Magdalen College’s curriculum has been awarded a “Perfect A Rating” from the American Council of Trustees and Alumni (ACTA).
This superlative rating places the college among only four Catholic institutions in the country and among a mere twenty-four of the over 1,100 colleges and universities evaluated in the nation.
ACTA based its “A Rating” on the college’s substantial inclusion within its curriculum of seven essential subjects: Literature, Foreign Language, Composition, U.S. Government or History, Economics, Mathematics, and Natural Science.
These disciplines appear across the college’s integrated curriculum, including its signature Humanities Sequence. This unique sequence consists of eight semesters of six-credit courses that bring together all of the major disciplines of the humanities and fine arts. Each course not only integrates the great texts but unites the senior faculty with the students in a common journey of classical liberal education.
In response to this recognition, the college’s president, George Harne observed, “Our faculty have created something extraordinary. Their integration of the classic texts read from within the major disciplines gives form to the college as an animated whole, offering students an unparalleled education. Together, they teach with a sense of collegiality and purpose that inspires joy and a love of learning in our students. This is the best of Catholic education, an education of the imagination, the heart, and the mind.”
The college’s senior faculty include Dr. Peter Sampo, the college’s founder and student of the great political philosopher, Eric Voegelin; Dr. Mary Mumbach, a specialist in southern and Russian literature; Dr. Brian FitzGerald, an Oxford-trained medievalist; and Dr. Anthony Esolen, a translator of Dante, Lucretius, and a prolific author.
In conjunction with the Humanities sequence, the college offers courses in the sacred fine arts (through its “Arts of the Beautiful” program), a semester abroad that combines study in Rome with study in Krakow and Norcia, and a Career Pathways program that prepares its students for post-graduate, professional life.