Academic Programs
Find your program
What will you study at Cornell? We have a large variety of majors and minors to choose from, and with an interdisciplinary approach to education, Cornellians often pair their majors and minors into unique combinations that match their interests and career goals. You have the option to do this by declaring multiple majors, adding minors, customizing your course load by pursuing a Bachelor of Special Studies (B.S.S.) or designing your own degree program with your academic advisor as an individualized major.
Explore the academic programs Cornell has to offer
Arts & Expression
Is movement, communication, art, or music an essential piece of your world? If creativity bubbles out of you this program group is where you can learn to refine it and learn how to turn those passions into career-building skills. A liberal arts education paired with your artistic expression gives you the tools to land real-world jobs.
Economics & Business
You may envision yourself as a leader of a major corporation, or perhaps you see yourself as an entrepreneur. You may want to improve the way our local, state or national governments work, or maybe you dream of a career in international business. Find your pathway in economics and business.
Partnered Pathways to graduate programs
We’ve partnered with top-ranked business schools to offer you fast-track admission to their graduate programs—without GMAT/GRE test scores, fees, and cumbersome admissions processes.
Education
A career in education means you’ll be helping to shape the future of our nation. Our education program is designed to fast-track you to your education certification and prepare you to make the most of technology and the latest techniques in education.
Government & Politics
If you’re fascinated with law and how it is developed, implemented, and adjudicated nationally and internationally, a career in government and politics may be in your future. You might envision yourself working on Capitol Hill as a politician, judge, or lobbyist, or maybe you’re more interested in taking on grassroots issues and making a difference as a leader in your local community. Plus, you’ll have the chance to talk to presidential candidates during their Iowa tours while you’re here. Pre-law
Partnered Pathways to Graduate Programs
Our 3+3 program with the University of Iowa gets you on the fast track to your law degree.
Pre-Law - University of Iowa College of Law
Health Professions
Are you interested in helping people achieve health and wellness or protecting public health? There are rapidly expanding career opportunities in the health professions that include direct care as well as research and administration. Your academic advisor and the Dimensions Program for Health Professions will guide you in a course of study that gives you the foundations you need to succeed. And if your ambition is medical school, we’ll help you prepare for your MCAT or GRE. Our graduates’ medical school acceptance rate is 76%.
Partnered pathways to graduate programs
If you're interested in graduate studies in public health, our relationship with the University of Iowa gives you three pathways to master's degrees in demand to meet our global health needs.
Humans & Society
If you wonder how humanity created the world we live in now, and how culture evolved over time and around the world, a major in humans and society may appeal to you. These majors help you to answer why do humans behave the way they do individually, in couples, in groups, and in nations, and give you the foundation to make a difference in societal issues. They can also prepare you for graduate study in medicine and law.
Languages
Human society and thought
Global culture & civics
Sociology and anthropology
Science, Technology, Engineering, & Math (STEM)
STEM programs are ideal for students who don’t just ask ‘why’ but who also want to see, at the micro level, what makes living things, data, and objects work. You might want to pursue STEM if you like to take things apart and put them back together again or you know in your gut there’s a better way to solve a new or existing problem and you have the patience to document every attempt and recalibrate from every non-successful action. Science courses in this group are a pathway to graduate studies in the sciences, mathematics, technology, engineering, and medical programs.
Science
Technology
Engineering
Math
Looking for a specific major, minor, or combination?
If you already know exactly what you want to study, try looking through our full list of majors, minors and cooperative programs.
Not sure what you want to study yet?
That's normal, and perfectly ok. Your first course at Cornell, the First Year Seminar, will introduce you to a wide variety of topics and help you figure out what you want to explore further in your first year of college. As you complete the common requirements of the Ingenuity curriculum you'll build universal credits towards graduation, pick up important study and workplace skills, and figure out what you want to dig into further.
Not finding the major you were looking for?
It might be called something different here because of a unique spin from our faculty on the subject matter. If you have questions about how a Cornell major might compare to something by a different name at another college you're considering, ask your Admission counselor about it. They can help you compare the programs and get you in touch with a faculty member in the right department to ask in-depth questions. And remember, at Cornell, you can create an individualized major that meets exactly what you need for your future.