Allegheny College

Learn Outside the Lines

You can be anything you put your mind to. Why put it to just one thing?
The future is wide open to you right now. There’s a world of things for you to learn. Why would a school teach you only one way to think? Prepare you for just one kind of job? You’re capable of more than that. So we’re going to ask more of you.

At Allegheny College, we take a mind over major approach to learning. Here, it’s not rigid career paths or constant lecture halls. It’s exploring your passions, discovering the world around you, and actually learning about what you’re interested in.

We ask our students to declare themselves, twice. First pick a major of your choice. Then choose a minor you’re interested in from an alternate discipline. This approach keeps minds wide open to fresh possibilities, new understanding, and different perspectives. Because if you want to be the kind of person who stands out in life, you need to learn outside the lines.

Student life
Allegheny students value their time spent with various campus organizations and activities as highly as their daily life in the classroom. They’re energetic, active, enthusiastic—and always up for fun. Allegheny offers over 100 student organizations including campus publications, honorary and leadership groups, performing arts groups, religious organizations, service clubs and special interest groups. Our students are involved in the life of our community, from cheering on friends from the muddy sidelines of a women’s rugby game to playfully debating Kierkegaard’s theories with the Philosophy Club over lattes at the student-run coffeehouse, Grounds for Change.

Student life at Allegheny is also about speaking up and making a difference. You’ll hear animated voices all over our campus, from the outspoken students at the Center for Political Participation to the Jazz Band’s cool riffs to the annual serenading of sorority members on the Brooks Hall balcony. Students play a vital role in College decision-making, from helping to determine policies that will influence the future for other students to hiring new faculty to programming entertainment on campus. Our Gator Activities Programming (GAP) is an all-student board that brings a diverse range of speakers, movies, comedians, bands and more to Allegheny.

Student-inspired and -directed organizations and activities help students develop leadership skills and make a lasting impact on Allegheny’s campus culture. That’s because Allegheny is all about active learning and fun—not just learning about foreign policy in class, but arguing for change. Not just writing papers on social activism, but working to educate others.

Our students create, laugh, dance, play, explore and serve together every day. As they make their mark on Allegheny’s rich campus life, they’re also developing the interests, skills, and talents that drive them to learn and succeed.