Reply to Can Someone Explain the Concept of a Liberal Arts College for Me?

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[quote=Anonymous]Liberal arts graduates go on to do many different kinds of work, sometimes after earning a graduate or professional degree, but often they'll  work for a few years before going on with their education.  I attended a liberal arts college and graduated with a degree in history.  I then worked as a middle school teacher and then on the staff of a museum, where I coordinated a program to provide summer training for history teachers.  After that I went to law school, where my classmates had studied many different disciplines as undergraduates.  Some were coming directly from that experience, but others had worked for a while in jobs that included:  journalism, acting, police work, investment banking, military service, serving in the Peace Corps, selling used cars, nursing, medicine, professional football, etc.

Oh, one other thing to mention -- at many universities, there's a liberal arts college as a division of the university.  So, for example, the University of Chicago has a college of liberal arts for undergraduate study.  These liberal arts colleges within universities will offer a liberal arts curriculum similar to that at freestanding liberal arts colleges, but they also offer students the opportunity -- to some extent -- to take courses in other divisions of the university.  OTOH, at a liberal arts college within a larger university faculty will probably not be as focused on undergraduate education as would be the faculty at a liberal arts college.

Finally, you mentioned that you studied broadcast journalism and received a degree specifying that you were qualified to work in that field.  Of course, many higher education systems around the world follow this model -- students apply for a specific course of study and earn a degree in that field.  In the US, though, high school students don't always apply for a specific discipline and they almost never do so at liberal arts colleges.  Even at universities, undergraduates retain a great deal of freedom to change their course of study.  So, if you aren't sure what you want to study, the US system allows you greater opportunity to explore different options, particularly if you go to a liberal arts college.  (OTOH, if you go to a LAC and then decide to pursue a professional degree -- e.g., engineering -- you'll probably need to transfer.                [/quote]

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