Major

For the first time in 36 years, Columbia will be offering a major in linguistics starting spring 2020 following a notice of approval by the New York State Department of Education sent late Tuesday night. The major will require 34 total points, including two required courses, a senior thesis, and one intermediate-level course in a foreign language.

Political science is one of the most common majors at Columbia and Barnard. Encompassing a wide variety of areas that utilize skills applicable to any field, it seems like a pretty solid option.

Here are a few staff favorites of the courses we’ve taken (and loved) at Columbia. For more tips and tricks to navigating Columbia and Barnard academic departments, check out Required Reading.

Class of 2024: Welcome to college! You’re going to take over 60 classes throughout your years at Columbia and Barnard. Apart from the required Core or Foundation classes, the rest is pretty much up to you. You may not know what classes to pick immediately, but we’ve got you covered. Here’s our list of some interesting intro-level lectures that you may want to try out your first semester!

Economics is one of the most popular majors here at Columbia and Barnard, and it makes sense. Doing the major seems like a direct way to a successful career on Wall Street.

Since it’s the month of love and because everyone loves a good romance movie—whether it’s a romantic comedy, a romantic drama, or even a romantic sci-fi film—here’s a romance movie for every major. So settle down, pop open a bottle of wine, and get ready to watch some movies hopefully (although more likely not) from which you’ll learn something that relates to your major.

Undoubtedly, one of the many responsibilities of an elite academic institution like Columbia is to expose its students to a wide range of both extracurricular and academic experiences. By producing unidimensionally focused graduates, Columbia is cheating students out of the type of exposure needed to adapt to life paths that will most certainly be more diverse than those they envisioned before graduation. A philosophy of broad exposure could result in an engineering major developing a love of classics, or an art major rekindling a passion for astronomy.

Many students at Barnard and Columbia start off their college experiences as pre-med students, but wonder, “Is pre-med what I actually want to do?” While Gen Chem, the required introductory class for all students on the pre-med track, is often overflowing with people desperate to get off the waitlist, courses of higher levels, like Gen Chem IV, often have way fewer students enrolled. However, others don’t find out until much later on in their college careers, and, by that time, even though they are normally able to easily change majors or tracks, they feel as if they have wasted time doing something they don’t love. To help everyone out there still trying to figure out if they really want to be pre-med, here is a list of tips and tricks that will hopefully provide some guidance in whether you should pursue the pre-med track.

With midterms upon us—but Halloween falling smack in the middle—we found the perfect way for you to celebrate. We have a horror movie recommendation for every CU major! So make yourself a pitcher of Devil’s Sangria and get ready to watch some truly terrifying movies tonight. You’re guaranteed to have a great Halloween but also maybe (but probably not) learn a little that relates to your major.