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<p>Actually, the CDS “Philosophy and religion” category conflates several departments–you can’t tell from that figure how many philosophy majors there are, any more than you can tell how many poli sci, econ, anthro, or sociology majors there are in the category for “Social sciences” (which for Michigan number 1,296 grads, according to its latest CDS). </p>
<p>The University of Michigan actually graduated 36 philosophy majors in 2011. It’s a department with a large faculty (28 assistant professors, associate professors, and full professors) and not many students, making for an extremely favorable student/faculty ratio, roughly in the range of 3:1 or 4:1 if you count all the undergrad philosophy majors. </p>
<p>And no, you don’t “have to” make an appointment with your faculty adviser on-line. That’s just an on-line scheduling tool for your (and your adviser’s) convenience, so you don’t need to spend an afternoon trying to track down your adviser in person or by phone to schedule an appointment. </p>
<p>Michigan is easily the strongest of the Midwestern schools in philosophy, and one of the strongest in the country. A huge advantage: if you’re intent on pursuing graduate studies in philosophy, your professors (and recommenders) will be extremely well respected people in the field who are peers with, and on a first-name basis with, the faculty in the very top graduate programs, so their recommendations tend to carry greater weight than a recommendation from your average Professor John Doe. They’ll be teaching your classes from day one—all the philosophy faculty teach undergrad courses, and almost all undergrad philosophy courses are taught by full-time faculty-- and by the time you’re a junior and senior you can be taking graduate-level courses in one of the strongest philosophy departments in the country. Sure, you can get into grad school from anywhere. But places in the top grad programs, the handful that are still placing their newly minted Ph.D.s in full-time, tenure-track academic jobs, are a scarce commodity. Getting yourself noticed by some of the top people in the field and building a solid foundation in the field as an undergrad gives you an inside track. </p>
<p>Michigan is also extremely strong in anthro and in foreign languages. Anthro is a somewhat bigger department, however, with 84 undergraduate majors getting degrees in 2011. </p>
<p>I pass on here a word of advice from The Philosophical Gourmet about what to look for if you’re contemplating studying philosophy as an undergrad at a LAC. Not all LACs are alike. Some can give to a terrific undergraduate education inphilosophy; others not so much.</p>
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<p>Beware, many LACs are extremely thin in philosophy! You really need to carefully evaluate the faculty and the courses, paying attention not only to the course catalog (which may list courses that are rarely taught) but to the actual class schedule, semester by semester.</p>