Preparing students to become leaders for the greater good is our mission at the O’Neill School. We’ve intentionally designed our undergraduate curriculum and programming to incorporate high-impact practices that ensure you will graduate equipped with the knowledge and skills you need to have a successful career and make a significant impact in diverse settings around the globe.
High-impact practices are embedded in O’Neill’s undergraduate curriculum
Common intellectual experiences
Our core curriculum fosters shared learning experiences that will encourage you to think critically, explore diverse perspectives, and build a sense of community.
Diversity and global learning
We believe in the power of diversity to enrich learning. Our programs incorporate global perspectives, helping you become culturally competent and globally aware.
Collaborative assignments
Teamwork and collaboration are vital in the real world. At O’Neill you will engage in collaborative assignments that mirror the demands of the modern workplace.
Internships
Internships are at the heart of our commitment to high-impact practices. Your internship will provide you with real-world experiences that bridge the gap between theory and practice.
Read more about high-impact practices at O’Neill
Go to our blogOther high-impact practices central to O’Neill
Learning communities
Our Civic Leaders Center brings together students who share common interests, developing connections with their peers and faculty members, fostering a sense of belonging, and providing a strong support system.
Undergraduate research
Our undergraduates actively participate in meaningful research projects that align with their interests and career goals, including through the O’Neill Honors Program.
Service learning/community based learning
We bring the classroom into the community. Through community partnerships such as through our O'Neill Leadership Program, students apply academic concepts to real-world situations.
Capstone project
Honors students complete a thesis alongside a faculty advisor. Other O’Neill students may take courses that require culminating projects which offer them opportunities to integrate and apply what they’ve learned.
Graduate ready for the real world
We offer our students a supportive and collaborative academic environment with hands-on opportunities for research and leadership development. After completing their undergraduate education at O’Neill, 98% of our students launch their careers or pursue higher education.
Description of the video:
The O'Neill school equips you with the foundational tools to be active
change makers in your community. Whether that's on a local state or federal level.
The academic advising here is amazing. I love that all O'Neill students are assigned
a specific advisor from their freshman year. My advisor and I were really close. It feels
nice and feels safe and comfortable to know that someone is in your corner.
Being a part of a small class helped me have the personal connection with the professor and
the TAs. It was very easy and comfortable to like talk and speak up in the class.
In the future, I really want to work with urban green infrastructure. Every
professor that I've met, they are just there to make sure that you have a good
experience in that class and that you are learning the information that you need.
Summer after my freshman year, I studied abroad in Athens Greece.
Just seeing how policy and public management fit into these situations
that I would have never been able to do on my own and without the school.
I originally joined the honors program, because it seemed like an exciting way to meet like-minded students and to get this opportunity to take my education to this next level by getting to meet faculty, choosing a research area and ultimately completing a thesis as a senior.
I had a faculty advisor who was incredibly helpful,
incredibly supportive and steered me in the right direction and through that I
also received an opportunity to be a research assistant.
Over the last three and a half years, I've published three peer-reviewed research articles,
an opportunity as an undergraduate I never would have expected.
Entering in as a direct admit can be very valuable and it really allows you to just
jump right in and immerse yourself. For me it's always been important to make change
and just to make the world a better place for your peers but also for the people to come.
The O’Neill School equips you with the foundational tools to be an active changemaker in your community, whether that’s on a local, state, or federal level.
—Ky Freeman, BSPA’22