For those seeking added language and learning support prior to starting the undergraduate program, Fulbright has a seven-week Bridge Program that runs the summer prior to the start of classes.

For those of you who participate, you will work with our outstanding faculty and staff to prepare for the start of your first-year academic experience.

Following the American tradition, students begin their studies at Fulbright by building a breadth of knowledge and skills through a set of core courses of the liberal arts and science. These courses incorporate the key competencies of critical, innovative, and creative thinking, effective communication, reasoning, civic engagement, collaboration, ethical reasoning, and lifelong learning. These courses also illustrate the power of interdisciplinary study to solve modern problems.

The core curriculum includes:

• Global Humanities and Social Change — An examination of key moments in global history of thought through the lens of textual analysis. [Read more about this course HERE]
• Modern Vietnamese Culture & Society — A deep-dive into issues confronted in modern day Vietnam, ranging from the socio-cultural and the political-economic to nationalism and globalization. [Read more about this course HERE]
• Quantitative Reasoning for a Digital Age — An introduction to the foundational skills of mathematics, computer science, statistics, logical reasoning, and algorithmic thinking that informs issues in fields as diverse as economics, psychology, history, and philosophy. [Read more about this course HERE]
• Scientific Inquiry — An exploration of how scientific knowledge is acquired, taught through a project and inquiry-based approach rooted in the various disciplines of the natural sciences.
• Design and Systems Thinking — An introduction to the principles, processes, and tools of systems thinking and design thinking that are used to identify and generate solutions to frictions in our society. [Read more about this course HERE]

Read more about our core curriculum – a unique feature of Fulbright HERE.

Exploratory courses encourage students to step out of their comfort zone by exploring broad areas of study and discover more fully where their interests and passions lay. Students need to complete 8 credits (2 courses) chosen from each course category.

Areas of study at Fulbright are organized into majors. Each major requires at least 9 – 12 courses with at least 3 courses at 300 level. Students can claim at most 2 courses as both Exploratory and Major. In addition to these courses, during their final year of study, students will have the option to apply to do a Capstone project, which will count for 8 credits in their major area of study, OR fulfill those credits with coursework.

Read more on Majors here.

Students are strongly recommended to complete the two Fulbright seminars after fulfilling the Exploratory requirements, typically in the third year. Students are exposed to various research disciplines and observe hands-on experiences in various steps of a research process: gathering ideas, exploring methodologies, reviewing the literature, and writing research proposals. Each Fulbright seminar is worth 2 credits and is graded Pass/No Pass.

Experiential Learning is “learning by doing” that occurs embedded in the actual context of (and under the supervision of) an expert or practitioner and not in a classroom environment.

The Fulbright Undergraduate program offers two types of Experiential Learning: Scholarly development and Signature Internship Program. Students are required to complete a minimum 4 credits and a maximum 12 credits of either or both types of Experiential Learning. A workload of 140 hours of Experiential Learning is equivalent to 4 credits.

Scholarly development: An academically driven work outside of regular coursework and mentored by a faculty or co-mentored by a faculty and external experts. Some typical forms are individual or group research projects, directed reading course, art-work production, and academic internships, each as evaluated and approved by the Advising Committee. Scholarly development can be graded either by letter grade or Pass/No Pass.

Signature Internship Program: An external or internal work that provides students hands-on experiences and skills that are applicable to their future careers. Typical forms are internships at external firms under the supervision of the Career Development team. Signature Internship is non- graded.

To round out the degree, students are required to take 16-40 credits (4-10 courses) chosen freely within the Course Catalogue.

Electives provide students with the opportunity to take courses in different subjects across the curriculum to build up a broad and diverse background or pursue more profound studies within their major. As an alternative, students may use electives to fulfill requirements for a minor or for a double major.

All majors at Fulbright will offer an optional capstone pathway to be completed during the 4th year.

Students may apply for the opportunity to fulfill major requirements via a capstone project. If a student would like to do a Capstone, the student must apply at the end of the 3rd year. Alternatively, students who opt out of the Capstone will need to fulfill 8 credits of advanced coursework.

Individual majors will determine eligibility requirements, and students should discuss their proposals with major coordinators and potential advisors to prepare their applications. Capstone projects will be graded No Pass/Pass/Honors and must be defended and evaluated by supervising faculty one month before the end of the student’s graduating term. Student whose Capstone is graded Honors will be awarded Graduation with Honors.