Academics

Students build from a shared liberal arts foundation while also having the freedom to carve their own academic path through majors, research, global study, and experiential learning. They learn to tackle big questions, communicate powerfully, and connect knowledge across disciplines.

Colgate faculty are experts in their fields who chose our community because they care deeply about undergraduate education. Our distinctive scale, broad enough to offer real academic range and personal enough to keep classes small, means professors will know your name, what excites you intellectually, and how to help you grow.

A student paints in the studio
A student walks through the Bewkes forest

Majors & Minors

Combine any of our 57 liberal arts majors and minors to construct an academic experience that’s entirely yours. By graduation, you’ll have a profound ability to summon reason, gather facts, and solve problems.

Find majors and minors
Sara Tabibian presents a mapping project
Matthew McGeary photographs bees in a wildflower field

Transformative Research & Scholarship

Students have numerous opportunities to engage in research both within and beyond their courses, often through paid scholar and summer research programs. While collaborating directly with faculty members, you’ll gain expertise—and maybe even present your work at a national conference or co-author an academic paper.

Explore research opportunities

Some of my favorite moments have come from realizing how topics from my Native American and Indigenous Studies, American Politics, Core Conversations, and even Intro to Physics courses intersect in unexpected ways.

Gracie DeSimone ’27
Gracie DeSimone ’27 Political Science and Economics major
An FSEM class meets in Pinchin Hall
Daniel Tober points at a blackboard

A Shared Core Curriculum

During your Core courses, you’ll engage in rigorous discussion, pursue your curiosity, and explore new perspectives. By making connections across disciplines, you’ll examine meaningful questions about the human experience and build habits of mind that last long after graduation.

Learn about the Core Curriculum
Three students pose in front of the Eiffel Tower
Students at a swim hole in Jamaica

Life-Changing Study Abroad & Away

Colgate opens up the world by giving you an extraordinary chance to see it. Whether you choose locations as close as New York City or as far as Kyoto, with three distinct program types, you can select the off-campus study experience that fits both your academic ambitions and your sense of adventure.

Explore off-campus study
8:1
student-faculty ratio
57
majors
84%
of students are involved in research

Support & Guidance

Everyone at Colgate wants you to succeed. You’ll have access to peer tutors, faculty advisers, and supportive staff who will guide and encourage you every step of the way.

Peer tutors help strengthen your writing and public speaking skills.

Set the foundation for your courses with effective learning and study strategies.

Every student receives a fair and equitable academic experience, ensuring all learners can excel in their courses.

Dedicated faculty advisers guide your academics, and administrative deans support your student life. 

Career Services works with you to understand your career goals all four years at Colgate.

Students walk past the Memorial Chapel on a sunny fall day

Success After Colgate

Colgate offers rigorous preparation for the world. And the numbers prove it:

  • 97% Secured jobs, admission to graduate schools, fellowships and scholarships, military or volunteer service within nine months (Based on an 89% knowledge rate of the graduating class)
  • 80% Medical school acceptance rate
  • 84% Law school acceptance rate
Explore outcomes