Washington College

Course Details

Bachelor of Arts in Sociology

Course Description

Everyday, you interact with the people around you. Sociology is the study of those interactions. Divisions within society, such as gender, religion, age, and socioeconomic status, affect our everyday life. Social forces including family, neighborhoods, and organizations shape our childhoods and influence our behavior. Whether you’d like to make an impact on your community through social service, gain more insight for a career in business or industry, or pursue graduate work in sociology, anthropology, education, law, social work, criminology, or administration of justice, the study of sociology will give you the tools to better understand your world. Sociology 101 is prerequisite for the major in sociology. Additionally, prospective majors should complete at least two additional sociology courses by the end of their sophomore year, and the major’s statistics requirement, which must be satisfied no later than the fall semester of junior year to avoid later problems in completing the Senior Capstone Experience. During the senior year, each sociology major completes a major independent research project with the guidance of one of the department’s faculty. Senior Capstone Experiences integrate the diverse learning that students have accomplished throughout their undergraduate years, not only within the major, but also across the liberal arts and sciences. During their junior year, students will learn about constructing research proposals and the steps to carrying out their own research and analysis in preparation for completing the Senior Capstone Experience. The range both of topics and methods is broad; the Capstone Experience is an independent research project, on a topic of the student’s choosing, with the guidance of a faculty member to assure that it is both significant and capable of completion in the time available. Work on the Capstone is supported by the student’s capstone advisor, and by some of the work of the Sociology Senior Seminars, SOC 491 taken during the fall semester and SOC 492 taken during the spring semester.

Course Duration

NumberDuration
4year

Career outcomes

Careers in social service or allied fields, and acquire theoretical and practical knowledge for careers in business and industry. Recent graduates have gone on to professional or graduate schools in sociology, anthropology, law, criminology, social work, and teaching. Graduates have found employment in those fields, and also the Peace Corps, counseling, corrections, the armed services, banking,public relations, human resources management, and other corporate and nonprofit positions.




Bachelor of Arts in Sociology Washington College