You Can Study Taylor Swift at These Colleges

Universities have entered their “Taylor Swift Era.”

While there’s no degree for being a Swiftie, universities across the country are embracing the 14-time Grammy award-winning singer and are offering courses inspired by the superstar and her music catalog.

BestColleges combed through course catalogs and found classes empowering students to explicate Swift’s lyrics, analyze her albums era by era, and examine the societal impact of her hits.

Here’s our syllabus of colleges and classes helping students study Taylor Swift and her music, impact, and success.

Stanford University is no stranger to Swiftie-designed classes. During the 2023 winter quarter, the university offered “All Too Well (Ten Week Version),” a course that featured an in-depth analysis of Swift’s hit “All Too Well,” led by students in the Italic arts program.

This spring, Stanford offered students the chance to study “The Last Great American Songwriter: Storytelling With Taylor Swift Through the Eras.”

Stanford student Ava Jeffs taught the class. She told BestColleges that she was inspired by courses at other schools and wondered if she could build a Swift-centered class at her university.

“I created a syllabus over a couple of months and then sent it out to a bunch of professors because I really didn’t know how the process worked,” she said. “Eventually, one of the professors in the English Department told me that he liked my syllabus and he’d be willing to sponsor a class as a sort of student-initiated course.”

Each week, students explored a different album, studying Swift’s storytelling techniques through each era, Jeffs said. Students examined each of her albums to learn about what that era or album represents in terms of its themes, motifs, literary references within the songs, how different songs connect to a broader storyline, and where the album — or era — fits into her broader discography.

So far, these universities have announced they will offer courses based on the singer in 2024:

Colorado State University announced its offering the day before the release of Swift’s 11th studio album, “The Tortured Poets Department.” The summer course, entitled “Spanish for Swifty Purposes (Taylor’s Version)” will be taught by Assistant Professor for Spanish Specific Purposes Alyssia Miller De Rutte.

“The course will explore her lyrics, her impact globally, particularly in Spanish speaking countries, so it’s sort of an introduction of linguistic through the lens of Taylor Swift,” Miller De Rutte said in an interview with 9News.

Though Swift’s Eras Tour has rocked cities around the world this summer, elevating the superstar to another stratosphere, classes covering her music aren’t exactly new.

Arizona State University offered a Swift-inspired course taught by a student last fall.

Alexandra Wormley, a graduate student at Arizona State, announced she would be teaching her Taylor Swift class the same day “Speak Now: Taylor’s Version” was released.

“On a most auspicious day for Swifties everywhere, I am thrilled to announce that I will be teaching a class this fall entitled ‘Psychology of Taylor Swift,'” she wrote. The course covered “advanced topics in social psychology,” including the psychology of music, social media, revenge, and romantic relationships.

Students at the Berklee College of Music in Boston also had the opportunity to dive into Swift’s ability to write chart-topping hits during the fall 2023 semester. “Songs of Taylor Swift” focused on Swift’s song composition and lyrics, according to The Boston Globe.

In addition, Rice University in Houston and the University of Delaware offered courses on the singer.

Rice’s course focused on the lyrical evolution of Taylor Swift and sought to answer questions about Swift’s songwriting evolution and personal growth. The course took students through each of Swift’s albums in chronological order, focusing on topics such as femininity and gender; social media and public opinion; politics and social impact; fiction and nonfiction; American nationalism and whiteness; and family and feuds, according to the course listing.

Earlier, the University of Missouri last spring offered the class “Taylor Swiftory: History & Literature Through Taylor Swift” in Spring 2023. The University of Texas at Austin and New York University’s Clive Davis Institute also taught courses covering her music in 2022.