These challenging courses are designed for students who want to experience university-level academics while building up their resume for college applications. You can take one, 3- or 4-credit course* during College Prep.
Please Note: Any requests to take a class that is not on this list must be submitted to our Program Director via email to highschool@georgetown.edu for review. See the FAQ page for more details. Please do not contact class instructors directly to request permission to enroll.
*To satisfy visa requirements, international students receiving visa assistance from Georgetown will be enrolled in a second credit course. Please refer to the how to apply page for additional details.
About College Prep Courses
College Prep offers a range of credit courses taken alongside current undergraduate students in various subjects such as:
Art
Art History
Computer Science
English
Film and Media Studies
Government
History
Mathematics
Philosophy
Psychology
Public Speaking
Sociology
Theater & Performance Studies
Theology
Writing
Dates
Main Second Session:
The list of summer college credit courses is updated in December of each year. Click the down arrow to see course details.
Please note that there will be a mandatory orientation & check-in on Sunday, July 10. Students are encouraged to arrive in Washington, D.C. by Sunday morning to be able to attend.
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College Prep & College Credit Courses
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Photography I: Digital is a basic digital photography studio art course designed to develop the hands-on skills necessary to produce and identify the elements of a good photograph and to acquire a thorough working knowledge of digital equipment. Students will gain an understanding of the aesthetic and technical areas of photography as a fine art. Class lectures, discussions and digital lab assignments will deal with photographic composition, criticism and history, camera and paper types, and printer systems. Fundamental knowledge of computer programs such as Photoshop will be introduced in the semester to develop photographic imagery. Students enrolled in Studio courses must devote a minimum of 4 - 6 hours per week outside of class to develop and complete assignments. These times are flexible and can be rearranged with the instructor.
Fall and Spring.
No prerequisite.
This course explores the impact of "connecteness'" of modern society. Social, technological and natural interactions can be represented using links in a network formed by people and other entities. This network impacts many phenomenon, including the manner in which opinions and epidemics spread through society. This course will explore topics such as spread of opinions, the small-world phenomenon, robustness and fragility of financial markets, and the structure of the Web. This course may be used to fulfill the math/computer science portion of the Gen Ed Math/Science requirement.
This course first develops simple graphical and mathematical models of decision-making by individual economic agents: consumers, workers, and businesses. We analyze interactions between these agents in product and factor markets using concepts of market demand, supply, and equilibrium. Finally, we demonstrate the efficiency of perfectly competitive markets, describe the conditions under which that efficiency arises, and examine market failures that occur when those conditions are not met.
This course provides an introduction to macroeconomics. The first part of the course explores how GDP, inflation, unemployment, and other macroeconomic aggregates are measured in practice. The second part develops analytical models of macroeconomic performance and growth in the long run. The third part focuses on short-run (business-cycle) fluctuations and fiscal and monetary policies.
Fall and Spring.
How are war and terrorism reimagined and imbricated into popular culture? What are the affects of aestheticizing violence? This course will examine the proliferation of artistic forms, which seek to address the issue of war and the attendant concern about terrorism in America by looking at contemporary conflicts and their impact on texts including literature, film, television, video song lyrics and poetry..
How are war and terrorism reimagined and imbricated into popular culture? What are the affects of aestheticizing violence? This course will examine the proliferation of artistic forms, which seek to address the issue of war and the attendant concern about terrorism in America by looking at contemporary conflicts and their impact on texts including literature, film, television, video song lyrics and poetry.
Why is Hamilton such a hit? How does Lemonade capture the movement for black lives?
We will try to answer some of these questions using the critical method of Cultural Studies. As developed since the early 1960s, Cultural Studies is the critical study of contemporary culture with the goal of changing it. We will explore generally how intellectuals, artists and writers have effected social change. This course focuses on the great books and cultural events that have shaped the modern world. We will see how certain key books gave rise to social movements beyond private reading, and how these movements in turn inspired cultural shifts. Our goal will be to understand and engage the process of cultural transformation, and to participate in it.
We will analyze how cultural objects interlace categories of class, race, gender, nation and sexuality to produce a “cultural ensemble of power” that performs actual work in the world. Our job will be to understand how this works and how to use it to produce non-violent but revolutionary change. We will cover the history and theory of the field from the formation of the Birmingham Center for the Study of Contemporary Culture in the 1960s to the present, charting its main interaction with contemporary social movements such as civil rights, women’s liberation, LGBTQ equality, and third world decolonization.
We will explore the older historical genealogies of Marxism, feminism, anti-slavery, sexual equality, deconstruction, postcolonialism, postmodernism and media literacy to see how this works. We will also look at activism on campus and at large, such as the fossil fuel divestment campaign and 350.org, LGBTQ demands and the diversity drive, Black Lives Matter and the Occupy Movement, United Students Against Sweatshops, and criminal justice reform. Students will develop independent research projects. The teaching approach to this course will be heavily influenced by methods developed in the Doyle and ITEL programs, which seek to foster active student engagement with difference and the diversity of human experience.
Section Title: Lit & Visual Culture || Suffragettes. World War One. Surrealism. Jazz. Downton Abbey. Telegrams. The Easter Rising. The Great Depression. Paris. Fascism. Picasso. World War Two. The course will survey modernist literature from a transatlantic approach, representing the modernist writers, artists, and influences in England, Ireland, New Zealand, the Caribbean (Jamaica), Japan, China, the US (and its Native American cultures), and the Pacific. We will read short stories, poetry, memoir, essays, and novels. We will view different examples of visual culture, as well, like photographs and newsreels, tracing the innovations and experiments of modernism across different types of texts. Loosely confined to the years between 1910-1945, the modernist period is defined by its experimentation with language and the visual, but also by locations like Paris, London, and New York, and literary movements such as the Harlem Renaissance or Surrealism. This period produced some of the “Greats” of both American and British literature – like Langston Hughes, Gertrude Stein, and W.B. Yeats. With two World Wars and the Great Depression occurring within this time frame, the modernist period experienced tremendous violence and political upheaval. Writers, many of them soldiers or war volunteers, responded to these historical events by experimenting with new techniques that would reflect the psychological trauma of these modern wars. As this period brought increased mobility and communication technologies, the authors we study in this course will also be more mobile, with Americans regularly visiting and living in Europe, and artists from other countries coming to the Americas. We will pay special attention to how the periphery (such as colonized spaces) and marginalized voices (such as women of different races and origins, and the American black person) transform and respond to the cultural moment of modernism. In spite of the varied, even protean definitions of modernism throughout the twentieth century, today we note a movement from the margins of literary power to the center that enables formerly disenfranchised subjects to find their voice – and their place – in the canon. We will regularly explore photographs, propaganda posters, sculpture, newsreels, and paintings from the modernist period in digital archives such as the Imperial War Museum. We will also explore pamphlets and other historical visual culture items from the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939) in the classroom.
FMST 181-20: This course explores introductory film production techniques and strategies. Students will learn video and audio recording, scriptwriting and non-linear editing using Adobe Premiere Pro software. Visual storytelling concepts and creative post-production editing will be emphasized. In-class exercises and short film projects will allow students to become comfortable working in various film production roles. Additionally, critiques and screenings of student and professional film work will provide students with an understanding of the narrative film genre.
This course explores introductory film production techniques and strategies. Students will learn video and audio recording, scriptwriting and non-linear editing using Adobe Premiere Pro software. Visual storytelling concepts and creative post-production editing will be emphasized. In-class exercises and short film projects will allow students to become comfortable working in various film production roles. Additionally, critiques and screenings of student and professional film work will provide students with an understanding of the narrative film genre.
Government 020 provides students with a broad understanding of the political system in the United States. It is one of the four introductory courses in the Department of Government.
The goal of the class is to train students both as citizens and as scholars. As citizens, students will learn the shared history of U.S. politics and be able to think critically about how the system has succeeded and failed. As scholars, students will be introduced to the theoretical and analytical tools of political science as applied to American government.
By the end of the semester students will
1) Be politically literate, knowing core historical and contemporary facts about the U.S. political system
2) Understand important theories about U.S. politics, including theories about the importance and functioning of political institutions, the roots of popular political preferences, and the functioning and consequences of elections.
This course provides an introduction to key theories, concepts, historical events, and contemporary issues in the study of international relations (IR). The course has six learning objectives: Students will come to understand (1) the fundamental concepts unique to the field of international relations; (2) the major theories of international conflict and cooperation, particularly realist, liberal, and constructivist theories; and (3) several watershed conflicts in the last century, including World War I, World War II, and the Cold War. Students will then apply this theoretical and empirical knowledge to make sense of salient contemporary issues in (4) international security (including nuclear weapons and proliferation, ethnic conflict, civil war, and terrorism), (5) political economy (including trade, finance, and globalization), and (6) global governance (including international law, human rights, humanitarian intervention, and the environment). In short, the course is meant to provide students with the tools to analyze contemporary international affairs and debates in a rigorous and sophisticated manner.
This course provides an introduction to key theories, concepts, historical events, and contemporary issues in the study of international relations (IR). The course has six learning objectives: Students will come to understand (1) the fundamental concepts unique to the field of international relations; (2) the major theories of international conflict and cooperation, particularly realist, liberal, and constructivist theories; and (3) several watershed conflicts in the last century, including World War I, World War II, and the Cold War. Students will then apply this theoretical and empirical knowledge to make sense of salient contemporary issues in (4) international security (including nuclear weapons and proliferation, ethnic conflict, civil war, and terrorism), (5) political economy (including trade, finance, and globalization), and (6) global governance (including international law, human rights, humanitarian intervention, and the environment). In short, the course is meant to provide students with the tools to analyze contemporary international affairs and debates in a rigorous and sophisticated manner.
HIST 099 is one of the required core classes in History. All sections of HIST 099 fulfill the same role, though each instructor will develop a specific topic. Students are urged to consult syllabi available on line or at the History Department.
Please note that if you receive AP/IB placement or credit, you cannot take HIST 099 (or 007 or 008) for credit.
Please note that HIST 099 must be taken at GU and cannot be transferred.
The general aim of HIST 099 is to introduce students to various elements of historical work and thinking, within the context of looking at a particular historical period, event, or theme in some depth. Though lectures and discussion will focus on particular topics, there will also be class exercises, assignments, and readings that will allow instructors and students to explore how historians identify, define, and employ primary sources of all types, how historians analyze those sources, how they formulate questions, how they engage with the work of prior historians, and how they aim to reconstruct various elements of the human experience in particular times and places.
HIST 099 is one of the required core classes in History. All sections of HIST 099 fulfill the same role, though each instructor will develop a specific topic. Students are urged to consult syllabi available on line or at the History Department.
Please note that if you receive AP/IB placement or credit, you cannot take HIST 099 (or 007 or 008) for credit.
Please note that HIST 099 must be taken at GU and cannot be transferred.
The general aim of HIST 099 is to introduce students to various elements of historical work and thinking, within the context of looking at a particular historical period, event, or theme in some depth. Though lectures and discussion will focus on particular topics, there will also be class exercises, assignments, and readings that will allow instructors and students to explore how historians identify, define, and employ primary sources of all types, how historians analyze those sources, how they formulate questions, how they engage with the work of prior historians, and how they aim to reconstruct various elements of the human experience in particular times and places.
This course is designed to assist students whose high school mathematics background is insufficient for the standard first-year mathematics courses. It is primarily intended as a preparation for MATH-035. Topics include: algebraic operations, factoring, exponents and logarithms, polynomials, rational functions, trigonometric functions, and the logarithmic and exponential functions. Graphing and word problems will be stressed. This course is not intended to complete the math/science requirement in the College. Fall.
This is the first part of the three-semester calculus sequence (MATH-035, 036, and 137) for mathematics and science majors. Students do not need to have any familiarity with calculus, but do need good algebra/precalculus preparation. Topics include limits, derivatives, techniques of differentiation, applications of the derivative, the Riemann integral, the trigonometric and inverse trigonometric functions, and the logarithmic and exponential functions. Fall and Spring. All students must score a 75 or above on the Calculus Readiness Assessment to enroll in MATH 035.
Need to take the Calculus Readiness Assessment and earn a minimum score of 75.
Philosophy 010 is a general introduction to philosophical ethics. Questions addressed include: What is the nature of morality? How do we know what is right and what is wrong? What sorts of moral obligations do we stand under? What are our duties to others and to ourselves? What is the nature of virtue and vice? How do we assess moral character? Readings are generally drawn from both traditional and contemporary philosophical authors. Reading lists and specific topics addressed vary from semester to semester and from instructor to instructor, as do required work and expectations. Please consult the syllabi posted online by individual instructors for more detail.
Unlike more traditional ethics courses, this course is a team-based, interactive learning experience focused on contemporary ethical issues including, but certainly not limited to, those concerning social media, technology, racism, reparations, decolonization, ableism, feminism, gender, and sexuality. Assigned readings will be highly accessible and relevant to right now, real-life, ongoing ethical issues and resistance movements. An easy way to think of this course is “the instructor gives you the scenarios, YOU and your team do the ethics.”
An introduction to some of the central questions of philosophy through the writings of both traditional and contemporary authors. Questions addressed may include the relationship between mind and matter; between causation and free will; meaning, truth, and reality; knowledge, perception, belief, and thought. Topics and readings vary from semester to semester and instructor to instructor, as do the course requirements and expectations. Please consult the syllabi of the individual instructors for more detail.
Philosophy is a discipline that involves higher order reflection on questions that arise when we try to make sense of our lives. There are many ways of getting a sense of what philosophy is all about, but in this course we will be taking a historical approach, surveying a number of influential texts from the history of philosophy. The course will proceed with a number of questions in mind: What exactly is philosophy, and how is philosophy distinguished from other forms of reflection? What does it mean to be a human being, and what is it that makes human beings distinctive among entities in the natural world? Are some ways of living better than others? What is justice, and why should one be just? What is the nature of moral obligation? Does history, or human life more generally, have a purpose?
The course will proceed in a chronological fashion, beginning with some influential texts from the ancient world and moving onwards up through the 20th century. We will be reading excerpts from Plato, Aristotle, Christine Korsgaard, Immanuel Kant, G.W.F. Hegel, Karl Marx, Friedrich Nietzsche, and Jean-Paul Sartre.
In this course you will learn in numerous ways that sociology is the systematic study of human society and social life. This course is designed to be an introduction to the development of sociology, and an examination of the range of concepts, principles, and methods that comprise modern sociology using a core text and academic journal articles. We will examine important issues and institutions of contemporary society, including culture, socialization, gender, race and ethnicity, education, family, inequality, and social change. A particular focus will be on the examination of intersectionality in formal organizations (i.e., workplaces). By the semester’s end it is anticipated that students will understand the sociological perspective and be able to discuss sociological issues using the language of the discipline.
Sociology Required Course for Majors/Minors: In this course you will learn in numerous ways that sociology is the systematic study of human society and social life. This course is designed to be an introduction to the development of sociology, and an examination of the range of concepts, principles, and methods that comprise modern sociology using a core text and academic journal articles. We will examine important issues and institutions of contemporary society, including culture, socialization, gender, race and ethnicity, education, family, inequality, and social change. A particular focus will be on the examination of intersectionality in formal organizations (i.e., workplaces). By the semester’s end it is anticipated that students will understand the sociological perspective and be able to discuss sociological issues using the language of the discipline.
The Problem of God introduces students to the study of religion and theology, broadly
understood. Our aim in the course is not only to introduce students to different religious
traditions and perspectives, but, as the title of the course suggests, to encourage critical
reflection on some of the most challenging questions relating to religious commitment. In
other words, the goal of the course is not only to help students learn about religious
traditions, but to reflect critically on what it means to be a religious person, what it means
to study religion and theology, and what the significance of religious belief is. It is one of
two courses (along with IBL) that fulfill the first Theology course requirement at
Georgetown, and the importance of promoting critical reflection on religious belief through
this requirement has taken on new meaning in a post-9/11 world, in which religious
literacy and understanding are more important than they have ever been. Mirroring the
diversity of our faculty, the course is taught in a diverse number of ways, including a
variety of different primary texts and focusing on a variety of significant questions relating
to religion and theology. Georgetown graduates consistently report that The Problem of
God was one of the most important courses that they took during their time at Georgetown.
An intensive seminar, enrolling no more than 15 students, focused on developing students’ ability to use writing as a tool for inquiry, to develop their writing through an iterative process, and to practice writing in different rhetorical situations. Students should take this course as early as possible and no later than the end of the sophomore year.
The Writing and Culture Seminar helps students develop their ability to:
• read critically in ways that are attentive to language, context, and form
• write in ways that are appropriate for different rhetorical situations, with awareness of genre, context, and technology
• deploy language’s many resources, including its figurative power as well as conventions of grammar, punctuation, syntax, and semantics, to shape and communicate meaning with clarity and fluency
• research, evaluate, and synthesize appropriate evidence in order to build and support effective analyses and arguments
On the surface, social media promises connection: a tool that lets us communicate across physical, cultural, and generational divides. In practice however, it's much more complicated. This semester, you’ll hone your critical reading and writing skills by diving into those complications. We’ll unpack what happens when a new form of communication springs up within the space of a single generation - with a specific focus on the challenges and problems social media has brought. We’ll think about how we navigate these social spaces, and how our behavior and identity differs across different digital spaces, as well as how it compares to how we present ourselves in the physical world. Just as importantly, I'll be challenging us to think about why those differences matter, and what they mean for us as citizens (and, for some of us) future designers and gatekeepers of the ever-expanding digital world.
Section Title—Food Narratives: Writing and Eating. || This course explores the connection between writing and food, not only from a marketing perspective but from many others, such as how cooking and writing together can provide an exceptional opportunity for creativity and growth; sustain and honor cultural heritage; reveal how global economies function; bond people together; and help communities survive.
As we consider the interrelationship between mixing ingredients and mixing words, we will learn skills and strategies to be more effective writers. This course is intended to equip students with resources to help navigate writing situations they may encounter during their academic careers and beyond. Thus, assignments in this course center on the writing process (prewriting, drafting, feedback, revising, editing, and publication) to develop critical communication skills.
