Areas of Inquiry
The Brandeis Core asks students to step outside their major and encounter different ways of thinking. Areas of Inquiry ensures every student's education has genuine breadth — coursework across the sciences, social sciences, humanities, and creative arts that challenges them to see the world through more than one lens.
What's Required
Complete one course in each of the four Areas of Inquiry: Creative Arts, Humanities, Science, and Social Science. Many courses that fulfill an Area of Inquiry also count toward a student's major or other Core requirements.
What Students Develop
Each Area of Inquiry exposes students to different methods, questions and ways of building knowledge. A science course trains students to design experiments and test hypotheses. A humanities course asks them to interpret texts and construct arguments from evidence. The point isn't to become an expert in every field — it's to develop the intellectual range to think across them.
These courses also connect to the broader Brandeis Core, reinforcing the skills students build in communication, reasoning and collaboration throughout their time here.
- Clear communication
- Teamwork and collaboration
- Technological fluency
- Quantitative reasoning
- Global understanding and social responsibility
The Four Areas
- Creative Arts: Courses that engage students in artistic practice, interpretation or analysis — from studio art and art history to music, theater, and film.
- Humanities: Courses in literature, languages, philosophy and cultural studies focused on human thought and expression.
- Science: Courses in the natural sciences, psychology, mathematics, and computer science that develop empirical reasoning and analytical skills.
- Social Science: Courses that examine human behavior, institutions and societies — including economics, politics, sociology, and history.
See the University Bulletin for additional Areas of Inquiry details.