LAS Undergraduate Programs

Additional writing programs centered around the English language, as well as the Honors Program, are housed in the School of Liberal Arts and Sciences and provide students with the skills to inform, argue, and express themselves in written and academic formats. Here are the programs available in the School of LAS:

The Honors Program
School of LAS

Columbia College Chicago launched its Honors Program in the Spring of 2010, offering a limited number of Honors courses to a targeted, specific population of students who had excelled in their course work. The Honors Program and Honors-designated courses are offered in the Liberal Arts and Sciences (LAS) Core Curriculum. Honors courses enhance the academic rigor of courses in Columbia's LAS Core. As such, students best suited for Honors courses and the Honors Program are those who are ambitious, eager for greater challenges, independent in their learning and course work, and active participants in class discussions. Because every student at Columbia takes the LAS Core Curriculum, every student potentially has the opportunity to be invited to join the Honors Program. Learn more.

English as a Second Language Program
Department of English

The English as a Second Language (ESL) program offers specialized sections of college-level writing, reading, and public speaking courses to students with home/heritage languages other than English.

First-Year Writing Program
Department of English

As part of the LAS Core, all undergraduate students are required to take English Writing and Rhetoric I and II—courses which help students develop their writing skills in expressive, informative, and argumentative writing. These courses also nurture skills in research, revising, drafting, and editing.