Academics
Academics
Build a personalized education
The aim of a liberal arts education — to enable you to be independent, responsible and creative — is the guiding principle behind Wooster’s academic program.
Taking the first step
Your journey begins with First-Year Seminar, a writing-intensive course that will exercise your intellect and sharpen your critical faculties. In a class of no more than 15 students, with a professor who’s also your academic adviser, you’ll approach a wide range of texts, questioning and analyzing them to tease out meaning, and then formulating arguments through extensive writing and discussion. Your skills in writing will be enhanced by further Writing Intensive courses and the Writing Center.
Gaining perspective
To ensure that you’re conversant with forms of inquiry and discourse in a range of disciplines, you’ll select courses in three areas: arts and humanities, history and social sciences, and mathematical and natural sciences. You’ll also gain insight into other cultures through courses in global and cultural perspectives, religious perspectives and foreign language.
Choosing a major
Once you select a major, you’ll engage with the scholarship of that field, develop an understanding of its particular methodologies, and prepare to participate in the creation of knowledge yourself. You’ll find numerous opportunities to work with faculty on undergraduate research projects (as early as the second semester of your first year), participate in internships, or study abroad.
Putting it all together
It all culminates in your senior Independent Study (I.S.) project. Working one-on-one with a faculty adviser over the course of a year, you’ll conduct research, create art, or shape a performance that demonstrates your understanding of a discipline or field and your ability to communicate that knowledge to others.