval Studies. Just another one of the many reasons why I love Fordham!