Academics
We encourage you to learn broadly at Loyola. Our academic programs are designed to challenge you intellectually but also to allow you to explore your talents, discover what inspires you, and help you succeed.
Your academic options are plentiful through Loyola's 10 schools and colleges, which offer more than 70 undergraduate majors. Courses and programs continuously evolve to meet changing student needs and interests and to ensure solid preparation for successful lives and careers. Each school and college at Loyola has a unique mission, but they all share the same Jesuit commitment to critical thinking, social justice, and rigorous study.
An undergraduate degree at Loyola takes four years (128 credit hours) to complete and includes the undergraduate major, the Core Curriculum, and electives. You also may diversify your skills by engaging in various research opportunities; earning a dual degree, a double major, or a double minor; or by completing a five-year joint bachelor’s and master’s degree program. Loyola will work with you so you finish these multifaceted programs as efficiently as possible.
ROME START
Your experience in the Rome Start program will be enriched with academic challenges and discovery. During your first year, much of your focus will be on Loyola's Core Curriculum, which ensures a strong liberal arts foundation infused with a commitment to responsible leadership.
Rome Start students will be taught by the Rome Center’s most dynamic faculty and will receive specialized mentoring and advising services. Class sizes in Rome seldom exceed 20 students, ensuring that Rome Start students will have plenty of interaction with their professors and fellow classmates. Faculty also lead students on weekend excursions to various points of interest throughout Italy and the rest of Europe. All classes are taught in English, except, of course, for Italian language courses.
Rome Start students also have the opportunity to participate in the Rome Center’s internship program during the spring semester of their first year. Past interns have served in more than 20 locations, including the Italian Senate, Emergency International, the International Development Law Organization, and the Capitoline Museum.
The Rome Start program is modeled after the Learning Communities at Loyola Chicago. These communities are groups of students who share a common interest or background, live together in the first-year residence hall, and take a few of their classes together. Rome Start students will live together in their own wing of the Rome Center dorms and will take a portion of core classes together as a cohort. Statistically, students in Learning Communities perform better academically and feel a stronger connection to the campus community.
View a complete listing of Rome Center courses here.
Students enrolled in IB or AP courses may be awarded course credit and/or advanced placement for their examination results.