The Hildegard Fellows Program
Accepting Applications for September 2024
The Fellows Program is the first year of Hildegard’s undergraduate degree, offering an immersive course in Christian Liberal Arts and Entrepreneurship. It is designed to give young adults the spiritual, intellectual, and practical tools they need to pursue lives of faith, virtue, and extraordinary work. Students may continue as sophomores in Hildegard’s undergraduate program or treat the Fellows Program as a standalone “gap” year experience.
Each Fellow is a member of the Hildegard College community at our FLDWRK campus in Costa Mesa: A small, mentorship-driven cohort of seekers and doers studying Great Books, Leadership Formation, and Entrepreneurship.
Hildegard Fellows will be equipped to:
Grow as leaders who are dedicated to helping others flourish in their respective callings.
Think well about culture and the history of ideas.
Live well-ordered lives, informed by the Christian liberal arts tradition.
Understand the nature and composition of lasting organizations – through both historical and contemporary analysis.
Put their convictions into practice through cultural engagement.
In a small cohort, Hildegard Fellows learn and explore growth in three areas:
Great Works of the Liberal Arts Tradition
Fellows participate in a tutorial in the seminal works of human learning and ingenuity that have shaped history’s greatest civilizations. Emphasis is on foundational works of the ancient world, including Homer, Plato, Aristotle, Sophocles, Herodotus, Euclid, and the Old Testament.
If you want to learn to think well, there is no replacement for careful discussion of the original works that have had the most significant influence on how we live, reason, and experience society today. \
Formation
Fellows learn the Formation Method, a system of leadership training that helps people ground their faith, study, and work in integrated lives of reflection and redemptive community.
The Formation Method was created for executive leaders to help them lead their organizations through positive culture building rather than through reactionary habits. It has been adapted exclusively for Hildegard College as Fellows learn to tackle professional, intellectual, and spiritual challenges together.
Entrepreneurship
Hildegard Fellows examine the history of organizations — how they help to improve our lives — and model different ways of aligning organizational mission, design, and innovation. Hildegard approaches entrepreneurship as a redemptive endeavor. Work is redemptive when it acknowledges the abundance of grace and the capacity for all people to pursue flourishing lives of prosperity, faith, and virtue.
The Entrepreneurship Tutorial is taught in conjunction with our Civic Partners. Leaders of industry and ministry offer Fellows opportunities for mentorship, internships, and other work experiences.
Your Hildegard College journey
begins as a Hildegard Fellow
TERM
The Hildegard Fellows Program is structured as two terms, starting in September or January.
COLLEGE CREDIT
Fellows have the option to earn up to 30 units of college credit through an accredited partner university. Contact admissions@hildegard.college for more information.
LIFE AT HILDEGARD
Information on our campus, housing, financing, student services, and more can be found on our Life at Hildegard page.
COST
Hildegard Fellows Program tuition is $8,000 per term, or $16,000 total, including all classes, fees, membership at our co-working space, and two week-long study abroad trips. Hildegard Fellows are responsible for purchasing their own texts and making housing arrangements, either independently or with our Homestay partners.