The College provides students with opportunities to further their intellectual development both in and beyond Hyde Park. Programs and experiential learning opportunities engage students in immersive activities to deepen their knowledge of the world around them by connecting classroom teaching to lived experiences.
The College’s study abroad program encourages students to expand their education through diverse intellectual perspectives, active participation in a new culture, and critical, first-hand engagement with local and global challenges. In Europe, Asia, Africa, Latin America, and the Middle East, UChicago undergraduate students live the life of the mind, one great city at a time.
Chicago Studies makes it easier for undergraduates to forge genuine bonds with our amazing city. They offer O-Week and Welcome Week programming, sponsor classes and city-based research initiatives – they share resources to help students be more than a visitor during their time in the College, to help students better understand (and have a positive impact on) their new home.
Rooted in the University of Chicago Principles of Free Expression, the Parrhesia Program for Public Discourse offers innovative undergraduate curriculum, programming, and outreach in freedom of expression and the theory and practice of discourse.
Summer Session provides opportunities for students to enroll in Core, major, and other classes that fulfill degree requirements, allowing students to advance in their studies over the summer months.
A three-week intensive course option, September Term provides opportunities for students in the College to fulfill major and general education course requirements at a time when their summer employment, internships and other activities have ended, but fall quarter courses have not yet begun.
The Phoenix STEM Scholars Program aims to empower the next generation of STEM leaders in an inclusive environment. The program starts with a freshman pre-orientation “boot camp”, and then follows the scholars through their graduation from the University of Chicago.
Located in Woods Hole, Mass., the Marine Biological Laboratory provides students with opportunities to get hands-on experiences with biological science through field and lab work.
The nonpartisan Institute of Politics is committed to fostering in our students a passion for public service, meaningful dialogue and active engagement in our democracy. Here, students can test their assumptions about the role of politics, public service, journalism, and other institutions of our democracy, and explore how best to shape them.
The University Community Service Center (UCSC) connects students to civic engagement opportunities, on and off campus, that complement UChicago’s rigorous academic experience. Part of the Office of Civic Engagement, UCSC provides a range of resources that contribute to student civic learning and impact across the city of Chicago.
The Neighborhood Schools Program (NSP) connects UChicago students in roles such as teaching assistants, administrative interns, and preschool specialists through an in-school program, Jumpstart Preschool Program and Maroon Tutor Match. More than 3,000 local youth are engaged each year at 40 sites across Chicago's South Side.
The Sawiris Scholars Program welcomes exceptional students from Egypt’s top universities for a year of exchange in the College. The scholars are integrated into the UChicago community, studying and living among degree-seeking UChicago students, participating in extracurriculars activities and campus events, and exploring all that the city of Chicago offers.
The International Partnerships Program welcomes exchange students from partner institutions to study at UChicago. Exchange students, generally referred to as International Students-at-Large (ISALs), take classes with degree-seeking students and participate in a variety of extracurricular activities and events open to the UChicago community.