Students in the Class of 2028 declared their majors and concentrations on April 29, solidifying the academic paths they will pursue during their remaining time at the College. Registrar’s office data shared with the Record shows a sharp rise in Division I declarations, an all-time high in the number of English majors, and a continued decline in computer science majors.
Despite diminishing interest in computer science, Division III majors had the most declarations — 331. Division II followed with 313 majors, and Division I had 177 majors. The total number of majors declared, 821, is larger than the Class of 2028’s size because many students declared multiple.
The most-declared majors were economics, with 149 declarations, followed by psychology with 68, mathematics with 64, biology with 57, and English with 49. The English department pushed computer science out of the top five most popular majors this year.
Division I was the only division to see an increase in major declarations. Among the Class of 2027, 18.6 percent of students declared a Division I major, compared to 21.6 percent of the Class of 2028. This year, Division II fell from 39.2 percent of declared majors to 38.1 percent, and Division III fell from 42.1 percent to 40.3 percent.
The number of English declarations drove the increase in Division 1 majors. The major drew 49 students this year, more than doubling last year’s 23. Comparative literature, by contrast, fell from 23 declarations to 13.
Professor of English and Chair Gage McWeeny, who oversees the department’s curriculum and hiring, attributed the surge in English majors to recent departmental changes.
He pointed to expanded faculty staffing and a subsequent broadening of the topics the department covers as the source of its recent growth. “After a period where the English faculty was shrinking due to retirements, we are bumping back up toward more robust staffing levels,” he said in an interview
with the Record. “This means we have been able to mount an increasingly rich and varied curriculum… that enables students to engage with both the breadth of literary history, from older literature to novels published in the past few years, and more abstract reflections on representation.”
McWeeny specifically credited the department’s recent film series, organized by Visiting Assistant Professor of English Jeewon Yoo. “We had great programming this year with our ‘Afterlives of Literature’ film series, the brainchild of Professor Jeewon Yoo, which featured a beautifully bonkers Wuthering Heights film, Hamnet, and Frankenstein, all followed by lively faculty-led discussions,” McWeeny said.
McWeeny also suggested the rise of artificial intelligence as a possible actor in the increase in English majors. “In an AI-saturated world, students may be re-embracing the opportunity to read and think deeply, immersively with literary texts, film, and television,” he said.
Students seeking creativity and engagement with texts and ideas is a trend not exclusive to the English department. Other Division I majors also grew this year: Art, containing both studio art and art history, rose from 31 to 42 declarations, music from 8 to 13, and theatre from 7 to 12.
McWeeny argued that the apparent dip in comparative literature should not be read as a decline in literary interest at the College. “As for comparative literature, I think if you add together their number of new majors this year with our bumper crop of 50 new majors, that represents a big rise in the total number of students dedicating themselves to the study of literature at Williams,” he said.
Other Division I shifts were smaller but still notable. French declarations doubled, from 5 to 10, while Spanish declarations dropped by more than half, from 12 to 5. Declarations in Chinese, German, Japanese, and Russian remained nearly consistent.
Division II declarations were largely consistent with last year. Economics declarations continued to increase, from last year’s 132 to 149.
Religion, also in Division II, had a notable rebound to seven declarations after seeing zero last spring. Philosophy rose from 12 to 17 declarations, and environmental studies jumped from 16 to 22.
In Division III, computer science majors continued to decline. Declarations have fallen across three consecutive classes, from 61 majors in the Class of 2026 to 59 in the Class of 2027, and now to 44 in the Class of 2028.
Some of the natural sciences saw an increase. Chemistry rose from 29 major declarations to 35, and physics climbed from 19 to 25. Mathematics grew from 58 declarations to 64.
Psychology remained the most popular Division III major for the third consecutive year, with 68 declarations.
