College of Arts and Science

The Value of the Liberal Arts

To tackle the world’s biggest problems, you need to be able to think creatively, communicate effectively, explore deeply, and question critically. This type of broad training equips you to understand and examine fundamental questions that shape our lives and the world around us. The College of Arts and Science offers a quality liberal arts education that trains you in these essential skills across a range of subject areas—preparing you for a wide variety of careers.

We encourage you to explore and take intellectual risks while you’re here. The College of Arts and Science provides an opportunity to sample new fields, examine interesting topics, and dive into opportunities you might not have known interested you. Students choose from more than 600 courses across the humanities, social sciences, and natural sciences, and select a field of study from among more than 60 distinct majors and minors.

The College of Arts and Science attracts a diverse student body who have different backgrounds, experiences, interests, and opinions. From studying Philosophy to Physics, Arts and Science students earn a versatile and valuable degree that prepares them to succeed after graduation and make a difference in the world.

Explore Our Majors

There are 49 majors in the College of Arts and Science.

Support & Resources

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT

The Vanderbilt Career Center offers workshops, mock interviews, and one-on-one career advising that will help you prepare for all aspects of your future, including securing jobs and internships, exploring graduate and professional study, and applying for prestigious scholarships and fellowships.

Internships play a pivotal role in today’s competitive job market. Through the Career Center, students have access to a variety of tools to engage in internships and postgraduate employment. Resources range from a custom internal database, a job board, and industry-specific job fairs, to the Vanderbilt alumni network and focused listservs.

ADVISING

Faculty advisers take an active interest in guiding undergraduate students. Before you even arrive at Vanderbilt, you will be assigned a pre-major adviser who will offer advice and support to help you meet your academic needs. Once you declare a major, you’ll choose a department adviser with whom you’ll work until you graduate. We also support students interested in pre-professional tracks, such as pre-med and pre-law.

TUTORING

Many students rely on Vanderbilt’s robust tutoring services to keep up with their course work, or just to get ahead. The free services are offered one-on-one, in pairs, or as group study. The talented staff of tutors are undergraduate or graduate students who have achieved a certain level of academic success and are committed to helping their fellow students do the same.

Writing Studio

Vanderbilt's Writing Studio offers an opportunity to receive constructive feedback from trained consultants and to develop strategies for all stages of the writing process. In addition to free, one-on-one meetings, the Writing Studio offers a wide range of online resources to help improve students' writing.