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Chicago Programs

Chicago, Illinois

Live, learn, and pursue an internship in the vibrant city of Chicago

The ACM Chicago Programs offers three different but inter-linked programs designed to engage students academically, professionally, and personally with the city of Chicago as they study and work in their program of choice.

With Urban Studies, established in 1969, as an anchor and model, ACM recently modified the Chicago Arts program and introduced a new program in Business, Entrepreneurship, & Society to offer three programs that share a common administrative office and meeting space located in the heart of the Chicago's downtown theater district.

Using the programs' distinctive interdisciplinary approach, participants tackle the big issues facing cities and the people who live and work in them, and then are encouraged to dig deeper to relate those issues to their lives, education, and career aspirations.

Students in each of the Chicago Programs are required to complete four key components of the program designed to inform, enrich, and complement their learning experience.  These include 1) the Chicago Core Course; 2) a program-specific seminar; 3) an individualized internship; and 4) an independent study project that grows out of participation in a program-based workshop, practicum, or precept project.

Students should apply for the program that best meets the academic and career interests they would like to explore during their semester in Chicago.

 

 

 

 

Application deadlines

Application deadline extended! Please contact the ACM Office for more information.

October 31, 2008

Spring 2009 semester

March 15, 2009

Fall 2009 semester

March 15, 2009

Spring 2010 semester early application date
Do I need to apply early?
The early application date is available for students whose college requires that all off-campus study applications for the entire upcoming academic year must be completed the prior spring semester. If your college does not require a spring decision for programs the following spring, you may simply apply by the regular application deadline.

October 31, 2009

Spring 2010 semester

While preference will be given to students who have met the application deadline, late applications may be accepted on a space-available basis.

If the application deadline has passed and you are still interested in applying for a program, please submit your application immediately and contact the ACM Office.

Chicago Programs

Jessica Bauske The Urban Studies program was amazing and really strengthened my commitment to social justice. A lot of what I learned in the program is what helped direct me to law school.

—Jessica Bauske, Chicago Urban Studies, Spring 2007

Eric Haugee Like many 20 year-olds on the Urban Studies program, my career goals at the time were to do something to help other people. On the program, I realized that social work - while necessary - is not the band-aid approach I wanted to be a part of. Upon graduating from college, I spent eight years working for the Minnesota State Senate, and now lobby on behalf of early childhood issues, where I have had a direct influence on the resources made available for early childhood programs for at risk families. The ACM Urban Studies program, for me, was as much about realizing what I didn't want to do in life as finding out what I did want to do. I would not be doing what I am today were it not for my experience in Chicago in the spring of 1994.

—Eric Haugee, Chicago Urban Studies, Spring 1994

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Who we are

The Associated Colleges of the Midwest (ACM) is a consortium of 13 independent, liberal arts colleges in Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Colorado.