<p>I don't have a clear direction yet for what majors I'm interested, so I'm looking to apply to well rounded schools so I keep my options open. I know many liberal arts colleges are more limiting simply because they are smaller and have fewer professors, so I just want to get a clear idea of what Carleton's strongest and weakest majors are.
Thanks!</p>
<p>I think I’ve heard good things about the computer science department. Also, apparently the geology/earth sciences produce lots of students who go on to get Ph. D.s at other institutions.</p>
<p>Adding to those: Bio, chem, SOAN, Econ, English, History, Math, Physics, Psych and Poli Sci.</p>
<p>DD is a Freshman there now. The cross town rival, St. Olaf has more student music ensembles (they tour USA, Europe), and Carleton doesn’t try to duplicate that. They do offer 8 languages (Spanish, French, German, Russian, Chinese, Japanese, Arabic and Hebrew). Some schools might offer more, or a different selection, if that mattered to you. I think all the departments send a lot of students on to grad/professional schools.</p>
<p>There aren’t really “strongest” or “weakest” majors at Carleton but there are certainly more popular ones. Carleton, as a LAC, is unusually strong in the sciences so the Biology, Comp Sci, Chem, Math, Psych, and Geology departments are pretty large. As quidditchcat mentioned, our Geology program is excellent and I think we rank as #1 or #2 in the nation for Geo.</p>
<p>Other popular non-science majors include Political Science/International Relations and Economics.</p>
<p>If you want a quick answer, in my personal opinion</p>
<p>Strongest: Physics , Geology (the politically correct answer will probably lump all the popular departments here)
Weakest: I don’t know yet. Different departments have different weaknesses.</p>
<p>Based on my experience, and granted I didn’t take many classes in science or math, I believe the weakest major is psychology. It’s not bad, but the area of focus in that department seems to be Cognitive Science, rather than traditional psychology. There are several great professors, but also several not so great ones. Compared to most Carleton departments, where every professor is great, this drags it down.</p>
<p>Philosophy, my major, I felt was very strong. Geology of course is one of the strongest, along with physics. Environmental Studies, while popular, I didn’t think was too rigorous, and tended to attract the students that didn’t seem to really want to work too hard.</p>
<p>A little more light into the sciences, where i have the most experience:</p>
<p>Chemistry is wonderful, I love the professors and classes, and I’ve learned a ton. The Chem department (from my perspective) is challenging, but there’s a great sense of unity within the major as well.</p>
<p>Biology (my major, incidentally) has positives and negatives. The positives include phenomenal professors - I adore every biology professor I’ve had, seriously - who are very open to working with students. Labs are informative and in all of my summer research experiences my supervisors have been surprised/impressed with the skills I learned at Carleton. I find classes informative and challenging without being too hard, and in general, i love the major and the people in it.</p>
<p>Negatives: The biology major is so big that through my junior year, I still had trouble getting into classes. There are too many students compared to the number of professors/classes, which can be frustrating. i know many of the biology faculty are also frustrated by this, but my sense is that the problem lies within the Carleton administration, NOT within the department itself. All in all, though, I love the department and wouldn’t choose to major in anything else given the chance to do it all over again. Just my two cents.</p>
<p>I hate to add my voice to the chorus, but there are a lot of great majors at the school and picking out the best of the lot probably just unveils biases. </p>
<p>I think given our small size, the depth and sheer numbers of grads in fields like Geology, Chemistry, Physics, Computer Science/Math is incredible. Carleton produces more PhDs in Geology than any other school - period - in the country. In Chemistry, we turn out more majors in absolute numbers than universities 10 times our size. </p>
<p>But the English, History and Poli Sci majors have great arguments for parity in quality. Environmental Studies was mentioned earlier as possibly less rigorous than other sciences but this has more to do with its interdisciplinary nature. I personally love the way it’s fashioned at the school with the Arb as a resource and am a big fan.</p>