College of the University of Chicago

The College of the University of Chicago is the university's sole undergraduate institution and one of its oldest components, emerging contemporaneously with the university's Hyde Park campus in 1892. The College is notable for pioneering a now-widespread model of the liberal arts undergraduate program with various innovations: adoption of the Socratic method in undergraduate contexts, the Great Books program, and the core curriculum. These modes, largely associated with reforms by former University chancellor Robert Maynard Hutchins, remain among the most expansive of well-regarded American colleges. Instruction is provided by faculty from across all graduate divisions and schools for its 6,801 students, but the College retains a select group of young, proprietary scholars who teach its core curriculum offerings. Unlike many major American research universities, the College is small in comparison to the University's graduate divisions, with graduate students outnumbering undergraduates at a 2:1 ratio. Within the College, instruction is marked by an emphasis on preparing students for continued graduate study. 85% of graduates go onto graduate study within 5 years of graduation, higher than any other university, and 15–20% go on to receive PhDs.