What should a student know about choosing arts and humanities majors at Washington University in St. Louis?

Washington University in St. Louis can be a very good choice for arts and humanities, especially if you want flexibility and a strong liberal arts foundation. Most arts and humanities majors are housed in Arts 6 Sciences, which is WashU’s liberal arts college, and the school is known for letting students combine majors, add minors, and move across departments fairly easily. You are not locked into a narrow path early, and the curriculum is built to support exploration before you settle on a major.

For humanities students, WashU offers strong departments in areas like English, history, philosophy, classics, music, and languages and cultures. Arts 6 Sciences emphasizes broad academic exposure through distribution and writing requirements while still leaving room for electives, second majors, study abroad, or interdisciplinary work.

If you are interested in the arts specifically, it helps to know that WashU separates some programs by school. Studio art is based in the Sam Fox School of Design 6 Visual Arts, while subjects like art history and many performance or music-related academic options are in Arts 6 Sciences. Students can still take classes across schools, but it is worth looking closely at where each major is housed because the structure, advising, and degree requirements can differ.

Another strength is interdisciplinary study. WashU makes it realistic to pair humanities fields with areas like political science, psychology, business, design, or pre-law interests. In practice, that means a student might major in English and minor in film and media studies, or study philosophy alongside cognitive science. That flexibility is one of the school’s more attractive features for students who do not want an overly rigid program.

The overall academic environment is serious but not typically described as cutthroat, and class sizes in upper-level humanities courses are often much smaller than introductory STEM lectures. If your goal is close reading, discussion-based classes, writing, faculty access, and the option to shape your own path, WashU is well aligned with that.