A program with shared outcomes and flexible options
All students complete the Army War College’s seven core courses, but there are different ways to move through the curriculum based on your interests and academic goals.
Standard Program
The standard program offers the broadest flexibility. Students complete required courses while tailoring their year through electives, regional studies, research projects, staff rides, guest speakers, and other enrichment opportunities.
Specializations
Students may also complete the core curriculum through a specialization that applies a focused lens to the same learning outcomes. Current specialization options include the Advanced Strategic Arts Program, Carlisle Scholars, the National Security Policy Program, and Enterprise Management.
Competitive special programs
Additional opportunities that count toward graduation requirements are explained after arrival. These include options such as Integrated Research Projects, the Joint Land Air and Sea Strategic Exercise, and the Eisenhower Series College Program.
Before classes begin
Students begin the year with centralized in-processing and orientation activities, including seminar introductions, curriculum orientation, graduate-skills support, library resources, and information on post policies and services. Centralized in-processing typically takes place in early August; during this period students also finalize key academic accounts and pick up any required hard-copy course materials.
Technology and course materials
The college provides curriculum materials other than summer reading. Most course content is delivered digitally through an Army War College learning platform, and limited “hard copy” book requirements are available for pickup during the first week of August. Students are encouraged to bring and use personal portable computing devices—such as notebooks, tablets, and smartphones—in seminar rooms and academic spaces. A wireless network is available in Root Hall and most base buildings, and non-mobile computer stations in seminar rooms and the Root Hall Library provide access to digital academic materials as well.
Academic communication
Formal school communication takes place through Army War College email and Microsoft Office systems. Students finalize their @armywarcollege.edu email accounts as part of the in-processing sequence, and this account becomes the primary channel for official academic communication. Military students retain their Service.mil accounts and continue to use them for appropriate official communication as needed.
Seminar-based learning
Most student learning happens in a seminar setting. Seminars typically meet four days each week for core courses and are structured to support discussion, case studies, and experiential learning. Each seminar comprises approximately 16 students, selected to support joint, interagency, and multinational exchange of perspectives.
All students complete the same seven core courses. Some do so through the standard program, and others as members of specializations that apply distinct lenses—such as policy, research, strategic art, or enterprise management—to that common curriculum.
Small, diverse groups
Each seminar brings together students from across the services, government agencies, and international partners to support rich, experience-based dialogue. This composition is intentional, enabling students to explore problems and decisions from multiple professional and national perspectives during seminar discussions, case studies, and experiential learning.
Typical weekly rhythm
A typical seminar day includes a three-hour morning class focused on core-course learning. Afternoons are often used for preparation, complementary programs, special opportunities, or major assignments, although some days are fully scheduled to support wargames, special guest speakers, or other academic events.
Fully scheduled days are not uncommon when the curriculum calls for extended exercises, integrated simulations, or visiting presenters whose availability drives the schedule.
Time for preparation and reflection
Graduate coursework generally requires about two hours of preparation for each hour in seminar. To support student success and thoughtful reflection, most weeks also include a Reading, Writing, Research, and Collaboration (RWRC) day. To the greatest extent possible, RWRC days are protected from routine academic scheduling so students can focus on reading, writing, research, and collaboration without additional seminar meetings.
Core curriculum for every student
All students complete seven core courses during the academic year, whether through the standard program or through one of the specialization pathways.
What the curriculum includes
The academic experience includes core courses, electives, regional studies, research, and non-classroom experiences such as staff rides and guest speakers.
Individual learning planning
Students work with the school and a faculty advisor to build an Individual Learning Plan that helps align their choices with post-graduate assignments and professional goals.
A joint, interagency, and multinational cohort
The student body reflects the strategy-level national security environment. It includes about 380 students from across the armed services, along with senior civilian leaders and international officers from allied and partner nations.
Broad experience in one classroom
Students typically include colonels and lieutenant colonels with roughly 22 years of service from active, reserve, and National Guard components, alongside civilian national security professionals and International Fellows.
International Fellows
International Fellows are integrated into seminars and contribute regional and cultural perspectives throughout the year. Their program begins earlier with additional orientation to the United States and the surrounding region.
Faculty teams support each seminar
Each seminar is led by a faculty team of three to four instructors whose expertise spans the Army War College’s major curriculum areas: Command, Leadership, and Management; National Security and Strategy; and Military Strategy, Planning, and Operations. This team structure ensures that students encounter multiple perspectives on strategy, leadership, and the application of military power over the course of the year.
One member of the team serves as your faculty advisor and provides one-on-one academic counseling and mentorship. Advisors help students plan their individual learning, connect opportunities to post-graduation roles, and navigate the demands of the curriculum.
Academic advising
Your faculty advisor is your primary academic point of contact throughout the year. Advisors are available to discuss academic goals, research interests, elective choices, and overall progress, and they help students integrate seminar learning with broader professional development.
In addition to formal advising, seminar faculty support day-to-day learning in the classroom, provide feedback on written work, and help students connect classroom concepts to experience in large, complex organizations.
Teaching and research support
Faculty lead core courses and electives, advise individual and group research, and support integrated research teams focused on real-world strategic problems. The broader faculty includes civilian academics, senior military officers, and scholar-practitioners with doctoral credentials and significant operational or policy experience.
Together, they bring both academic depth and practical insight to the curriculum, with an understanding of the professional responsibilities that await Army War College graduates. The military faculty is intentionally joint, with no more than about 60 percent from the Army, to reinforce joint and multinational perspectives in seminar discussions. Additional research faculty and subject-matter experts across college organizations sponsor electives, advise projects, and work with student-faculty research teams on key strategic issues and related topics.
Support across the campus
Several organizations support student learning across the Army War College community, including USAWC Library, the Center for Strategic Leadership, and the Strategic Studies Institute.
Research, wargaming, and expertise
These organizations support seminars, research, wargaming, electives, and access to subject-matter experts in areas such as history, strategy, policy, data analysis, cyber, space, climate, and defense support to civil authorities.
Extended learning environment
Together, they expand the academic experience beyond the seminar room and connect students to the college’s wider research and professional education ecosystem.
Academic Calendar
These are the seven core courses, with planning dates, subject to change:
Foundations Course, August 14 – 31
Strategic Leadership, begins September 1
Theory, War and Strategy, begins September 2
Military Strategy & Campaigning, begins September 3
National Security Policy & Strategy, October 29
Defense Management, begins October 30
Joint War Fighter, begins January 4 - February 4
Regional Studies Program, begins January 5
China Integrated Course, begins March 15
Oral Comprehensive Exams, April 6 - 9
Electives period, April 12 - June 4
Pre-Command Course, TBD
National Security Seminar, June 7 - 10
Graduation June.
Key Calendar Points:
Convocation August 3 - begins the academic year with welcome addresses from the Commandant and Provost and an introduction to the AWC Faculty.
Resident Education Orientation, August 3 - 12 - is a special series of required activities to kickstart your academic success:
- Seminar introductions
- Orientation to the Individual Learning Plan
- Seminar icebreaker with families
- Orientation to the curriculum and educational goals
- Graduate skills introduction
- Library Resources
- Post Leadership, Policies and Services
Special Programs Brief, August 13 in Bliss Auditorium. Introduces a range of alternatives to the base seminar experience: Specializations, Integrated (team) Research Projects, Enhanced Programs, unique electives, and more. Electives Fair is a marketplace for elective courses whose instructors are available throughout Root Hall, the primary academic facility, to discuss their elective’s purpose, requirements, and special features – and answer your questions as you design your elective plan.
National Security Seminar closes the curriculum with daily keynote speakers and seminar discussions with civilian guests from the United States. All these graduation requirements are fully explained in the AY27 Student Catalog, which will be available to you upon arrival to Carlisle Barracks.
Holiday planning
The academic year includes major holiday breaks and recess periods, including Labor Day, Thanksgiving, winter recess, Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Presidents Day, spring recess, Memorial Day, and Juneteenth, with exact dates subject to change.