Around this time last year Skidmore announced that they would begin offering a new major in the Fall of 2015. When this was announced, it was far from known that this major would only last a year, as Skidmore recently announced that effective next year, they would be removing all majors and minors. Skidmore is not going to be adding concentrations like Brown University. Instead, students will now only be required to fulfill the general education requirements and their remaining classes can come from any department.
“We are making this switch because we believe that getting a liberal arts education means being able to take classes from any area of study, and with majors and minors students are typically unable to take classes from too many departments, as much of their coursework comes from a singular department,” said President Phill Glotzbach.
The switch will also allow students more flexibility and choices in the courses they take, as they will no longer be bound to major and minor requirements. “I really like that Skidmore is making this switch. For my chemistry major I am required to take organic chemistry—a course I would not have chosen to take—and now I can take every chemistry course but organic chemistry,” said Freshman Jacob Blum.
Advance level courses are still going to have their same pre-requisites, so some students might still have to take a course they don’t want to in order to enroll in some of the more advance courses of their choosing. Again, though, this will be up to students’ individual choices.
“I am a little bummed that this is being instituted the year after I graduate,” said Senior Lilly James. “I really hated my major and only majored in it since it was the one subject I could tolerate taking ten plus classes in,” she went on.
Overall, the removal of majors and minors is going to add another unique aspect to the liberal arts education. “We are hoping that this switch will help Skidmore to become even more popular among prospective students and help us move up in the US News and World Report rankings of liberal arts colleges,” said Glotzbach.