The College of Arts & Sciences (A&S) is the liberal arts and sciences college at Cornell and the largest of Cornell’s undergraduate colleges. With 40+ majors, 60+ minors, and 2000+ courses across the disciplines, A&S offers uncommon academic diversity. With up to two years before you declare a major and two-thirds of courses taken outside of your major, your educational path will be defined by structured flexibility and be guided by your own academic interests. The Arts & Sciences curriculum is designed so that you can work closely with faculty to develop the hallmark skills of a liberal arts and sciences education: the ability to read critically, write persuasively, and think broadly…while taking full advantage of the resources of a leading research university. Students choose A&S for many reasons, including the breadth of our academic programs, research opportunities, and career prospects.

The flexibility of the Arts & Sciences curriculum encourages students to explore their interests broadly, and there is no required core curriculum. Instead our faculty have outlined ten broad distribution requirements in key areas such as Global Citizenship, Social Difference, and Statistics and Data Science, all of which are essential for preparing students to contribute to society. In addition, students take two first-year writing seminars and complete a foreign language requirement.  

Of the 40+ majors offered in the College of Arts & Sciences, the 10 largest majors in alphabetical order are Biological Sciences, Biology and Society, Chemistry, Computer Science, Economics, English, Government, Information Science, Mathematics, and Psychology. Other students find smaller majors especially rewarding within the context of a large research university, and it is common to double major within the College, to major and minor within the College, or to combine any Arts & Sciences major with one or more minors.