Published March 04, 2025
NYU’s Core Curriculum: Not Just Gen-Eds
Fulfilling your core requirements at NYU will take you all around campus!
The TL;DR
- NYU offers dynamic courses that allow students to fully engage in the core curriculum
- Classes can be taken in different departments for different amounts of credit hours
- Many courses allow for opportunities to engage with NYC as another means of connecting with the course material
NYU is a liberal arts institution, which means that all students must fulfill requirements of the core curriculum in order to graduate. Whether they study at the College of Arts and Science, Silver School of Social Work, or another undergraduate school, NYU students enter the world as well-rounded individuals. But what makes NYU classes distinct from other universities are the dynamic options. The following are some of my favorite classes I’ve taken while fulfilling the requirements of NYU’s core curriculum.
My first semester at NYU, I took a course entitled “History in the Headlines.” This class used historical context to demystify news stories. Featuring guest lecturers from the history department, this course doubled as a preview of classes to enroll in during future semesters. “History in the Headlines” is also a two-credit course. The wide range of credit hours found in NYU classes allows us flexibility and fluidity when choosing our courses and fulfilling requirements of the core curriculum.
The spring of my sophomore year, I enrolled in “Introduction to Social and Cultural Analysis.” This text-based sociology course exposed us to thinkers such as John Locke, Frederick Douglas, and Michel Foucault, among others. It also gave us the freedom to grapple with the texts most exciting to us during our exams. Synthesizing my favorite texts from the semester, I wrote an essay interrogating the intersectionality of gender, sexuality, and labor. We also took a class trip to see an exciting play at The Public Theater relevant to our class discussions.
A third noteworthy class I’ve taken to fulfill core requirements at NYU was Music: The Art of Listening. This course utilized scientific journals, music, and soundscapes to analyze the science and sociology of noise, sound, and music. Throughout the semester, we had many exciting guest speakers (including renowned pianists and string quartets) perform for us. We also conducted field research, exploring sound installations throughout New York City. This course allowed us to amalgamate the class material with our own majors. This allowed us to connect with our education in a meaningful way.
These are only a few examples of different courses students can take while fulfilling their requirements at NYU. Whether you satisfy your requirements analyzing the science of romance (“Love Actually” is a popular course in the CAMS department) or studying the history of Greenwich Village, NYU offers a plethora of courses that allow you to fulfill your core requirements and your own curiosity in one fell swoop.
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