Academics

The Lake Forest Curriculum

Mission

Lake Forest College affirms that education ennobles the individual.

Our curriculum engages students in the breadth of the liberal arts and the depth of traditional disciplines. We encourage students to read critically, reason analytically, communicate persuasively, and, above all, to think for themselves. We foster creative talent and independent research. We embrace cultural diversity. We honor achievement.

Our faculty of distinguished scholars takes pride in its commitment to teaching. We know our students by name and prepare them to become responsible citizens of the global community. We enable students, faculty, trustees, and administrators to solve problems in a civil manner, collectively. We maintain a secure residential campus of great beauty. We enrich our curriculum with the vibrant resources of Chicago.

Lake Forest College celebrates the personal growth that accompanies the quest for excellence.

— Approved by the Faculty and Trustees, May 1992.

At Lake Forest College, we believe that all individuals benefit from breadth of education in the liberal arts combined with depth of study in traditional disciplines or interdisciplinary fields.

At the same time, we recognize that no two individuals have the same educational needs and goals, just as no two individuals have identical strengths, capacities, motivation, and preparation.

Accordingly, the College provides each student with both clear guidance and great freedom of choice in designing a program of study in consultation with a faculty advisor, while requiring the student to pursue a wide range of subjects and develop considerable expertise in one academic area.

A graduate who represents the educational ideals of Lake Forest College will have studied a broad range of ideas; developed real competence in writing, speaking, and quantitative skills; learned how to gather, access, and present information, and gained significant experience in the humanities, the natural sciences and mathematics, and the social sciences while completing requirements for a major in an academic department or interdisciplinary program.

The College’s General Education Curriculum, its advising system, and the requirements of each major are designed to support these educational ideals, as are the many other academic programs in the undergraduate curriculum.

Academic Honesty at Lake Forest College

Lake Forest College is committed to the highest standards of academic honesty. These standards reflect the core values of our institution and, thus, are reflected in our mission statement. Such standards are central to the process of intellectual inquiry, the development of individual character, and the maintenance of a civilized community.

Requirements for the Bachelor’s Degree

In order to receive the Bachelor of Arts degree, students are expected to complete 32 credits, fulfill the general education requirements, attain at least a 2.00 overall Lake Forest Collegegrade point average (without rounding up), and complete the requirements of a major. Credit is earned, recorded, and tallied by courses rather than by semester hours. Normally, a student is expected to fulfill graduation requirements within four years. All students, including transfer students, must fulfill these requirements.

Important details concerning graduation requirements are reviewed in the Lake Forest College Student Handbook.

Note: Not all courses listed in the College (on-line) catalog are taught every year.

General Education Curriculum

All students must successfully complete the General Education Curriculum (GEC) as a requirement for graduation. The GEC is intended to ensure that students receive breadth as well as depth in their education while continuing to allow them considerable latitude in designing their individual programs of study.

Declaring a Major or Minor

A major represents significant course work leading to substantial knowledge and competence in a given field; a minor entails less course work and is designed to produce basic knowledge and competence in a given field.

Students may declare up to two majors and one minor or up to one major and two minors.

Independent Scholar Program

Some of our strongest students find that no one traditional major meets their academic interests. The Independent Scholar Program enables qualified and motivated students to design and pursue an individual program in their junior and senior years, focusing on a particular topic or theme rather than on a single academic discipline.

Working with a faculty advisor, students accepted into the Independent Scholar program can develop their own major, culminating in a thesis or creative project.

Special Course Work

Independent study, under the guidance and supervision of faculty members, offers challenging opportunities for investigating areas beyond the limits of regular courses. Students may engage in independent study for credit, given the availability and approval of a faculty member knowledgeable in the chosen subject matter.

The following are four basic types of independent study: tutorial, research project, senior thesis, and creative project.

Also included among special course work are Off-campus study, internships, adult education, pre-professional advising, cooperative degree programs, program leaves, and audits.

Experiential Learning

As part of its mission to prepare students “to become responsible citizens of the global community,” Lake Forest College aims to provide its students with a sound education in the basic liberal arts emphasizing the crucial skills of critical thinking, reading, writing, and speaking, and with the opportunities to apply these skills in real-life situations. The College encourages and enables its students to participate in significant learning experiences that connects academic work with the world beyond the campus. These experiences can take several forms, including, but not limited to, study in an off-campus program (either domestic or international), work in an internship, and a service learning exercise that is part of the assigned work of a Lake Forest College course.