Overview

Resources for
Prospective Undergraduate Students

Prospective Undergraduate Students

The College of Arts and Science derives its strength from the range of its academic offerings, from the quality of its faculty, and from the intelligence, curiosity, and dedication of its students. Arts and Science is home to approximately 350 tenured or tenure track professors who supplement their achievements in the classroom with significant research, writing, and creative production. Forty-four of these professors hold distinguished or other named professorships. Many faculty members hold awards for distinguished scholarship and have been elected to high offices in professional associations such as the College Art Association, the Classical Association of the Middle West and South, the American Economics Association, the American Political Science Association, the American Philosophical Association, the American Physical Society, the American Historical Association and the Biophysical Society, to name just a few examples. The quality of the Arts and Science faculty is matched by that of its diverse student body.

Undergraduates come from the 50 states and 15 to 20 foreign countries, and are almost evenly divided between men and women. There are approximately 3,530 Arts and Science undergraduates, 1,340 of whom have declared their majors. Currently, the five most popular majors are (in descending order) Economics, Political Science, English, Psychology, and Spanish. Neuroscience and Medicine, Health, and Society are the two most popular interdisciplinary majors. A majority of those students with declared majors plan to complete a double major. The most popular minors are Spanish, Financial Economics, and Managerial Studies: Leadership & Organization. All first year students in the College of Arts and Science take a First Year Writing Seminar, and participate in Vanderbilt Visions, an ongoing, small-group orientation program that adopts a learning community approach to engage with issues of compelling interest to entering college students. AXLE -- Achieving Excellence in Liberal Education -- the undergraduate curriculum in the College of Arts and Science focuses on the development of critical thinking and research skills, as well as writing.

Beginning in 2008, the Commons will bring all first-year students together in ten Houses on one of the most historic and picturesque area of the Vanderbilt campus. Students will have numerous opportunities to meet and to personally know the faculty who live in the Commons as well as other distinguished professors, speakers, and professionals that Vanderbilt attracts to its campus. The Commons will balance the dynamic energies of a major research university with the collegiate sense of community.

Helpful Links

Undergraduate Admissions
Undergraduate Majors and Minors in the College of Arts and Science
College Scholars Program
Pre-college PAVE program
Four + One Program (Bachelor's and Master's Degree in 5 years)
Graduate Programs and Access to On-line Application
Directions to Campus
Office of Financial Aid
Degree Programs in Arts and Science
Health Professions Advisory Office
Division of Unclassified Studies
English Language Center
International Student and Scholar Services
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