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Frequently Asked Questions
1. Thomas Aquinas College is, you say, "different."
How so?
Radically so. There are no majors, no minors,
no electives, no textbooks, no lecture rooms with rows of
desks. Just Catholic liberal education. A single, set curriculum
for all students replaces the haphazard, sometimes mindless
assortment of courses which typify undergraduate specialization
at most colleges and universities. Textbooks are replaced
by original sources - "Great Books" - written over
the past 2500 years by some of Civilization's most important
philosophers, mathematicians, scientists, theologians, historians,
playwrights, and poets. Lectures are replaced by tutorial
and seminar conversations among students guided by the College's
faculty, tutors, as we call them.
And truly Catholic. The College's curriculum is shaped
by the rich intellectual tradition of the Catholic Church
and aims at natural and supernatural wisdom. Four years of
theology and four of philosophy underscore the centrality
of this tradition in the academic life of the College. As
important, campus life reflects the commitment of students
and faculty to live lives of charity and holiness. The College
is blessed by the presence of chaplains who are convinced
of the importance of the spiritual life and support the community
with daily Masses, the Sacraments, devotional practices, and
spiritual guidance.
2. How will the education at Thomas Aquinas College prepare
me for life?
As one of our graduates - Wendy Teichert, '81 - has said,
"If this question means, 'Will this education get
me a job?' I just say that, well, I won't regret it if
it doesn't. It has been worthwhile on its own. Yet I think
that the general foundation which Thomas Aquinas College
provides - the arts of thinking clearly and the principles
of ethical and Catholic living - will serve anyone not
only to get a job, but also to live the life befitting
a free man."
And indeed graduates of Thomas Aquinas College are teachers,
doctors and dentists and nurses, engineers and research scientists,
lawyers and political activists, priests and religious, postmen
and handymen and contractors, businessmen, architects, fathers
and mothers, computer scientists and robotics experts, playwrights
and composers and journalists. Anything, basically, that they
want to be. Graduate and professional school admissions committees
eagerly admit them into a wide range of post-secondary education.
See our Alumni section for
a partial list of these schools.
But perhaps as tellingly, graduates like Wendy are persistent
and vocal exponents of their Thomas Aquinas College education
and community experience. They say it has beautifully
prepared them for their lives.
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3. What is life like at Thomas Aquinas College?
You've heard of the Garden of Eden? This is just a little
strong, perhaps, as a description of the College but it's
close, by any standard. 360 men and women, students and teachers,
friends and companions on the quest for truth enlivened by
a desire to know Christ and to live as He does. The tangible
ambience of the campus is an open and trusting readiness for
friendship and conversation. Conversation, in fact, is what
students do best here, in class and out. In the dormitories,
on the basketball court, in the dining hall, wherever: friendships
are playing themselves out in the spirit of lively, civilized
- sometimes combative but more often congenial - conversation.
Now for some detail: Classes typically begin at 8:30 in the
morning and, with a break from 11:00 until after lunch, continue
from 1:00 until about 3:30 in the afternoon. Freshmen have
18 hours of classes each week so this amounts, for a freshman,
to about three hours of classes each day. Freshman seminar
runs from 7:00 until 9:00 on Tuesday nights. On average, a
freshman puts in an hour of preparation for each hour in class.
School is, roughly, a 40-hour per week effort. However, the
effort reaps daily, even hourly rewards.
For students and faculty who wish to attend, weekday Masses
are celebrated at 7:00 and 11:30 AM and at 5:00 PM. Breakfast
is served in the Commons from 7:30 until 8:15, lunch from
11:45 AM until 12:45 PM, and dinner from 5:30 to 6:15 in the
evening. Woven among these hours is time for recreation, study,
naps, music and drama practice, forays to the local towns,
and, of course, more conversation.
The weekend is an opportunity for getting ahead (or catching
up...) on studies. Most weekends include a campus social of
some kind - informal dances, poetry readings - choir and musical
ensemble practice, and forays to the nearby beaches, Los Padres
National Forest, mountains, Santa Barbara, Los Angeles, etc.
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