Exploration is at our core.
As a liberal arts university, students are encouraged to study what interests them, conduct research, and pursue global learning. Our hands-on curriculum is designed to expose you to all we have to offer and help you develop the skills you need to get the most out of your education.
One of the hallmarks of the W&L college experience is the accessibility of our faculty. With an 8 to 1 student to faculty ratio and 96% of classes enrolling fewer than twenty-five students, you can immerse yourself in courses while benefiting from the personal attention and guidance of your professors.
Areas of Study
Majors and Minors
We offer 36 majors and 41 minors and programs often found only at larger schools, including business, journalism, engineering and a top-tier graduate law school.
A Liberal Arts University
We augment the liberal arts and sciences with offerings not commonly found at a small college. Our core curriculum, combined with the breadth of our course catalog, encourages students to make connections across disciplines.
The College departments and programs represent the liberal arts core of the University, ranging from fine arts, humanities, certain social sciences, journalism and mass communications, natural and physical sciences, computer science, and mathematics.
The Williams School
W&L is the only top liberal arts college in the United States to claim a nationally accredited undergraduate business program. The Williams School of Commerce, Economics, and Politics is distinctive among its peers -- offering a business education within a larger liberal arts curriculum -- and most students take some classes there, regardless of major.
The Law School
One of the smallest of the nation’s top law schools -- and W&L’s only graduate program -- the Washington and Lee University School of Law seeks to cultivate broad-minded, highly skilled, and honorable practitioners of law. Our law professors also teach undergraduate students alongside law students in courses affiliated with W&L’s interdisciplinary Law, Justice, and Society program.
Students are encouraged to get to know and utilize their deans and administrators.