Honors Program

The Honors Program community brings together creative thinkers, intellectuals, writers and communicators who seek to share ideas while studying and learning at the highest level. Honors Program students pursue deeper academic and creative challenges with some of Columbia’s most engaged faculty members through a rich array of specially designed courses on subjects ranging from Introduction to Visual Culture to History of the American City to the Evolution of Sex and dozens of other topics. Honors classes include students from all of Columbia’s majors in the visual, performing, media and communication arts, creating opportunities for collaborations and relationships that transcend the classroom. Many Honors courses fulfill Columbia Core requirements, and the upper-level Honors Undergraduate Research Mentorship Initiative (URMI) course provides one-on-one research opportunities with faculty across the College and can be taken for up to 3 hours of Honors Program credit. Other experiential courses such as Independent Projects, Directed Studies, Internships, Study Abroad courses, or Faculty-Led Program courses may fulfill Honors course credit if they meet the Honors Course Characteristics, subject to approval by the Honors Program Director. Contact honors@colum.edu for more information.

  • Honors Course Characteristics

    • Academic and Intellectual Challenges: Honors courses provide engaging and academically challenging opportunities for all students. Classes are committed to inclusive academic excellence.  

    • Interrogation of Power and Privilege: Honors courses provide spaces where students can question how factors including race, class, gender, disability, and ethnicity influence culture and knowledge.  

    • Independent Learning: Honors courses provide opportunities for students to further develop their own areas of interest through independent and self-directed projects.  

    • Smaller Class Sizes: Honors courses provide robust mentorship from faculty instructors and, in many cases, more involvement with faculty members’ scholarly and creative interests.  

    • Scholarly Communities: Honors courses provide academic and professional development through an expectation of collaboration, research, and interdisciplinary work. 

  • Honors Program Credit Hour Requirement

    Students can become eligible for the Honors Program in two ways: Students with excellent applications may be invited to join the Honors Program at admission. Alternatively, any student who achieves and maintains a cumulative grade point average of 3.5 or greater is eligible to take Honors courses and may declare into the Honors Program. Students who declare Honors, complete the required number of Honors credits in classes with a letter grade (provided below), and maintain at least a 3.5 cumulative GPA will receive the designation Honors Program Graduate on their final transcript. This is distinct from Latin Honors, which is based solely on GPA.

    Columbia College Chicago Honors Program is inclusive of those students who would like to pursue 'Honors Program Graduate' distinction and have earned transferrable college-level credit prior to their first term of Columbia enrollment.  College-level credit includes: Advanced Placement (AP), College Level Examination Program (CLEP), International A-Level, International Baccalaureate (IB), military credit, and transferable post-secondary coursework. For students who have earned prior to their first term of Columbia enrollment:

    •  0 -15 transferable credits: at least 15 Honors credits must be completed.
    • 16-30 transferable credits: at least 12 Honors credits must be completed.
    • 31-75 transferable credits: at least 9 Honors credits must be completed.