<p>My D is going to Columbia next year (CC) and I was perusing the catalog. As far as I can tell, it looks like you can choose a major OR a concentration (or two of each or both...). I had, at first, thought that the concentration was like a minor elsewhere, but I guess not. Do many people just take a concentration instead of a major? Or do I have this all wrong?</p>
<p>Concentrations are very common, and they’re somewhere between a major and a minor in terms of course load. It is possible to graduate with only a concentration, but I don’t know how common it is. If I recall correctly, in the case of pre-med concentrations, you can’t pair the concentration with anything else, but those are the exception (the pre-med concentrations are designed to allow a student to complete the full pre-med curriculum while still specializing in another area, e.g. art history, without completing the full major).</p>
<p>Most people graduate with majors. The Core isn’t so onerous that completing a full major is difficult. There are lots of double majors as well (I was one).</p>
<p>You’re correct. You don’t actually have to complete a major to graduate; you could just complete a concentration (which is essentially a minor). Very few people graduate with just a concentration, but it’s certainly possible.</p>
<p>I think there is actually the equivalent of a minor, for a few subjects. It’s called a Special Concentration, and it looks like you have to take it with another major or concentration.
On another note, did you all have to pass a swim test? That’s rather humorous.</p>
<p>CC students do have to pass a swim test - it’s some sort of tradition, there are lots of apocryphal stories about it. SEAS students don’t have to take the swim test (the joke being, it’s assumed if manhattan were about to be flooded, we could just build a raft 
).</p>