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Study What You Love

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Study What You Love
At Hamilton, we promise to assist you in creating a program of study that meets your individual interests and goals.

OUR OPEN CURRICULUM

Some students know exactly what they want to study and can’t wait to get started; Hamilton’s open curriculum provides that flexibility. Others explore different options before choosing their concentration; our open curriculum works for them, too. But an open curriculum is not for everyone. It is best suited for students who are independent, motivated, and committed to the ideals of a broad-based liberal arts education. If that describes you, Hamilton might be a good fit for your next four years.

Educational Foundations

student studying

Freedom and Responsibility

Working with a faculty advisor, students craft a course of study that reflects their interests and abilities, and the College’s purposes and goals.

Open Curriculum Areas of Study ALEX Advising
Our Promise

Our Promise

At Hamilton, study what interests you, be accepted for who you are, and prepare to be the person you were meant to become.

Facts

Explore the World

Explore the World

60% of Hamilton students study away, whether abroad or domestically, in more than 100 programs.

36%

percent of classes that have 9 or fewer students

78%

percent of classes with 19 or fewer students

ADIVSE | LEARN | EXPERIENCE

What is ALEX?

ALEX is Hamilton’s new coordinated advising network tailored for each student’s academic success, career preparation, experiential learning, and personal growth.

ALEX Advising
video: interdisciplinary majors
Students say Hamilton’s open curriculum makes it possible for them to pursue their true academic passions, and they appreciate the support from advisors and professors that happens along the way.
Jack Wright food salvage
As a student, Jack Wright ’19, an environmental studies and public policy major, ran a food-salvage program that not only fed the needy, but fueled his interest in sustainability.
Katie McMorrow '20
The dance studio or the lab? Katie McMorrow ’20 claims both spaces and is pondering a career in physical therapy, especially since she worked as a behavior analysis teacher at a school for children with autism.
Jake Zappala ’12
Jake Zappala ’12 decided on Hamilton rather than an engineering or research institution because he loved to write, and Hamilton would allow him to do that no matter what he studied.
Tarik Desire '18 at Hamilton College.
Tarik Desire ’18, an Africana studies major, completed an immersion program for software development, following up on his interest in STEM and an idea from Literature Professor Vincent Odamtten.
Andrea Dickmeyer '19
Andi Dickmeyer ’19, a psychology and philosophy major, received a Watson Fellowship to explore nature-based therapeutic programs and mental well-being in Australia, Norway, Hungary, and Japan.
Andres "Fluffy" Aguilar '19
Andres Aguilar ’19 built an academic agenda that took him from Hamilton to Chile and back again — and it laid the groundwork for him to one day work with college students who face challenges similar to his.
Craig Engert ’21
Craig Engert ’21, an economics and mathematics major, spent the summer as a global finance & operations intern at Hasbro, where he got to rub elbows with some pretty famous figures.
Gabe Linden '20
Gabe Linden ’20, shown here with Dr. Maximillian Soong, spent the summer at the Lahey Hospital & Medical Center, where he assisted with clinical studies. The experience confirmed his plans to become a doctor.
Teddy Altman ’15
On the first day of the civil procedures course, law students examined a case in which a judge spoke of the “sword of Damocles,” a reference that was clear to art history major Teddy Altman ’15 but not to his peers.
Erica Ivins '21
Erica Ivins ’21 was so intrigued by Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness that she pursued a project around the author's life. Her research took her to England where she examined his personal letters.
Anthony Reyes '20
Anthony Reyes ’20, a music and computer science major, received an Emerson Foundation grant to capture Hamilton’s music-making, project-generating culture.
Jonina Mignon '21
An internship at Civitas Maxima, a nonprofit in Switzerland that provides legal counsel for victims of war crimes, helped Jonina Mignon ’21 weave her multiple interests into an academic plan.
theatre and economics
Angelique Archer ’20 and William Benthem de Grave ’20 share dual passions — economics and theatre — and found a way to develop them both, in part because of Hamilton's open curriculum.
Andrew Groll '19
An open curriculum and studying what you love can take you all over the place, and Andrew Groll ’19 arrived at a literature major with the spectrum-spanning minors digital arts and medieval and Renaissance studies.
Zhaosen Guo '21
As a Digital Humanities Initiative fellow, Zhaosen Guo ’21 conducted research about the first Chinese students to enroll at Hamilton and to graduate from an American university.
Makayla Franks ’19 teaching during her summer internship.
Makayla Franks ’19, who majored in anthropology and creative writing, interned at Breakthrough Collaborative in Pittsburgh to see if a career in education was right for her.
Ellie Pinto
Why is senior Ellie Pinto a fan of Hamilton's open curriculum? Because she takes classes with students who are truly interested in the subject and have the intellectual drive to be there.
Erich Wohl ’18
What do you get when you combine economics and sociology? In the case of Erich Wohl ’18, it’s a passion to educate young people about financial literacy and personal finance.
Caroline Washington '21
Never a dull moment for Cat Washington ’21, a cinema and new media studies major who interned with the Gordon Square Arts District in Cleveland. She assisted with community events, social media, and website design.
Monika Rybak ’18
Monika Rybak ’18, a neuroscience major and women’s and gender studies minor, received a Bristol Fellowship to study tattoo significance in Canada, New Zealand, Japan, and Samoa.
Akela Baldwin '20
An aspiring animal rights lawyer, Akela Baldwin ’20 made some friends as an intern at Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge and at Farm Sanctuary. Her goal is “to bring animals to the point where they don’t need to be rescued.”
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