Get ready for some big questions.

What is the relationship between justice and reconciliation? How do people tell stories: in writing, with spoken words, and through visual images? Are charter schools a viable option? 

First-year cultural studies seminars probe these (and many other) questions. The point of the Core Program, after all, is to start broadening students’ global literacy and ignite the sort of critical thought that defines an Oxy education.

Individual seminars can take you from ancient Greece to the fall of the Berlin Wall. Or you can choose a high-intensity, 16-unit course cluster such as California Immigration Semester—a team-taught series of courses that use immigration as a prism to examine political, sociological, historical, educational, and literary themes. 

In addition to first-year seminars, Core requirements demand that all students sharpen their writing skills and take a healthy variety of courses across academic disciplines.

By the time you graduate, you’ll be a skilled writer and proficient in a foreign language. You'll have a more nuanced understanding of different cultures and have critically considered the big questions that affect us all.

You’ll be ready to find answers on your own.