Degree Programs and Curriculum
- Majors
- Minors
- Certificates
- Accelerated Bachelor/Master Degree Programs
- Special Academic Programs for First-Year Students
- Interdisciplinary Programs
- Undergraduate Research
1. Majors
Georgetown College offers the following majors for the Bachelor of Arts (A.B.) degree:
The following majors lead to a Bachelor of Science (B.S.) degree:
- Biochemistry
- Biological Physics
- Biology
- Biology of Global Health
- Chemistry
- Computer Science
- Environmental Biology
- Mathematics
- Neurobiology
- Physics
2. Minors
Minors are optional. Some minors require an application (*), typically submitted in the spring of sophomore year. MOST Minors are open to all, and may be declared when declaring a major, or any time after. The following minors are offered:
- African American Studies
- Anthropology
- Arabic
- Art
- Art History
- Biology
- Business Administration*
- Catholic Studies
- Chemistry
- Chinese
- Classical Studies
- Cognitive Science
- Computer Science
- Creative Writing*
- Disability Studies*
- Economics
- Education, Inquiry, and Justice*
- English
- Environmental Studies
- Film and Media Studies*
- French
- German
- Global Medieval Studies
- Government
- Greek
- History
- Hebrew
- Italian
- Japanese
- Jewish Civilization
- Journalism*
- Justice and Peace Studies
- Korean
- Linguistics
- Mathematics
- Music
- Performing Arts
- Persian
- Philosophy
- Philosophy and Bioethics
- Physics
- Portuguese
- Psychology
- Public Health*
- Religion, Ethics, and World Affairs*
- Russian
- Russian Literature and Culture (in Translation)
- Science, Technology, and International Affairs*
- Sociology
- Spanish
- Statistics
- Theater and Performance Studies
- Theology and Religious Studies
- Turkish
- Women’s and Gender Studies
3. Certificates
Georgetown College students may earn a certificate in one of the regional study programs below offered through the School of Foreign Service. Certificates are the functional equivalent of minors, so they count as one of the maximum three academic components that a student may complete toward the degree. In keeping with SFS policy, students may not pursue two certificate programs. There can be no double counting of courses between or among programs, except in cases of 7-course certificates or minors that explicitly allow for the double counting of one course between two programs.
- African Studies
- Arab Studies
- Asian Studies
- European Studies
- Islam and Muslim-Christian Understanding
- Latin American Studies
- Eurasian, Russian, and East European Studies
See the Certificates page for the full requirements for each of the above programs.
4. Accelerated Bachelor/Master Degree Programs
Some College Departments offer qualified undergraduate students the opportunity to earn bachelor’s and master’s degrees at an accelerated pace within five years by counting two graduate-level courses taken as part of the undergraduate program toward the master’s degree. Some of these programs also permit up to two additional graduate courses beyond the 120 credits required for the undergraduate degree to be applied towards the master’s within limits set by policy and with the explicit approval of the particular master’s program, the College, and the Graduate School. Students with a minimum of a 3.5 in the major are eligible to apply for the program no later than the end of their junior year. Please see the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences for information and requiremens of specific master’s programs.
Currently, the following accelerated degree programs are available to qualified students with appropriate undergraduate coursework:
- Arabic
- Art & Museum Studies
- Computer Science
- Communication, Culture & Technology
- English
- German
- Global, International, and Comparative History
- Government
- Italian
- Latin American Studies
- Linguistics
- Russian and European Studies
- Spanish
- Statistics
5. Special Academic Programs for First-Year Students
Liberal Arts Seminar
The College offers a special Liberal Arts Seminar to thirty first-year students. Its aim is to foster in each student an integrated approach to learning. The interdisciplinary program, whose theme changes based on the participating faculty and their chosen focus involves extensive reading, independent study, and exploration of ideas through small discussion groups. The seminar is valued at 12 credits and fulfills up to four core requirements, depending on the focus each year. All incoming first-year students are invited to apply to the Liberal Arts seminar in the summer prior to matriculation.
Ignatius Seminars
The Ignatius Seminars are courses offered in the fall semester for the intellectually curious student interested in an integrative and personal approach to learning. These seminars introduce Georgetown College first-year students to the depth and diversity of Georgetown’s dynamic intellectual community. Favorite topics of College faculty form the offerings for these seminars that invite small student groups to join their professors in the creative exploration of mind and spirit. All incoming first-year students are invited to apply to participate in the Ignatius Seminar program in the summer prior to matriculation.
FLL Hager Scholars Program
The FLL Hager Scholars program is for declared majors in languages, linguistics, and comparative literature, designed to create a sense of community and opportunities for intellectual growth. Over the course of this yearlong program, Hager Scholars will gain a greater appreciation of the possibilities available to students and scholars of language(s), inside the classroom and in the world beyond. In addition to a course in their declared major, FLL Hager Scholars will be enrolled in designated courses that fulfill core requirements, and a 1-credit colloquium addressing critical and contemporary issues where language plays an illuminating, deepening, or complicating role.
6. Interdisciplinary Programs
Interwoven throughout Georgetown’s traditional department-based curriculum are interdisciplinary programs, majors, and minors that take advantage of the breadth as well as depth of intellectual resources on the Georgetown campus. These programs are based on themes that cross departmental boundaries and reflect the emergence of significant new perspectives on human knowledge. They are the result of collaborative efforts by faculty from several disciplines to create curricular offerings addressing complex questions coherently from a common but multidimensional standpoint.
The College offers interdisciplinary majors and minors in:
- African American Studies
- American Studies (major only)
- Comparative Literature (major only)
- Justice and Peace Studies
- Global Medieval Studies
- Political Economy (major only)
- Women’s and Gender Studies
The College offers interdisciplinary minors in:
- Catholic Studies
- Cognitive Science
- Disability Studies
- Education, Inquiry and Justice
- Environmental Studies
- Film and Media Studies
- Jewish Civilization
- Journalism
- Religion, Ethics, and World Affairs
- Science, Technology and International Affairs.
The College also offers qualified students the opportunity to design their own formal interdisciplinary major program, integrating multiple disciplines, through the Interdisciplinary Studies application. All students, however, are encouraged to seek connections and synthesis in and amongst their majors, minors, core courses, and electives in order to more fully appreciate the connectedness of the many ways of knowing.
7. Undergraduate Research
Georgetown College places a central emphasis on research in the formation of students through the ongoing quest for deeper knowing, toward fulfillment of the academy’s public responsibility to expand and improve humanity’s understanding of the world. Students are invited to join faculty in their scholarly work, to learn the methods and approaches of research from disciplinary and interdisciplinary perspectives, and to become independent seekers through asking and answering original research questions. The College provides a variety of opportunities for students to pursue undergraduate research, including in-class projects, fellowships and funding options for independent research in semesters and summers, faculty collaborations as research assistants, and senior capstones and theses.