The value of a liberal arts degree?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How do you define a liberal arts major? That can be anything from English to physics.

The liberal arts curriculum incorporates sciences, math, social sciences, and humanities. A liberal arts education is about giving students both breadth and depth. You study a broad array of subjects to get breadth, and also go deep in one area (your major). It’s not vocational in that it isn’t geared to preparing students for a specific career, but rather aims to teach critical thinking and other skills that will allow students to adapt to a variety of jobs over the course of a lifetime.

I was an engineering major at a huge state school and I — and all of my classmates, whether Philosophy majors or nursing majors — had this. You don’t need to major in liberal arts or go to a LAC to get this. If your child goes to a four year college in the US, they will get this type of education.

yup. exactly.

Liberal arts is an educational approach and it isn't just at LACs (Liberal Arts Colleges). It is also employed at large universities. It isn't a major. You typically major in a field like chemistry or history.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How do you define a liberal arts major? That can be anything from English to physics.

The liberal arts curriculum incorporates sciences, math, social sciences, and humanities. A liberal arts education is about giving students both breadth and depth. You study a broad array of subjects to get breadth, and also go deep in one area (your major). It’s not vocational in that it isn’t geared to preparing students for a specific career, but rather aims to teach critical thinking and other skills that will allow students to adapt to a variety of jobs over the course of a lifetime.

I was an engineering major at a huge state school and I — and all of my classmates, whether Philosophy majors or nursing majors — had this. You don’t need to major in liberal arts or go to a LAC to get this. If your child goes to a four year college in the US, they will get this type of education.

Most colleges have core requirements, sometimes called gen eds (general education requirements). They do vary from college to college and from school to school within a university, e.g. some engineering programs might require fewer courses than the arts & sciences (aka liberal arts) program within the same university. Some colleges don't have them, those with a more "open curriculum." If I had to wager, I'd guess more US colleges do have core requirements than don't.

[Anonymous]

Any college degree is better than no degree, if it's not a financial hardship.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Any college degree is better than no degree, if it's not a financial hardship.

No, not just money issue. You are wasting 4 good years of your life wasting money and TIME.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How do you define a liberal arts major? That can be anything from English to physics.

The liberal arts curriculum incorporates sciences, math, social sciences, and humanities. A liberal arts education is about giving students both breadth and depth. You study a broad array of subjects to get breadth, and also go deep in one area (your major). It’s not vocational in that it isn’t geared to preparing students for a specific career, but rather aims to teach critical thinking and other skills that will allow students to adapt to a variety of jobs over the course of a lifetime.

I was an engineering major at a huge state school and I — and all of my classmates, whether Philosophy majors or nursing majors — had this. You don’t need to major in liberal arts or go to a LAC to get this. If your child goes to a four year college in the US, they will get this type of education.

yup. exactly.

To some degee, but the pre professional degrees won't get the same breadth of coursework. And obviously you can study the liberal arts at a large university. No one has argued otherwise.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How do you define a liberal arts major? That can be anything from English to physics.

The liberal arts curriculum incorporates sciences, math, social sciences, and humanities. A liberal arts education is about giving students both breadth and depth. You study a broad array of subjects to get breadth, and also go deep in one area (your major). It’s not vocational in that it isn’t geared to preparing students for a specific career, but rather aims to teach critical thinking and other skills that will allow students to adapt to a variety of jobs over the course of a lifetime.

I was an engineering major at a huge state school and I — and all of my classmates, whether Philosophy majors or nursing majors — had this. You don’t need to major in liberal arts or go to a LAC to get this. If your child goes to a four year college in the US, they will get this type of education.

Once more for the people with poor reading comprehension skills, no one " majors" in liberal arts.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How do you define a liberal arts major? That can be anything from English to physics.

The liberal arts curriculum incorporates sciences, math, social sciences, and humanities. A liberal arts education is about giving students both breadth and depth. You study a broad array of subjects to get breadth, and also go deep in one area (your major). It’s not vocational in that it isn’t geared to preparing students for a specific career, but rather aims to teach critical thinking and other skills that will allow students to adapt to a variety of jobs over the course of a lifetime.

I was an engineering major at a huge state school and I — and all of my classmates, whether Philosophy majors or nursing majors — had this. You don’t need to major in liberal arts or go to a LAC to get this. If your child goes to a four year college in the US, they will get this type of education.

Once more for the people with poor reading comprehension skills, no one " majors" in liberal arts.

Omg. I think you know what pp meant. I am sure you can impress other people in a more meaningful way.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have a friend that's the COO of a company that you'd recognize. He swears by the value of a SLAC education. He went to a SLAC in the ODAC and got a CS degree and it wasn't W&L; it's a school that people here would dog. Steve Jobs always talked about how good products and great companies live at the intersection of technology and humanities.

Many of the ODAC schools are wonderful institutions with strong merit awards. They are truly hidden gems that sometimes get overlooked when everyone is focusing on elite schools and the big state U's.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How do you define a liberal arts major? That can be anything from English to physics.

The liberal arts curriculum incorporates sciences, math, social sciences, and humanities. A liberal arts education is about giving students both breadth and depth. You study a broad array of subjects to get breadth, and also go deep in one area (your major). It’s not vocational in that it isn’t geared to preparing students for a specific career, but rather aims to teach critical thinking and other skills that will allow students to adapt to a variety of jobs over the course of a lifetime.

I was an engineering major at a huge state school and I — and all of my classmates, whether Philosophy majors or nursing majors — had this. You don’t need to major in liberal arts or go to a LAC to get this. If your child goes to a four year college in the US, they will get this type of education.

Once more for the people with poor reading comprehension skills, no one " majors" in liberal arts.

You’re right. I should’ve said “you don’t need to major in a subject in the humanities, arts, natural sciences, or social sciences” (aka four categories generally accepted to constitute the liberal arts) to get the type of education you describe.

But I think you knew what I meant.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How do you define a liberal arts major? That can be anything from English to physics.

The liberal arts curriculum incorporates sciences, math, social sciences, and humanities. A liberal arts education is about giving students both breadth and depth. You study a broad array of subjects to get breadth, and also go deep in one area (your major). It’s not vocational in that it isn’t geared to preparing students for a specific career, but rather aims to teach critical thinking and other skills that will allow students to adapt to a variety of jobs over the course of a lifetime.

I was an engineering major at a huge state school and I — and all of my classmates, whether Philosophy majors or nursing majors — had this. You don’t need to major in liberal arts or go to a LAC to get this. If your child goes to a four year college in the US, they will get this type of education.

Once more for the people with poor reading comprehension skills, no one " majors" in liberal arts.

You’re right. I should’ve said “you don’t need to major in a subject in the humanities, arts, natural sciences, or social sciences” (aka four categories generally accepted to constitute the liberal arts) to get the type of education you describe.

But I think you knew what I meant.

Of course she did but she wanted to show how smart she really is. Now we ALL know.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How do you define a liberal arts major? That can be anything from English to physics.

The liberal arts curriculum incorporates sciences, math, social sciences, and humanities. A liberal arts education is about giving students both breadth and depth. You study a broad array of subjects to get breadth, and also go deep in one area (your major). It’s not vocational in that it isn’t geared to preparing students for a specific career, but rather aims to teach critical thinking and other skills that will allow students to adapt to a variety of jobs over the course of a lifetime.

I was an engineering major at a huge state school and I — and all of my classmates, whether Philosophy majors or nursing majors — had this. You don’t need to major in liberal arts or go to a LAC to get this. If your child goes to a four year college in the US, they will get this type of education.

Once more for the people with poor reading comprehension skills, no one " majors" in liberal arts.

You’re right. I should’ve said “you don’t need to major in a subject in the humanities, arts, natural sciences, or social sciences” (aka four categories generally accepted to constitute the liberal arts) to get the type of education you describe.

But I think you knew what I meant.

Of course she did but she wanted to show how smart she really is. Now we ALL know.

Yes, I believe using precise language is important in this particular context where the conversation is about trying to define a concept that people seem to have trouble grasping.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Any college degree is better than no degree, if it's not a financial hardship.

No, not just money issue. You are wasting 4 good years of your life wasting money and TIME.

The way the scheduling is nowadays, it’s more like 5 years for science majors.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Any college degree is better than no degree, if it's not a financial hardship.

No, not just money issue. You are wasting 4 good years of your life wasting money and TIME.

The way the scheduling is nowadays, it’s more like 5 years for science majors.

At least they get jobs after graduation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:isn't "liberal arts degree = would you like some fries with that?"

Extra large please!

~crickets~

The study with actual data behind it says Liberal Arts Colleges have relatively high ROI over time.

I guess it depends in what you are talking about. A kid who thrived in a smaller school and then went on to get a law degree is probably much more likely to have a higher salary than someone with a lame english degree.

It doesn't depend on what I am talking about. The study covers all students, all majors at LACs and determined the NPV/ROI was relatively high. Liberal Arts, as previously noted, covers areas like natural sciences, not just arts and humanities.

Awesome! Have kiddo get a bachelor's degree in psychology and update us with his salary info!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:isn't "liberal arts degree = would you like some fries with that?"

Extra large please!

~crickets~

The study with actual data behind it says Liberal Arts Colleges have relatively high ROI over time.

I guess it depends in what you are talking about. A kid who thrived in a smaller school and then went on to get a law degree is probably much more likely to have a higher salary than someone with a lame english degree.

It doesn't depend on what I am talking about. The study covers all students, all majors at LACs and determined the NPV/ROI was relatively high. Liberal Arts, as previously noted, covers areas like natural sciences, not just arts and humanities.

Awesome! Have kiddo get a bachelor's degree in psychology and update us with his salary info!

They are two different things. Liberal Arts isn't a major. There are many potential majors at liberal arts institutions, including sciences. This study was not about majors. It simply concluded LACs actually have relatively high ROI over time.

If you want to look at the value of majors, the same center has studied that as well: https://cew.georgetown.edu/cew-reports/valueofcollegemajors/