English Language and Literature offers a traditional approach to the study of literature. All students write comprehensive examinations on Shakespeare, a major author of their choice, literary form (poetry and another genre) and two periods of literary history, including either (or both) Medieval and Renaissance literature.

History emphasizes the development of skills in historiography, the evaluation of sources, bibliography and computer skills. In addition to tutorial study, all Oxbridge history students undertake a senior thesis to allow them to write a more developed historical paper than is possible in a tutorial essay. All history majors take tutorials in U.S. history, British history and modern and pre-modern European history.

History of Ideas is an interdisciplinary major based on the traditional canon of great books of the western literary and philosophical tradition: Saint Augustine, Thomas Aquinas, Virgil and Dante are among the authors studied. In their senior year, History of Ideas majors synthesize what they have learned to attempt to answer perennial questions of western civilization, such as: What is justice? What is nature? What is society?

Institutions and Policy is an interdisciplinary major in the social sciences based on the "PPE" (politics, philosophy, economics) major traditional in Oxford. Students study the institutions of the modern world (economic, social and legal) using the tools of economics and moral and political philosophy in order to formulate public policy for those institutions.

The Oxbridge Music major gives students enhanced offerings in music history, literature and analysis. Each Oxbridge music student has an applied area (such as voice or violin) and takes private lessons in preparation for a senior recital. Tutorial work in the major is concentrated in music theory, literature and analysis, with classroom work offered in those areas best learned in the classroom, such as conducting and surveys of music history.

There are two Oxbridge majors in Science. The major in Molecular Biology is closely focused on genetics and the living cell, combining chemistry, biology and bioethics. The major in Ecology and Systematics emphasizes the study of populations and their relation to their environment. Both majors have a strong emphasis on research and culminate in an original research project in students’ senior year. Oxbridge Science majors, like all Oxbridge students, may apply for summer research grants to work in collaboration with William Jewell faculty members.