Columbia College Chicago

Columbia College Chicago is a private arts and media college in Chicago, Illinois, founded in 1890 as the Columbia School of Oratory. It grew from speech and performing-arts training into an undergraduate-centered college of film, music, writing, design, theater and journalism, distinct from Columbia University in New York. Its South Loop urban campus is the defining setting.

Academic units cover cinema and television arts, music, fashion, business and entrepreneurship, English and creative writing, and communication and culture. Graduate students work in studio, production and workshop settings rather than in science laboratories. Facilities include production stages, media centers and performance spaces in downtown buildings.

Enrollment has been on the order of about 6,000 students in recent years, mostly undergraduates, with a smaller graduate cohort and a mix of U.S. and international students. Faculty include working artists and media professionals. Alumni include television host Pat Sajak, actor Shemar Moore and cinematographer Mauro Fiore.

Graduate study is mainly taught master's and M.F.A. work in the arts and media, with critique, production and internship models rather than a Ph.D. supervision culture. The calendar is semester-based. Funding is thinner than at research-university assistantships. Students live in and around the South Loop and use Chicago's museums, theaters, studios and newsrooms as the extended campus.

In the Grad School Navigator directory, Columbia College Chicago lists 1 master's program.