The College of

arts sciences
and
 The College of Arts and

Sciences is a superb small

liberal arts college at the

center of an outstanding

research university.

Majors in the College of Arts and Sciences:

Africana studies American studies Anthropology

Biological sciences Biology and society
China and Asia-Pacific studies Classics (Greek, Latin)

Students from all of Cornell’s n Faculty collegiality within the wide

range of liberal arts fields available
undergraduate colleges take
in Arts and Sciences creates many
courses in Arts and Sciences
opportunities for interdisciplinary
and benefit from these and area studies—law and society,
distinctive college features: Latino studies, or international
relations, for example.

n The renowned professors who

n There is far greater depth and
teach undergraduate courses are
breadth in the academic offerings
the same faculty who are creating
in Arts and Sciences than in other
new knowledge at the forefront
liberal arts schools of a similar size.
of their disciplines.

Archaeology Asian studies Astronomy access to more than 2,000 courses
Chemistry and chemical biology
College Scholar Program Comparative literature
n The quality of the liberal arts
curriculum at Cornell is impressive,
with most departments ranking
in the top ten nationally.
n The college supports
intellectual inquisitiveness and
initiative with an array of programs
designed to help undergraduates
achieve their individual
educational goals.
Arts and Sciences students also enjoy
in the six professional and applied
colleges at Cornell, most considered
the best in the nation in their respective
fields: the College of Agriculture
and Life Sciences; the College of
Architecture, Art, and Planning; the
College of Engineering; the School of
Hotel Administration; the College of
Human Ecology; and the School of
Industrial and Labor Relations.
Students often cite the
incredible academic
diversity and the dynamic
mix of theoretical and
applied studies at Cornell
as their reason for
choosing to enroll.
Welcome to Cornell University
Cornell is an Ivy League research university with more than
20,000 students and top-rated programs in architecture,
business, engineering, hotel administration, human and veterinary
medicine, humanities, law, and physical and life sciences. The
university embodies founder Ezra Cornell’s vision of “an institution
where any person can find instruction in any study.”
The university’s commitment to high-quality education is reflected
in its faculty—2,900 worldwide—including Nobel laureates,
Pulitzer Prize winners, and presidents of the leading organizations
in their fields.
There is a vibrant cultural life on campus, with theater, music,
film, art, dance, and more. The university also is enriched
by the diversity of its student body. More than a quarter of
undergraduates are African American, Asian American, Latino,
and Native American, or from multiracial backgrounds. An
additional eight percent are international students from 120
countries. As New York State’s land-grant university, Cornell
encourages its students to use their knowledge, skills, and talents
to benefit others.
Cornell’s main campus is one of the most beautiful in the United
States. Spread over 745 acres that hold gardens, fields, woods,
gorges, creeks, and waterfalls, it has more than 260 buildings and
offers spectacular views of Cayuga Lake and the countryside.

‘‘
What I like most about the College
of Arts and Sciences is the
freedom that it gives me to select
from an eclectic mix of courses.
That freedom grants students
such as me the chance to find the
perfect academic niche.”
Daniel Garcia
anthropology major

Computer science   Dance    Economics  English   Feminist, gender, and

  History  History of art   Independent major    Information scienc
Physics   Psychology   Religious studies  Russian Sc

The advantage of a liberal arts college within a university is

that students can interact with knowledge makers as well
as knowledge consumers. In this regard, the College of
Arts and Sciences is uniquely balanced in its mission.
On the one hand, undergraduates are a big enough
presence that they get lots of time and attention. On
the other hand, we are a first-rate research university,
and that creates manifold opportunities for our
undergraduates.”
Larry BLUME
professor of economics
 liberal arts
‘‘
I always look forward to the start
know the students in my class al
question, analyze, imagine
stop by during my office hours o

‘
A liberal arts education at Cornell will change the way
you think, challenge your assumptions, and make you
take a deeper look at the world around you. It will help
you understand the foundations of knowledge, inquiry,
and creativity, and prepare you for a lifetime of intellectual
growth and adventure.
Choice and flexibility are the hallmarks of the College of
Arts and Sciences’ approach to providing a liberal arts
education. As an undergraduate, you’ll have two years
to choose a major, which will give you plenty of time
to sample courses that intrigue you and expand your
academic horizons.
The college ensures that you receive broad
exposure to important liberal arts disciplines
through its distribution requirements in the
humanities and arts, science and math, the social
sciences, and language. In-depth study in a
specific major field helps you develop and hone
your reasoning and writing skills.
In general, Arts and Sciences students need
120 credit hours of major study, distribution

‘‘
requirements, and electives to graduate.
It’s not uncommon for students in the college
to use their electives to pursue a second
major or one or more minors within the
college itself or in one of the other six
units. Faculty advisors provide invaluable
counsel as students make decisions
about classes, majors, and eventually
postgraduate opportunities.

Feminist
overnment   Histo
athematics Music    N
Highlights

Cornell’s College of Arts and Sciences is

Undergraduates: 4,100 one of the smallest liberal arts colleges
Graduate students: 1,500 in the Ivy League, allowing close contact
Full-time faculty: 600 with faculty.
Professorial faculty teaching undergraduates: 100% Undergraduate liberal arts enrollment:
Professorial faculty advising undergraduates: 100% Columbia 4,100
Students each faculty member advises (on average): 12 Cornell 4,100
Advising deans in the college’s advising office: 12 Dartmouth 4,100
Princeton 4,700
Undergraduate Arts and Sciences courses offered each year:
Yale 5,200
2,200 (over half of all courses taught at Cornell)
Brown 5,900
New courses added each year: 250 Penn 6,300
Harvard 6,700

 rt of a new semester and the opportunity to get to

unique
along with my new advisees. I always hope they’ll
or any time my door is open.”

‘‘
Elizabeth Adkins-Regan
professor of psychology

opportunities for enriched study

Undergraduates who work in
my research lab are treated
like scientific colleagues. I have
involved undergraduates in my
research program for more than
twenty years, and this has resulted
in dozens of honors theses and
seventeen scientific papers, on
thirteen of which the undergraduate
student was the senior author.”
Paul Sherman
professor of biology
College Scholar Program
Each spring, thirty-five to forty exceptional
second-semester freshmen are selected
to become College Scholars in Arts and
Sciences. With the help of advisors from
the College Scholar Advisory Board, these
students design their very own courses of
study, without having to meet other college
degree requirements for distribution or
one of the established liberal arts majors.
As seniors, College Scholars complete an
independent project and paper and are
eligible for a voluntary honors track.
Recent College Scholars have completed
senior projects on topics such as the social
construction of race, classical Arabic poetry,
“wired” art and modern technological
expression, and the evolution of human
The Pauline and Irving Tanner
Dean’s Scholars
Dean’s Scholars are stellar applicants to the
college whose high school achievements
demonstrate great intellectual rigor and a
passion for the life of the mind. Arts and
Sciences faculty and staff choose this very
elite group of students during the admissions
process.
If you are selected as a Dean’s Scholar, you
will be advised during your first two years
(or until you declare a major) by an advising
dean, a senior faculty member, the provost,
or Cornell’s president; be eligible to apply for
a $2,500 grant for summer research between
your junior and senior years; and be invited
to interact with other Dean’s Scholars in
monthly meetings that include lectures and

‘‘
behavior. workshops.
www.arts.cornell.edu/programs/ www.arts.cornell.edu/ds/
collschl.asp

Dual Degree Program

I knew there would be a wealth
of research opportunities
available to me upon entering the
College of Arts and Sciences.
What I didn’t know was just how
dedicated my professors would
be in helping me realize my own
research ambitions.
Lamarr Parsons
Astronomy major
Sponsored by the Colleges of Arts and
Sciences, Engineering, and Architecture,
Art, and Planning, the dual degree option
allows you to earn degrees in two colleges
at Cornell. You can pursue a B.A. degree in
Arts and Sciences and a B.S. in engineering;
a B.F.A in fine arts; a B.S. in urban and
regional studies; or a B.S. in the history of
architecture.
www.arts.cornell.edu/programs/
dualdeg.asp

t, gender, and sexuality studies In addition to majors, you can pursue minors:
Africana studies Asian American studies Astronomy Biological sciences Cognitive
ory  History of art  
Feminist, gender, and sexuality studies Film French studies Human biology Inequali
    Near Eastern studies   Lesbian, bisexual, and gay studies Medieval studies Music Science & technology stud

Arts and Sciences course

breakdown by class size:
Over 101 students
5%
51–100 students
8%

21–50 students
17%
1–10 students
50%

11–20 students
20%
 ‘‘
If there’s a book you really OUTSTANDING RESOURCES
want to read, but it hasn’t Because Cornell considers undergraduates to be
been written yet, then you collaborators in the pursuit of knowledge, it gives them
must write
it.” access to some of the finest research and educational
Toni Morrison facilities in the world.
Cornell M.A. ’55
The Cornell University Library (20 libraries in all) has more

explore
than 7 million books. Undergraduates may use all holdings,
including rare manuscripts and original research sources.
The Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art extends the
classroom via gallery sessions for courses, course-related
the unknown exhibits, and access to works of art not on display.
INDEPENDENT STUDY AND Undergraduates can join some of the research teams at
UNDERGRADUATE RESEARCH Cornell’s four NSF National Research Centers:
n the Cornell High Energy Synchrotron Source
The College of Arts and Sciences helps you student
n the Cornell Electron Storage Ring
write the book, stage the play, choreograph researchers
n the National Astronomy and Ionosphere Center
the dance; isolate genetic mutations, connect with
synthesize organometallic compounds, faculty members n the Cornell Nanofabrication Facility (maker of the
world’s tiniest guitar)
collect beetles in Chile; program computer on their own to
software, investigate the historical arrange projects. The John S. Knight Institute for Writing in the
significance of segregated schools, analyze Others take Disciplines offers a nationally recognized first-
trends in market efficiencies or musical advantage of year writing seminar program.
notation of the eighteenth century. programs such as the Foreign Language Study: More than 40 languages are
Undergraduate Research taught in the classroom.
Students who really want to get the most
Forum, Cornell Presidential
out of a Cornell education participate in
Research Scholars, and
independent study and undergraduate
the Hughes Undergraduate
research with faculty. Independent studies
Research Program.
for credit are open to any Arts and Sciences
student who wants to delve more deeply into www.research.cornell.
a special interest not covered in the regular edu/Undergrad/index.
curriculum. Student-initiated investigations html
present wonderful opportunities to
interact closely with the faculty experts
who supervise and evaluate these
independent projects.
Each year, hundreds of undergraduates
also work side by side with professors and
graduate students on faculty research,
wrestling with important questions and
advancing knowledge in academic
disciplines across campus. Many

ve science Computing in the arts Dance East Asia studies European studies
ality Information science International relations Italian studies Jewish studies Latin American studies Latino studies Law and society
udies Science of Earth systems South Asia studies Southeast Asia studies Spanish studies Theatre Visual studies

information
About Ithaca College of Arts and Sciences
contact

Cornell University Want to learn more

Located in the heart of the Finger Lakes region, Ithaca spreads over rolling hills Binenkorb Center about the College of
at the southern tip of Cayuga Lake. The city of 29,000 year-round residents 172 Goldwin Smith Hall Arts and Sciences?
offers a blend of countryside and urban living, Victorian buildings and modern Ithaca, NY 14853-3201
amenities, tree-lined neighborhoods and a small, lively downtown, traditional
Phone: 607 255-4833
sensibilities and cutting-edge experimentation. The community is committed to We’d love to hear
E-mail: as_admissions@cornell.edu
the arts and civic life. Web: www.arts.cornell.edu from you!
Ithaca has restaurants to suit every taste, occasion, and budget. Shoppers can
visit the weekend farmers market on the waterfront and specialty stores on the
To visit an academic department web site go to:
downtown commons, as well as mall stores. The area offers miles of park trails,
www.arts.cornell.edu/admiss/inquiry
sailing, kayaking, skiing, and snowboarding.
For more information, see visitithaca.com. Cornell University is an equal opportunity, affirmative action educator and employer.
Produced by the Office of Publications and Marketing and the Undergraduate Admissions Office
Warrior on Horse in Armor courtesy of the Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art
Mars Rover courtesy of NASA
All other photos by University Photography
Printed on recycled paper. 090055  9/2008  75M ML
Cornell University
College of Arts and Sciences
Binenkorb Center
172 Goldwin Smith Hall
Ithaca, NY 14853-3201

arts.cornell.edu