The curricula in the College of Fine and Applied Arts prepare students to enter professional fields, and the work of students is therefore closely and carefully mentored by faculty, as well as seen by local and regional audiences and experts in the field.

The preparation in Architecture, Landscape Architecture, and Urban and Regional Planning involves studios where students and faculty interact regularly and intensively to create models, drawings, and designs that are regularly evaluated by professionals and clients outside the academy. In Music, Dance, and Theatre, students spend countless hours with faculty, creating new works and preparing for performances that take place not only on campus but also in major cities like Chicago and New York.  Art and Design students also learn in practical studios overseen by faculty artists, and their work is recurrently displayed in the Krannert Art Museum and the I space Gallery in Chicago. Typical undergraduate experiences are:

Art and Design:  graphic design students work closely with faculty to design and produce Ninth Letter, a national literary/art journal that has won numerous awards.
Architecture:  design students collaborate with internationally famous designers to create plans for both class and realized projects.
Dance:  current and former dance students premiered new work by faculty member Tere O’Conner at the Baryshnikov Art Center in New York City.
Landscape Architecture: undergraduate students work closely with faculty on individual and group projects in intensively juried studios.
Music:  undergraduate music students receive individual coaching from world-class artists on the faculty as well as from visiting master performers.
Theatre: Tony-award-winning faculty rehearse extensively with theatre students to mount new plays and revivals of classics at the Krannert Center for the Performing Arts.
Urban and Regional Planning:  students in this growing field work directly with faculty and stakeholders in drawing up plans to improve society and its relationship to nature.