Colby College
4250 Mayflower Hill
Waterville, ME 04901
P: 207-859-4250
dosoffice@colby.edu

Academic Life

Colby’s academic program is among the preeminent liberal arts programs in the nation. The Colby experience challenges students to open their minds to new ideas, unfamiliar concepts, and diverse points of view. With 52 majors, 24 departments, 10 programs, and an independent major option, students have the flexibility to set their own course of study. Colby’s singular dedication to undergraduate education and its emphasis on research and project-based learning mean that each student can tailor his or her academic program for a unique experience. The strong liberal arts curriculum provides excellent preparation for an unlimited range of career choices and graduate studies while giving students a better understanding of the world and their places in it.
 
The Essence of Colby's Mission

Colby gives students a broad acquaintance with human knowledge, an array of intellectual tools, experience as active participants in a diverse community of scholars, and opportunities to engage the world.

To fulfill its mission and to help each student achieve his or her potential, the College has adopted this set of educational precepts:
  1. to develop one’s capability for critical thinking, to learn to articulate ideas both orally and in writing, to develop a capacity for independent work, and to exercise the imagination through direct, disciplined involvement in the creative process
  2. to become knowledgeable about American culture and the current and historical interrelationships among peoples and nations
  3. to become acquainted with other cultures by learning a foreign language and by living and studying in another country or by closely examining a culture other than one’s own
  4. to learn how people different from oneself have contributed to the richness and diversity of society, how prejudice limits such personal and cultural enrichment, and how each individual can confront intolerance
  5. to understand and reflect searchingly upon one’s own values and the values of others
  6. to become familiar with the art and literature of a wide range of cultures and historical periods
  7. to explore in some detail one or more scientific disciplines, including experimental methods, and to examine the interconnections between developments in science and technology and the quality of human life
  8. to study the ways in which natural and social phenomena can be portrayed in quantitative terms and to understand the effects and limits of the use of quantitative data in forming policies and making decisions
  9. to study one discipline in depth, to gain an understanding of that discipline’s methodologies and modes of thought, areas of application, and relationship to other areas of knowledge
  10. to explore the relationships between academic work and one’s responsibility to contribute to the world beyond the campus.