The Arcane Academy
Joining the Academy and Early Curriculum
Prospective students are first examined magically by a small group of the established faculty. This, they have explained, is to gain a rough guage for their abilities before considering whether they should be allowed to join the Academy. To join, they also require sponsorship from either a current member of the faculty, a former member of the faculty who was not dismissed from his post, or a highly respected non-faculty mage. The sponsor tends to act as a kind of mentor to the new student on acceptance, although there tends to be an assigned older student present to ensure that the mages themselves are only bothered by the most serious of problems. Nominal fees are payable to the Academy for tuition, either paid by the student, the student's guardian, or the sponsor in the absence of funds for the former two options, but students must purchase copies of their textbooks, and also acquire various pieces of standard equipment for use in lessons.
On acceptance to the Academy, prospective students are required to decide where their interests and abilities lie. Once decided, the choice is rarely changed, for the students are whisked off to their chosen College, to dedicate their studies largely to their own chosen branch of the magical art. All students spend the first year of their studies in communal dormitories, where they integrate with the other first year students. This is where much of the magical theory and basic tuition is taught, to give all the students a firm base from which to begin their studies properly. No actual magic is taught, with the exception of a few cantrips, which also helps the faculty identify problem pupils without setting them loose with magical tuition and a grudge to bear.
Following this inaugural year, students are then free to study their chosen branch of magic, under the guidance of various members of the faculty. They move into the area of the Academy designated for their college, and spend most of their time learning about the magical area their college teaches, with some lectures remaining from the first year curriculum throughout their studies. Some basic magics are taught to all pupils, but the overriding concern is with teaching their chosen field. Thus those involved in College A would also learn some of the very basics magics of some of the other colleges, but not all of them.