Majors in the college
At the heart of your degree is a major: focused and advanced understanding of a subject.
Choose and declare any of the 65 Letters & Science majors when you are ready and eligible, usually in your second to fifth semester. Yes, you can earn more than one major, add optional certificates, or change your major after you’ve started. In fact, last spring’s L&S 3,500 graduates had 1,400 unique combinations of majors and certificates. Browse the majors offered in Letters & Science: these are listed in the Guide, UW–Madison's catalog of degrees, majors, certificates, and courses.
The Guide
Start college among friends
At UW–Madison you have abundant opportunities to learn collaboratively in small groups and larger communities. These “high-impact programs” combine academic courses with intentional communities of students in that course, or are designed to enhance your educational experience in other special ways.
For example, if you begin your degree in the Fall semester, you can take a set of three classes linked by an interdisciplinary theme, together in a group of 20 students. You find friendship and academic support in this First-Year Interest Group and get a great start to your college learning.
Read about highly recommended programs, including Honors programs, learning communities in University Housing, and Study Abroad.
L&S Learning Communities
Remarkable research
Facilities, equipment, and collections
When you come to UW–Madison, you have access to all the rich resources of a university this size and the spaces and gear that you need to support your learning.
This means top-of-the-line equipment and facilities, from teaching greenhouses to the most-studied lake in the world, from fully rigged studios for media production to exceptional performance halls, libraries to modern chemistry laboratories. We recently opened a new building for computer, data, and information sciences, with a new humanities building to come.
People who lead discovery
This is the home for your prestigious, dedicated professors who are making news headlines around the world as the experts in their fields—and they’ll be sharing their knowledge with you through a comprehensive range of hundreds of classes every semester (including summer!).
The L&S Honors Program helps students navigate mentored research opportunities across campus, develop independent projects, and secure thesis support—highlighted by signature experiences such as the Summer Research Apprenticeship and the Senior Honors Thesis Symposium.
Faculty mentors collaborate with students in opportunities like the Undergraduate Research Scholars Program, combining a weekly class on research and creative practice for about 150 first-year students, with hands-on participation in an on-campus research project.
The annual Undergraduate Symposium provides the opportunity for students to present their research work in a professional setting, showcasing undergraduate research, scholarly work, community-based projects, art, and creativity from all areas of study.
L&S Faculty News
Career services
Through the L&S career center, SuccessWorks, you have access to professional skills and support staff from your first year on campus through graduation. You get career advising; support finding jobs and internships; and can join career-exploration communities with themes like “Communications, Entertainment, and the Arts” and “Government, Policy, International Affairs, and Law.”
Your strong, connected network of thousands of Badger alumni regularly come to campus to talk about their work, hire interns, give career advice, and support students in so many ways.
SuccessWorks
