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.
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.
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.
Offered as: Major and minor
Examine the history, theory, and practice of the visual arts in an interdisciplinary liberal arts context.
Offered as: Major and minor
Study the diverse nations and cultures of Asia through an interdisciplinary approach.
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.
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.
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.
Offered as: Major and minor
Biology students at 鶹ýӳ pursue their scientific interests through coursework in four majors as well as opportunities for active research.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Offered as: Minor
Students may explore and develop their passion for literature with a minor in creative writing.
Offered as: Major and minor
Study the motivations and incentives that shape society, while developing fundamental analytic and quantitative skills.
Offered as: Major and minor
Gain a critical understanding of the relationship among power, knowledge, education, and society.
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.
Offered as: Major
Draw on a variety of academic disciplines to study the single most pressing issue in the history of humanity.
Offered as: Major
Draw on a variety of academic disciplines to study the single most pressing issue in the history of humanity.
Offered as: Major
Draw on a variety of academic disciplines to study the single most pressing issue in the history of humanity.
Offered as: Major
Draw on a variety of academic disciplines to study the single most pressing issue in the history of humanity.
Offered as: Major and minor
Draw on a variety of academic disciplines to study the single most pressing issue in the history of humanity.
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.
Offered as: Major and minor
Students pursue their passions for language and culture through rigorous and immersive study.
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.
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.
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.
Offered as: Major
Want to understand Western civilization? Start at the beginning.
Offered as: Major and minor
Understand society’s past and train your mind for the future.
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.
Offered as: Minor
Students pursue their passions for language and culture through rigorous and immersive study.
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.
Offered as: Major
Want to understand Western civilization? Start at the beginning.
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.
Offered as: Minor
Study language, the foundation of the human experience, to develop an in-depth understanding of societies and individuals.
Offered as: Major
Study the motivations and incentives that shape society, while developing fundamental analytic and quantitative skills.
Offered as: Minor
Biology students at 鶹ýӳ pursue their scientific interests through coursework in four majors as well as opportunities for active research.
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.
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.
Offered as: Major and minor
Develop a nuanced understanding of the Middle East, informed by study of its Islamic and related traditions.
Offered as: Major
Biology students at 鶹ýӳ pursue their scientific interests through coursework in four majors as well as opportunities for active research.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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?
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?
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.
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.
Offered as: Major and minor
Study the ever-changing realm of politics in its various dimensions — local, state, national, and international.
Offered as: Major and minor
The Psychological and Brain Sciences Department applies scientific methods to investigate what makes humans and animals “tick.”
Offered as: Major and minor
Study the world’s major religious traditions to develop a more complete understanding of humanity.
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.
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.
Offered as: Major and minor
Students pursue their passions for language and culture through rigorous and immersive study.
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.
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.
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.