Build Your Education

Undergraduate | The McDaniel Plan | Build Your Education

Opportunity and flexibility are the hallmarks of a McDaniel education. We offer courses of study in more than 60 areas, including pre-professional programs and teaching certification. Don’t see a major course of study that appeals to you? Self-design your own. Below is how you can make the most of your four years here.

Pick a First-Year Seminar (FYS) that intrigues you. Your professor and peer mentor who will help you transition to college.

All first-year students will be given introductory instruction in writing through course work offered by the English Department.

A McDaniel education is multicultural and international in scope. To fulfill the Global Citizenship requirement, students must take one course with a multicultural focus, and two courses with an international or cross-cultural focus.

The study of other languages introduces important avenues of communication and promotes linguistic, cultural, historical, and international understanding. Second language skills are an important and often necessary prerequisite for graduate study and provide an advantage for careers in many fields

Students will further develop their abilities in writing through a program of departmental writing. Each department or major program at the College provides a course or courses or a strategy to develop writing skills appropriate for its majors.

Critical Inquiry courses explore vital areas of knowledge in ways that stretch students’ abilities to inquire and imagine. They focus on key practices and methodologies that are central to the academic search for knowledge and are designed to advance the capacity for clear, critical, and creative thinking and communication across the breadth of the liberal arts

January Term is a three-week term between the fall and spring semesters in which students and faculty explore new areas and expand their intellectual horizons

Each student at McDaniel College must demonstrate an acceptable level of knowledge and competence in two courses or activities that are intended to develop physical fitness and/or promote informed and positive attitudes and behaviors that lead to lifetime wellness.

Or, build your own course catalog.

Learn more about how you'll be supported along the way.

Amy McNichols, Director of Global Initiatives at McDaniel College.

Professors who really know you

From Day One, your professors are here to guide you. At McDaniel, 90 percent of faculty are full time and hold the highest degree in their field. They are also dedicated mentors who enjoy authentic relationships with students in the classroom, at sporting events and over lunch in the dining hall.

You’ll have opportunities to conduct research with professors, travel with them to academic conferences and join study tours led by them. They will get to know you well enough to offer sound advice if you find yourself stuck deciding on a major, which internship to choose or on a personal issue.