Discover Georgetown College
DEAN’S WELCOME Founded in 1789, Georgetown College (Georgetown University’s School of Arts and Sciences) is the oldest school at Georgetown University; with more than 3,500 students, it is the university’s largest undergraduate school. But what truly defines the College is not just its age or its size, but the central role it plays in Georgetown’s world-renowned liberal arts and sciences curricula. Georgetown University has prided itself on a deep and abiding commitment to undergraduate liberal arts education. In keeping with Jesuit educational tradition, we endeavor to provide each student who passes through the front gates with a comprehensive education in arts, sciences, critical thinking, and the expression of complex ideas. Beyond the core curriculum, students who choose the College as their academic home will find the broadest spectrum of academic disciplines the university has to offer. Students may explore classes in any of our 26 academic departments and 12 interdisciplinary programs. When it comes time to choose a specialty, students forge their own academic path from among our 43 majors, 55 minors and seven certificates. Opportunities for learning beyond the classroom abound at Georgetown. Undergraduate research gives intellectually curious students a chance to conduct meaningful professional scholarship. They do so guided by professors in the College who are, themselves, leaders in their disciplines and on the forefront of creating new knowledge. Our students take pride in a robust extracurricular community, with studentled businesses, clubs, publications, advocacy groups, sports teams, music groups, and spiritual groups all thriving on the Hilltop. In keeping with the Jesuit ideal of cura personalis — care of the whole person — the university has invested immensely in students’ intellectual and personal development. The skills developed in the College help our students find placement in a diverse range of fields after graduation. College alumni lead successful careers in government, law, finance, medicine, research, filmmaking, teaching, media, and more. Our alumni community is living proof of the idea that a liberal arts education is the ultimate pre-professional degree. Georgetown College represents the core of both Georgetown’s oldest traditions and its most innovative projects. Should you join our family, you will meet wise mentors, loyal friends, and a community that will last a lifetime. Hoya Saxa,
Christopher Celenza, Ph.D., Dr.phil. Dean, Georgetown College Professor, History and Classics
“I have spent the bulk of my writing career on poverty and social justice issues. I spent a lot of time reporting for prisons and courts, and I directly relate that to my time at Georgetown because I was always interested in, and believed in, the Jesuit teaching that we are how we treat the rest of us, and you’re the happiest when you’re helping others. I think this campus is brimming with possibility. College is a great time to open your mind and do something out of the box.” Mary Jordan (C’83, Baker Scholar) is a Pulitzer-prize winning author and journalist at the Washington Post
LIBERAL ARTS IN THE JESUIT TRADITION The liberal arts curriculum of Georgetown College is animated by the freedom to explore widely and the call to think deeply. The Jesuit tradition sparks the development of personal convictions and values in a close community of scholars and learners. Students encounter a range of subjects and questions, each offering a distinctive way of approaching our world and its problems, all bound together in the search for meaning, understanding, truth, and justice. Graduates depart not only with essential knowledge and exceptional skills, but also with humane spirits, fired imaginations, and an open invitation to change the world.
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The College encourages students to take time to explore and reflect through their studies, a process that will help each student become a well-rounded, balanced, and intuitive person. Your professors will challenge you to think critically and push yourself to find answers. This is the hallmark of a liberal arts education, and one that will serve you well throughout your life. When you arrive at Georgetown, you may have ideas
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about the direction of your academic journey and in some cases, you may stick to these ideas. But as you explore all the Hilltop has to offer, you may discover passions and interests you didn’t realize you had before. The College encourages this self-discovery and helps you to foster those sparks of inspiration into your studies.
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of students entering the College come in as UNDECLARED, and that’s okay!
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“To say that the Faculty of Language and Linguistics at Georgetown has supported me is an understatement: during my time as a Comparative Literature and Italian double major, I’ve been stimulated, challenged, fulfilled, and enthused by the professors I’ve studied with and the classes I have taken. The serious attention the humanities and foreign language receive at Georgetown has made me more attuned to, curious about, and enthralled by the world around me. I’m so grateful!” Harry Rose (C’20)
AREAS OF STUDY * African American Studies African Studies * American Musical Culture *American Studies *Anthropology Arab Studies *Arabic *Art *Art History Asian Studies *Biochemistry *Biological Physics *Biology * Biology of Global Health Business Administration Catholic Studies *Chemistry *Chinese *Classical Languages *Classical Studies Cognitive Science *Comparative Literature *Computer Science Creative Writing Disability Studies *Economics
E ducation, Inquiry, and Justice *English *Environmental Biology Environmental Studies European Studies Film and Media Studies * French and Francophone Studies *German *Global Medieval Studies *Government Greek (Modern) Hebrew *History *Interdisciplinary Studies I slam & MuslimChristian Understanding *Italian *Japanese Jewish Civilization Journalism * Justice and Peace Studies Korean Latin American Studies *Linguistics *Mathematics Music *Neurobiology
Performing Arts Persian *Philosophy Philosophy and Bioethics *Physics *Political Economy *Portuguese *Psychology Public Health Religion, Ethics, & World Affairs *Russian Russian and East European Studies Russian Literature and Culture Science, Technology, & International Affairs *Sociology *Spanish *Spanish and Portuguese Statistics * Theater and Performance Studies * Theology and Religious Studies Turkish * Women’s and Gender Studies *denotes majors
OUR PATH
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HUMANITIES AND SOCIAL SCIENCES
LANGUAGE AND LINGUISTICS
The study of philosophy, theology, history, literature, and the arts are
The Faculty of Language and Linguistics (FLL)
among the most enduring components of a university education,
includes seven modern foreign language
inviting us to transcend our own experiential and cultural limitations.
departments, the Department of Classics, the
The social sciences complement the liberal arts through the rigorous
Department of Linguistics, and the Comparative
study of the human mind, social structures, and political institutions.
Literature Program. The College places great
College students who major in the humanities and social sciences develop strong skills of analysis, interpretation, and expression. Trained to sustain a life of curiosity and creativity, they leave Georgetown prepared to transform the lives of individuals, communities, and institutions in a wide variety of careers. 4
emphasis on the study of foreign languages and cultures, and the FLL offers courses in 23 languages in intensive and non-intensive tracks. Along with indepth study of the cultures and literatures of other lands and historical periods, language studies are integrated with the various fields of linguistics.
SCIENCE AND MATHEMATICS Georgetown College emphasizes hands-on learning in both the lab and the field to mold students into working scientists. Students can choose from more than a dozen majors and minors in the sciences, including a variety of biology, chemistry, and physics programs. In addition, the College offers programs in computer science and mathematics. All Georgetown undergraduates will take coursework in the sciences and have the unique ability to work alongside faculty and graduate students in research laboratories, both on the main campus and at the Georgetown University Medical Center. Students and faculty in the biology, chemistry, and physics departments work in the university’s research and teaching center, Regents Hall. 5
The beauty of a liberal arts education is that it teaches you how to think critically and communicate clearly. These valuable skills translate to success no matter what career path you choose.
“A well-rounded, liberal arts education provides you the tools to be the very best citizen of your community and the world. When students immerse themselves in various disciplines and learn about the broader context in which events unfold, then they grow in their capacity to be compassionate toward others and address society’s most pressing needs.” Marcia Chatelain, Provost’s Distinguished Associate Professor of History and African American Studies
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A SCHOLA COMMUN
EXCLUSIVE, SMALL COHORT CLASSES FOR COLLEGE FIRSTYEAR STUDENTS As a first-year student in the College, you have access to a selection of unique courses and academic programs designed exclusively for incoming students. These were created to enhance learning and build your personal academic community.
THE WAYS OF KNOWING SEMINAR is an integrated learning experience, placing two core disciplines into conversation with each other to confront questions about truth, knowledge, expertise, belief, and meaning. The seminar creates a bridge between one course in philosophy and one in biology, illuminating contrasts in their approaches to how we learn and how we know what we know, even as both disciplines reach for discovery and full understanding
FLL HAGER SCHOLARS
of the world. The courses will pursue their own distinct
The FLL Hager Scholars program is designed with our
projects will link the two courses, creating a unique
most ambitious students of languages and linguistics in mind. Over the course of this yearlong program, Hager Scholars complete coursework in their major, as well as courses that fulfill core requirements in other disciplines, taught by faculty who are particularly interested in the ways that language study informs their fields. In addition, Hager Scholars complete a biweekly, yearlong colloquium designed to introduce students to FLL faculty and their research, and to expose them to the many opportunities available to language majors outside the classroom, in D.C., and beyond.
ARLY NITY
learning goals, but integrated weeks and integrative community of learning, interdisciplinary discovery, and very critical thinking. Our aim is to demystify the academy by unlocking some of its secrets, laying bare important disciplinary differences in order to make students more attuned to the real stakes of their academic choices.
IGNATIUS SEMINARS (IS) are offered only in the first semester and create for new students a small intellectual community of their peers, as well as a strong connection to a faculty mentor who is invested in their educational growth. Favorite topics of College faculty form the offerings for these seminars, ranging from “The Making of Food”, taught by Prof. Sylvie Durmelat from the Department of French and Francophone Studies, to “Disability, Culture, and Question of Care”, taught by Prof. Libbie Rifkin from the Department of English. Students explore these topics in the classroom and beyond, traveling to local museums, restaurants, parks and theaters over the course of the fall semester.
FIRST-YEAR HISTORY SEMINARS First-Year History Seminars are designed for students who’ve earned qualifying scores on Advanced Placement or International Baccalaureate exams in World or European History and are interested in completing their Core Requirement in History in a small class environment with an experiential learning component. Led by a faculty mentor in the Department of History, students are taught to evaluate the past and present, developing strong writing and research skills that will serve as a foundation for future study in any of Georgetown’s liberal arts disciplines. 7
With Georgetown College’s many departments, programs, centers, and institutes at your fingertips, the number of potential paths you may take are limitless. The faculty at the College encourage students to pioneer new ideas, both through independent study and research and with guided help from mentors and peers. No matter what subject interests you, the College will help you explore it at a deeper level. The College faculty are committed to creating opportunities for our students to engage in original research that makes a real intellectual contribution to their fields of study. The Georgetown Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program (GUROP) and Davis Summer Research Fellowships Program support students who conduct research in collaboration with faculty, while the Davis Summer Experiential Learning Fellowships fund independent experiential learning opportunities that students are able to tie to their unique academic interests. Georgetown College students regularly compete for and receive prestigious awards, including the Rhodes, British Marshall, Churchill, Barry M. Goldwater, Fulbright, and Joseph L. Allbritton scholarships.
COLLEGE STUDENT WORKED TO END POVERTY IN MABULE, BOTSWANA Mayesha Awal (C’20) traveled to Botswana as part of the Davis Fellows Program during the summer of 2019.
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“I wanted to be able to actually meet the people that we were trying to help,” says Awal. “The Davis Fellowship provided me with the funding for my trip to Botswana with Sego, an opportunity I otherwise would not have had.”
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“Georgetown’s commitment to undergraduate research has allowed me to engage in meaningful inquiry into topics I am passionate about, both independently and with faculty. As a research assistant in a developmental cognitive neuroscience lab in Georgetown’s Department of Psychology, I have had the opportunity to study how individuals acquire and teach math concepts. Additionally, as a Carroll Fellow, I have been independently researching disease and preventative medicine in the US, China, and the Middle East. I am grateful that my research at Georgetown has helped me employ skills I learned in the classroom to investigate novel questions.” Liddy Kasraian (C’21)
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GO ABROAD A study-abroad experience challenges students to gain a heightened awareness and understanding of the world. Approximately 57 percent of Georgetown’s undergraduates study abroad in universitysupported programs during their academic career.
57% of undergraduates study abroad
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programs
57
countries
Georgetown College offers students access to the rich opportunities of the nation’s capital, one of the world’s most important and dynamic cities.
More than the global center of political power, Washington, DC is also a vibrant and diverse city where students can extend their learning in practical and professional environments. Georgetown’s proximity to the Library of Congress, the National Institutes of Health, and the Smithsonian provide professors and students access to world-class research facilities. College students may also take courses at institutions such as the Folger Shakespeare Library or enroll in community-based learning courses through the Center for Social Justice.
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FRO AN
“Georgetown’s unique location in Washington, D.C. provides access into our nation’s leading agencies, think tanks, and advocacy organizations. During my Sophomore spring, I was able to intern at the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice while taking classes on the very topics I was encountering in my workplace. Not only has this exposure helped me professionally, but also personally as I’ve been able to engage directly with contentious political and ethical issues. As someone studying government and social policy, I can think of no better place to make such learning come alive.” Trevor O’Connor (C’20)
OM DC TO NYWHERE
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Georgetown College gives students more than a traditional classroom education.
Graduates leave the Hilltop with the tools— and the desire—to achieve great things for individuals and communities around the world. For many, this is a lifelong pursuit, one that is visible in the endeavors and achievements of our alumni who strive to make a difference socially, scientifically, economically, and politically.
CONNECTING STUDENTS AND ALUMNI THE BAKER SCHOLARS PROGRAM Founded in 1973, it remains one of Georgetown’s most prestigious and soughtafter undergraduate development programs. This highly selective program offers a unique opportunity for Georgetown College students to learn about the world of business. As a group, the scholars develop and lead initiatives to visit top businesses and leaders representing diverse industries across the country. Community service is also a fundamental element of the program, and the scholars demonstrate this commitment by organizing impactful service events in the Washington, DC area.
THE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY NETWORK Georgetown College is proud to support the Social Responsibility Network, a program designed to help students pursue careers in nonprofit and public service fields. The Social Responsibility Network provides lessons, programming, networking, and mentorship for students who seek out careers centered around doing social good. It connects students with an advisory board composed of alumni currently working in a wide range of service-based careers.
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Show Your Hoya Pride!
HOYA FOR LIFE
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