“One of my closest friends is actually a philosophy major who I met when we were placed in the same double room during my sophomore year. The fact that we had taken the same Core classes gave us an instant connection which has been one of the main building blocks of our friendship.”

“After my first year, I had an in-depth conversation with my grandparents about Dante's Inferno, which I had read in Literature Humanities, which helped me realize the value of the Core Curriculum. I was able to connect with my grandparents, who had come from very different cultural and educational backgrounds, through our shared knowledge of a classic novel.”

“I simply love the Core Curriculum – the discussions in these classes are amazing, and I wish I could take Contemporary Civilizations every semester. It showed me how much more interesting knowledge the academic world has to offer outside of my major, made me read books I would have never read (even in my free time) and gave me myriads of different perspectives on questions I had never even thought about.”

“The Core Curriculum, the hallmark of Columbia’s undergraduate education, is truly a wonderful and integral part of the development of the archetypal 'well-rounded scholar.'”

“The Core provides Columbians with a cultural understanding that allows us to appreciate the world in general in a more nuanced way. ”

“The Core is unique because it unites generations of students through an exceptionally challenging, eye-opening and holistic education of the Western world. Perhaps what is most remarkable about these courses is that students discover that the philosophies and themes that defined cultures thousands of years ago still permeate in our present day.”

“Connecting with people very - or even slightly - different from ourselves stimulates the imagination; and when we learn to see the world through a multiplicity of eyes, we only make ourselves more nimble in mastering - and integrating - the diverse fields of knowledge awaiting us.”