Majors & Minors

With 56 majors and several additional minor study options, Colgate is an ideal place to explore, discover, and develop your academic interests.

At Colgate, no major or minor course of study stands alone — each is truly grounded in the interdisciplinary liberal arts tradition, drawing on overlapping coursework and faculty expertise that spans several fields of inquiry.

Learn more about the following Colgate major and minor programs:

Offered as: Major and minor

Africana and Latin American Studies (ALST) is an interdisciplinary program studying the histories and cultures of African Americans and the peoples of Africa, Latin America, and the Caribbean.

Explore the Africana and Latin American Studies Program

Offered as: Major and minor

Join in the ongoing comparative study of human cultures and societies, and build a greater understanding of the structures and values that shape lives, institutions, and cultures.

Explore the Department of Sociology and Anthropology

Offered as: Major and minor

Explore the intrinsic elegance of humanity’s truly universal language, advance ongoing scholarship, prepare for careers, and develop skills that matter in almost any discipline.

Explore the Department of Mathematics

Offered as: Major and minor

Examine the history, theory, and practice of the visual arts in an interdisciplinary liberal arts context.

Explore the Department of Art

Offered as: Major and minor

Study the diverse nations and cultures of Asia through an interdisciplinary approach.

Explore the Asian Studies Program

Offered as: Major

The physics and astronomy department explores fundamental questions about the nature of matter and the universe and confronts challenging and exciting scientific problems.

Explore the Department of Physics and Astronomy

Offered as: Major and minor

The physics and astronomy department explores fundamental questions about the nature of matter and the universe and confronts challenging and exciting scientific problems.

Explore the Department of Physics and Astronomy

Offered as: Major

Study chemistry in a program that is nationally recognized for its faculty-student collaborations, certified by the American Chemical Society, built to leverage undergraduate student research as a learning tool, and rooted firmly in the liberal arts.

Explore the Department of Chemistry

Offered as: Major and minor

Biology students at Colgate University pursue their scientific interests through coursework in four majors as well as opportunities for active research.

Explore the Department of Biology

Offered as: Major and minor

Study chemistry in a program that is nationally recognized for its faculty-student collaborations, certified by the American Chemical Society, built to leverage undergraduate student research as a learning tool, and rooted firmly in the liberal arts.

Explore the Department of Chemistry

Offered as: Major and minor

Explore the languages and literatures of China and Japan to develop a deep understanding of the global influence of East Asian cultures.

Explore the Department of East Asian Languages and Literatures

Offered as: Major and minor

Want to understand Western civilization? Start at the beginning.

Explore the Department of the Classics

Offered as: Major and minor

Develop your technical and problem-solving acumen with a curriculum rooted in theory, application, creativity, design, and experimentation — with a dash of fun thrown in.

Explore the Department of Computer Science

Offered as: Major

Develop your technical and problem-solving acumen with a curriculum rooted in theory, application, creativity, design, and experimentation — with a dash of fun thrown in.

Explore the Department of Computer Science

Offered as: Minor

Students may explore and develop their passion for literature with a minor in creative writing.

Explore the Department of English and Creative Writing

Offered as: Major and minor

Study the motivations and incentives that shape society, while developing fundamental analytic and quantitative skills.

Explore the Department of Economics

Offered as: Major and minor

Gain a critical understanding of the relationship among power, knowledge, education, and society.

Explore the Department of Educational Studies

Offered as: Major and minor

English study at Colgate unlocks rich opportunities for you to pursue programs involving creative work in conjunction with rigorous training in verbal analysis and interpretation.

Explore the Department of English and Creative Writing

Offered as: Major

Draw on a variety of academic disciplines to study the single most pressing issue in the history of humanity.

Explore the Environmental Studies Program

Offered as: Major

Draw on a variety of academic disciplines to study the single most pressing issue in the history of humanity.

Explore the Environmental Studies Program

Offered as: Major

Draw on a variety of academic disciplines to study the single most pressing issue in the history of humanity.

Explore the Environmental Studies Program

Offered as: Major

Draw on a variety of academic disciplines to study the single most pressing issue in the history of humanity.

Explore the Environmental Studies Program

Offered as: Major and minor

Draw on a variety of academic disciplines to study the single most pressing issue in the history of humanity.

Explore the Environmental Studies Program

Offered as: Major and minor

Engage in multidisciplinary study and production of film and other visual mass media, examining how they serve as powerful determinants of ideology, identity, and historical consciousness.

Explore the Film and Media Studies Program

Offered as: Major and minor

Students pursue their passions for language and culture through rigorous and immersive study.

Explore the Department of Romance Languages and Literatures

Offered as: Major and minor

Get immersive exposure to modern techniques in geography, and bridge the social and natural sciences to study interactions between people and their environments.

Explore the Department of Geography

Offered as: Major and minor

Explore the Earth and its natural systems in one of the best undergraduate geology programs in the nation.

Explore the Department of Earth and Environmental Geosciences

Offered as: Major and minor

Immerse yourself in the German language and investigate diverse cultures, literatures, and philosophical traditions.

Explore the Department of German

Offered as: Minor

Explore interdisciplinary perspectives on critical health issues and gain the skills needed to address them, both locally and on a global scale.

Explore the Division of University Studies

Offered as: Major

Want to understand Western civilization? Start at the beginning.

Explore the Department of the Classics

Offered as: Major and minor

Understand society’s past and train your mind for the future.

Explore the Department of History

Offered as: Major and minor

Study, work, and travel with world-class faculty members and other driven, curious students to experience and understand political, social and economic dynamics on a global scale.

Explore the International Relations Program

Offered as: Major and minor

Explore the languages and literatures of China and Japan to develop a deep understanding of the global influence of East Asian cultures.

Explore the Department of East Asian Languages and Literatures

Offered as: Minor

Explore the interdisciplinary contexts of the Jewish religion, culture, and history.

Explore the Jewish Studies Program

Offered as: Major

Want to understand Western civilization? Start at the beginning.

Explore the Department of the Classics

Offered as: Minor

Examine and better understand the lives, representations, and intellectual contributions of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer communities, across cultures and throughout time. Among the first in the nation, Colgate’s LGBTQ Studies Program is one of just a few similar programs offered throughout the country.

Explore the LGBTQ Studies Program

Offered as: Minor

Study language, the foundation of the human experience, to develop an in-depth understanding of societies and individuals.

Explore the Linguistics Program

Offered as: Major

Study the motivations and incentives that shape society, while developing fundamental analytic and quantitative skills.

Explore the Department of Economics

Offered as: Minor

Biology students at Colgate University pursue their scientific interests through coursework in four majors as well as opportunities for active research.

Explore the Department of Biology

Offered as: Major and minor

Explore the intrinsic elegance of humanity’s truly universal language, advance ongoing scholarship, prepare for careers, and develop skills that matter in almost any discipline.

Explore the Department of Mathematics

Offered as: Minor

Explore and analyze developments in the period’s arts and letters, technology, trade, science, and religion in Europe, the Mediterranean, the Americas, India, and elsewhere.

Explore the Medieval and Renaissance Studies Program

Offered as: Major and minor

Develop a nuanced understanding of the Middle East, informed by study of its Islamic and related traditions.

Explore the Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies Program

Offered as: Major

Biology students at Colgate University pursue their scientific interests through coursework in four majors as well as opportunities for active research.

Explore the Department of Biology

Offered as: Major and minor

Study music with a background in history and theory, and hone your craft through a blend of performance and individualized training.

Explore the Department of Music

Offered as: Major and minor

Study the art, archaeology, culture, geography, literature, and religion of Native peoples in North and South America — a collective history and impact spanning 15 millennia.

Explore the Native American Studies Program

Offered as: Major

This program is particularly applicable for students who wish to take courses in both biology and geology. Students major in natural sciences, with a topical emphasis in marine science — freshwater science.

Explore the Division of Natural Sciences and Mathematics

Offered as: Major

Colgate’s neuroscience program is distinctive compared to its peers. It offers students the opportunity to participate in advanced education and research projects as undergraduates.

Explore the Neuroscience Program

Offered as: Major and minor

Explore the nature of peace, violence, and conflict within human society in an interdisciplinary framework that strives to bring holistic awareness and pragmatic solutions to global and local issues of security and justice.

Explore the Peace and Conflict Studies Program

Offered as: Major and minor

What makes an action morally right or wrong? What is free will, and do we possess it? What is the nature of knowledge? What is the relation between the mind and the body? What makes a political system just? Does God exist?

Explore the Department of Philosophy

Offered as: Major

What makes an action morally right or wrong? What is free will, and do we possess it? What is the nature of knowledge? What is the relation between the mind and the body? What makes a political system just? Does God exist?

Explore the Department of Philosophy

Offered as: Major

Students taking courses in chemistry, mathematics, and physics who do not wish to major in only one of them should consider a physical science interdisciplinary major.

Explore the Division of Natural Sciences and Mathematics

Offered as: Major and minor

The physics and astronomy department explores fundamental questions about the nature of matter and the universe and confronts challenging and exciting scientific problems.

Explore the Department of Physics and Astronomy

Offered as: Major and minor

Study the ever-changing realm of politics in its various dimensions — local, state, national, and international.

Explore the Department Political Science

Offered as: Major and minor

The Psychological and Brain Sciences Department applies scientific methods to investigate what makes humans and animals “tick.”

Explore the Department Psychological and Brain Sciences

Offered as: Major and minor

Study the world’s major religious traditions to develop a more complete understanding of humanity.

Explore the Department of Religion

Offered as: Major and minor

Explore Russia, Eastern Europe, and Central Asia through courses in language, literature, art, history, politics, ethnic relations, social conditions, and the environment.

Explore the Russian and Eurasian Studies Program

Offered as: Major and minor

Join in the ongoing comparative study of human cultures and societies, and build a greater understanding of the structures and values that shape lives, institutions, and cultures.

Explore the Department of Sociology and Anthropology

Offered as: Major and minor

Students pursue their passions for language and culture through rigorous and immersive study.

Explore the Department of Romance Languages and Literatures

Offered as: Major and minor

Students of theater are trained to integrate analytical, physical, emotional, and interpersonal intelligence in a way that few other courses of study demand.

Explore the Department of Theater

Offered as: Major and minor

Concepts of gender are a universally foundational element of societies and cultures globally. We study the complexity of human lives as gender intersects with sexuality, race, class, ability, nationality, ethnicity, religion, and age in the constitution of experience and identities.

Explore the Women's Studies Program

Offered as: Minor

Long a part of the liberal arts tradition, rhetoric is the art of effective language use in written, oral, and visual communication. 

Explore the Department of Writing and Rhetoric