Lists and Rankings

Great Books Colleges

Who needs textbooks? With Great Books programs, students get a liberal arts education entirely through classic works of theology, philosophy, history, fiction, science, and more. They're basically a bookworm's dream come true.

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• Biola University (La Mirada, CA): Torrey Honors Institute offers Great Books options.
• Boston University (Boston, MA): An elective core curriculum is based on the Great Books.
• Brock University (St. Catharines, Ontario, CAN): The Liberal Studies Program is oriented toward the Great Books.
• Central Washington University (Ellensburg, WA): A Great Books program is part of the William O. Douglas Honors College.
• Christendom College (Front Royal, VA): The core curriculum is based on the Great Books.
• Clemson University (Clemson, SC): Great Works of Western Civilization is an undergraduate minor.
• Columbia University (New York, NY): Masterpieces of Western Literature and Philosophy is a year-long course.
• Concordia University (Montreal, Quebec, CAN): The liberal arts college focuses on the Great Books.
• Eastern University (St. Davids, PA): Templeton Honors College has a Great Books core.
• Gutenberg College (Eugene, OR): The college features a broad-based Great Books curriculum.
• Hillsdale College (Hillsdale, MI): The core curriculum includes Great Books courses.
• Lawrence University (Appleton, WI): The freshman studies program focuses on the Great Books.
• Lynchburg College (Lynchburg, VA): The Lynchburg College Symposium Readings Program revolves around the Great Books.
• Magdalen College (Warner, NH): The curriculum is based on the Great Books.
• Malaspina U (CAN): The liberal studies program focuses on the Great Books.
• Mercer University (Macon, GA): The Great Books program is one of two general education tracks in the College of Liberal Arts.
• Middle Tennessee State University (Murfreesboro, TN): A Great Books minor is available.
• New Saint Andrews College (Moscow, ID): The curriculum is related to the classics and Great Books.
• Northwestern State University of Louisiana (Natchitoches, LA): The Louisiana Scholars College combines Great Books-based courses with others.
• Pepperdine University (Malibu, CA): Seaver College offers the Great Books colloquium as a four-course sequence on masterpieces of Western civilization.
• Princeton University (Princeton, NJ): The Great Books are part of the program of freshman seminars in the residential colleges.
• Quest University (Squamish, BC (CAN)): The required first-year core includes many features of a classic Great Books approach.
• Saint Anselm College (Manchester, NH): A major is offered in liberal studies in the Great Books.
• Shimer College (Chicago, IL): One of the more extensive Great Books colleges, Shimer uses original source readings, rather than textbooks.
• Southern Virginia University (Buena Vista, VA): The college offers a comprehensive liberal arts education based on the Great Books.
• St. John's College (Annapolis, MD): St. John's is the model of the Great Books colleges. It features a four-year, nonelective curriculum in which students read, discuss, and write about the seminal works that have shaped the world.
• St. John's College (Santa Fe, NM): St. John's is the model of the Great Books colleges. It features a four-year, nonelective curriculum in which students read, discuss, and write about the seminal works that have shaped the world.
• St. Mary's College of California (Moraga, CA): The Integral Liberal Arts Program includes a Great Books emphasis.
• St. Olaf College (Northfield, MN): The Great Conversation is an integrated sequence of five courses taken over two years.
• Temple University (Philadelphia, PA): The Intellectual Heritage Program is a group of foundation courses required for students in the college of arts and sciences.
• The College of Saints John Fisher & Thomas More (Fort Worth, TX): The college is based on a single Great Books focus.
• Thomas Aquinas College (Santa Paula, CA): The college has a full Great Books curriculum. There are no majors or minors, no electives, and no specializations.
• Thomas More College (Crestview Hills, KY): All students take a six-hour humanities course through the four years. Much of the learning is based on the Great Books. Students also are required to study Latin or Greek.
• University of Chicago (Chicago, IL): The curriculum consists of a four-year sequence of Great Books readings.
• University of Dallas (Irving, TX): Constantin College of Liberal Arts core curriculum offers a comprehensive Great Books curriculum.
• University of North Texas (Denton, TX): The Great Books program is an interdisciplinary major in the college of arts and sciences.
• University of Notre Dame (Notre Dame, IN): The Program of Liberal Studies is a three-year, prescribed sequence of seminars and specialized courses--or tutorials--anchored in the Western and Catholic traditions.
• University of Wisconsin — Milwaukee (Milwaukee, WI): Through the college of letters and science, the university offers a certificate program that is grounded in the Great Books.
• Wesleyan University (Middletown, CT): The College of Letters is an interdisciplinary major program for the study of Western literature, history, and philosophy. It has the Great Books as its core.
• Whitman College (Walla Walla, WA): The General Studies Program is a two-semester exploration of the formation and transformation of some western worldviews using the Great Books.