<p>Basically the only similarity between CSS and COL is that that you declare them at the end of your frosh year, as opposed to your sophomore year like every other major. </p>
<p>They're entirely distinct majors. I wouldn't necessarily call them conservative vs. liberal, because they cover totally different subject matter. CSS people do tend to be more pre-professional types (to the degree that exists at Wesleyan... which is not much), whereas COL folk are more just people who see their intimate, integrated program of study as the best route to a liberal arts education. You can read the websites at <a href="http://www.wesleyan.edu/css/">http://www.wesleyan.edu/css/</a> and <a href="http://www.wesleyan.edu/col/">http://www.wesleyan.edu/col/</a>. </p>
<p>As far as grad schools go, I have no idea. Like I said, CSS people are more likely to be en route to an MBA or law school than COL, but other than that I have no clue. CSS'ers commonly go into things like investment banking, where I highly doubt you'd find anyone from COL doing that. </p>
<p>As I'm not CSS or COL, I couldn't tell you exactly how hard they are. However, CSS majors write one 5-page paper every week and have a ton of reading. They don't seem suicidal to me, but... anyway. One thing about both is that they're not graded until the end of the year, when they take cumulative exams. So that could be more or less stress, depending on how you like to work. I've heard COL referred to as the "College of Love", but that certainly doesn't mean it's not difficult too. I think that the workload in each of these programs is comparable to taking challenging classes in any other major. It is, of course, possible to get through other majors without being particularly challenged.</p>