The value of a liberal arts degree?

[Anonymous]

You can do liberal arts studies with a free library card. Just be honest, you're paying all of that money for the peice of paper only.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I wouldn't want my kid doing it unless I knew I had great connections to help him/her get their first job.

If you ca do that (and many people can), it's fine. Otherwise, it's a big risk cuz you you know they'll be competing with the people whose parents can get them those first jobs.

+ 1

It's not enough just to help your kids pay for college anymore. You have to be able to do that, plus pay for grad school, plus get them their first job, plus pay for their down payment.

What's next???

It depends on how much or how little you love them.

Loving your kid is teaching her how to make her own way.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It’s a easy do nothing major
Perfect for morons in this area
Be stagnating bureaucrat without common sense and be part of swamp

At least we can write and use punctuation. One of the PP explained the confusion around liberal arts. I graduated from an ivy with a BA in Economics and then went to grad school for MS at MIT. I've worked in finance all my life and have a liberal arts degree. Liberal arts does not mean basket weaving.
Talking about basket weaving, my friend from elementary school went to a prestigious art school, got a PhD in architecture and is the most successful and famous of all of us in the class. She's a brilliant marketer and makes a ton of $ selling on Saatchi and running a successful interior decoration business geared towards large scale historic restorations in Europe, paid by EU $$$$$$$$.
Moral of the story - you can be successful with any degree, as long as you develop your critical thinking, communication, and writing skills. Stem without those takes you to the world of nonstop coding for $65K/year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You can do liberal arts studies with a free library card. Just be honest, you're paying all of that money for the peice of paper only.

Really? Is the librarian grading your papers and giving quizzes?

You have no idea what you’re talking about.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s a easy do nothing major
Perfect for morons in this area
Be stagnating bureaucrat without common sense and be part of swamp

At least we can write and use punctuation. One of the PP explained the confusion around liberal arts. I graduated from an ivy with a BA in Economics and then went to grad school for MS at MIT. I've worked in finance all my life and have a liberal arts degree. Liberal arts does not mean basket weaving.
Talking about basket weaving, my friend from elementary school went to a prestigious art school, got a PhD in architecture and is the most successful and famous of all of us in the class. She's a brilliant marketer and makes a ton of $ selling on Saatchi and running a successful interior decoration business geared towards large scale historic restorations in Europe, paid by EU $$$$$$$$.
Moral of the story - you can be successful with any degree, as long as you develop your critical thinking, communication, and writing skills. Stem without those takes you to the world of nonstop coding for $65K/year.

I like you.

[Anonymous]

The “small liberal arts school” model is the way college was meant to be: small, discussion based classes, taught by professors who are invested in teaching students, who are just as invested in learning.

This is in contrast with the 50,000 student football crazy university with 700 students in a lecture and TAs overseeing the recitation sections and you can go four years without talking to a professor one-on-one. But at least you can get a sports management degree there.

[Anonymous]

Small LACS are pretty desperate these days.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I just looked quickly at the data. I think what's missing is a control for family income level and additional investment in grad school. I went to an LAC myself, then law school. It seems very possible that the same families that can pay full freight for an LAC will offer support for grad school. If a higher percentage of LAC grads are going to law school and med school, that would drive up the ROI for LACs. So correlation does not necessarily equal causation. That said, I value a liberal arts education for reasons that can't be tied to a ROI figure.

You are exactly right. There is value to a liberal education beyond just jobs and salary. Some of these less than pleasant responses could suggest a lack of education.

The real reason to get a liberal arts degree is that, at least on days other than exam days and on days when papers are due, it brings people who should be studying the liberal arts a great deal of joy.

I can’t protect my child very well from sorrow or death, but maybe I can help give him a few years when he can sometimes live the life of the mind.

Kids who would be going to college mainly to increase their earning power, and would truly never find any joy in studying the liberal arts, or at least in taking some satisfaction in what they’ve learned after the fact, should stay the heck out of liberal arts classes. Maybe colleges let those kids into liberal classes because it’s possible that those kids’ minds could open, and, money. But, really, the idea of kids with no current or even potential interest in the liberal
arts courses clogging up liberal arts classes solely to increase their future earnings in investment banking is offensive. Those kids should go to business school or engineering school and leave the liberal arts classes for kids who value the liberal arts classes.

For kids who do the value the liberal arts but also have an urgent need to make a living right after college, the obvious solution is to double major in some kind of job prep subject, or in economics or math, and to max out on career-oriented jobs and internships. But I think that feeding the soul while preparing for a career is different from going to Williams or Amherst solely because many graduates from those schools make a lot of money.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You can do liberal arts studies with a free library card. Just be honest, you're paying all of that money for the peice of paper only.

A) You are wrong because a good education hinges much more on faculty than books.

B) That "piece of paper" happens to be the entry ticket to apply for most well paying jobs in the US (with health insurance, paid vacation, etc). Not fair, but true. So, it does matter.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The “small liberal arts school” model is the way college was meant to be: small, discussion based classes, taught by professors who are invested in teaching students, who are just as invested in learning.

This is in contrast with the 50,000 student football crazy university with 700 students in a lecture and TAs overseeing the recitation sections and you can go four years without talking to a professor one-on-one. But at least you can get a sports management degree there.

+1,000

[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.

Wasting???

Did you attend college?

If you did, it should have taught you critical thinking skills. Cultural references that you will hear for the rest of your life. You would have spent hours debating things, civilly, with people who think differently than you (do you think the US can use that right about now)? You may learn the scientific method, so you can make your own judgements when we have a president who does not understand science.

My daughter, a science major in a liberal arts school, recently finished taking the History of Food. She is fascinating now, when we share meals and contemplate future travel. She is taking photography for her art requirement. Do you think that skill might complement her scientific pursuits OR her parenting OR other future adventures? She will be a much more well rounded person than someone who JUST focused like a laser on science.

Plus our kids are still forming. By taking courses outside their field of stated interest, they may discover an unexpected love that changes the trajectory of their career. I feel very happy that she wanted to go the LA route for her science preparation. She can attend the large research school for for her PhD. There is plenty of time for that. (Plus, it will be easier for her to get in from a SLAC that gives undergrads the chance to work on professor's research. Those mentors will also write her better recommendations because they know here so well. ) Needless to say...we are fans

[Anonymous]

My dad always told me you go to a liberal arts school to be educated. You go for your masters to learn a trade. I also went into NY banking after a liberal arts degree. It was monumental to my success and monumental to being able to make educated decisions about my life as well. Had I never worked a day in my life, my education was worth it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The “small liberal arts school” model is the way college was meant to be: small, discussion based classes, taught by professors who are invested in teaching students, who are just as invested in learning.

This is in contrast with the 50,000 student football crazy university with 700 students in a lecture and TAs overseeing the recitation sections and you can go four years without talking to a professor one-on-one. But at least you can get a sports management degree there.

Majored in English literature at one of these colleges. Have changed careers a couple of times, but am now making more than my friends who earned business degrees at state universities by filling in multiple choice tests and going to football games.

[Anonymous]

This is a dumb argument.

This argument is solved conclusively by 300 years of US education history.

If you have to ask, you will never know.

[Anonymous]

The liberal arts teach you how to think, analyze, write, communicate, and -- most importantly -- function as a literate adult who contributes to society and makes the world a better place.

The professional opportunities for an individual with a degree in one or more of the liberal arts are limitless.

- signed, a non-profit executive with a comfortable $250k salary who majored in history as an undergrad