The Core of Common Studies is the intellectual heart of a Marquette education, built on our Jesuit tradition and designed for successful life in the 21st century. The Core comprises nine knowledge areas essential to a well-educated person, a Marquette graduate. The nine knowledge areas are:

• rhetoric;
• mathematical reasoning;
• theology;
• human nature and ethics;
• science and nature;
• individual and social behavior;
• literature and performing arts;
• diverse cultures; and
• histories of cultures and societies.

Each knowledge area presents a unique way of understanding, that is, a distinctive intellectual tradition with its own methods and particular content. In most areas you can choose from among different courses carefully selected by the faculty to meet the criteria of the Core. The courses will open your mind and your heart to the most important ideas, ways of thinking, and values of this time and of all time.