School of Arts and Sciences

Students in the School of Arts and Sciences can take classes in more than 70 majors and minors spanning every discipline from biopsychology to peace and justice studies to drama. In the liberal arts tradition, students explore the breadth of the curriculum, and by the end of of sophomore year will focus their studies on one or more majors or minors. Approximately a third of Tufts students have a double major, and nearly half have a minor. Upon completion of 34 courses, students in the School of Arts and Sciences are awarded either the Bachelor of Arts or the Bachelor of Science degree within their areas of concentration. A typical student in Arts and Sciences takes four or five courses each semester. 

There is no core curriculum within Arts and Sciences. Students are encouraged to explore the breadth and depth of the course offerings. In addition to the courses required for their major, students complete distribution requirements, a foreign language/culture requirement, two freshman writing courses, and one course on a world civilization. The distribution requirements include two classes in five areas of study: the humanities, the social sciences, the natural sciences, mathematics, and the arts. The language requirement includes at least three courses in a language other than English and an additional three courses studying language or culture.

The foundation of a Tufts liberal arts education rests on the ability to creatively tackle problems in a number of fields, communicate effectively in small classroom discussion and in writing, and understand the world from a global perspective. Students, no matter their major or minor, learn the intellectual skills needed to make decisions that have a profound effect on our world.