This is an interesting topic to me - We were at Ponte Vedra Beach in Florida a couple of weeks ago and I sat across from a guy at dinner who does all the executive level hiring for a large company based in Jacksonville. He said the trend now is swinging towards a preference for liberal arts majors. He said he can teach things specific to his industry, but he can't teach people to write. And the ability to write well is the most important thing. His experience is that liberal arts majors are better writers and better at thinking critically and solving complex problems.

Of course that's just one company. I'm sure there are examples of hiring managers who don't like liberal arts majors. I just thought it was interesting because his company is definitely what most would consider techy.


Ha! We've heard the same thing about the large tech companies! We've also heard that medical schools are beginning to look at liberal arts majors over biology majors, for example - that the liberal arts majors are better at the patient assessment and diagnostics because of the critical thinking skills they practiced with a liberal arts major.


Actually, the people that I knew who went on to med school were actually decent in both STEM and liberal arts. They would have excelled in whatever field they had chosen.


Absolutely - students who are high-achieving in their undergraduate studies most likely also will be high-achieving in their graduate studies!

The thing we heard about liberal arts majors being good patient diagnosticians when they are out practicing came about from our talks with medical school faculty and staff as our son was going through the med school application process. Our nephew, a doctor on staff at Mayo, has heard the same thing and sent some articles about it. It all gets back to the thinking / expressing part of liberal arts. The med school folks said that they can easily teach the science but they are struggling with students who cannot move beyond the rote data and who cannot extrapolate from patient statements and patient histories to think 'outside the box'.

In any event, our HYP son, a history major, will go to a HYP medical school next year (he deferred to go on a one-year church mission and leaves in a couple of weeks).

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:That was a dumb article. My parents would not let us be liberal arts majors nor will I let my kids.

And you are part of the problem and have no desire to change. Congratulations, you're an idiot.

How am I an idiot for wanting my child to major in something that will lead to a career if I am paying for it? What good is a liberal arts degree? Very little. You can take some fun classes but its important to have a major that is useful. College isn't cheap. You are the idiot for not setting up your kids to succeed.

I don't know, my DH graduated from two of the coveted STEM schools and earns 1/3 of what I make with my liberal arts degrees. You are foolish if you think all stem fields result in high salaries and all liberal arts degrees lead to destitution.

Anonymous wrote:If you left it up to most 18-year-olds, they'd choose something easy to major in instead of challenging themselves. [/b]-Anyone- can finish a liberal arts degree. [/b]Every STEM is a grind. Most students need to be nudged to challenge themselves. If the college administrators hadn't watered down the liberal arts to the point every slacker can binge drink their way to a sociology, psych, "business" marketing, communications degree, maybe they wouldn't have such a bad rap.

I read some diploma mills are taking the college math requirement out of their liberals arts degrees so more idiots can graduate! That's why they're worthless.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is an interesting topic to me - We were at Ponte Vedra Beach in Florida a couple of weeks ago and I sat across from a guy at dinner who does all the executive level hiring for a large company based in Jacksonville. He said the trend now is swinging towards a preference for liberal arts majors. He said he can teach things specific to his industry, but he can't teach people to write. And the ability to write well is the most important thing. His experience is that liberal arts majors are better writers and better at thinking critically and solving complex problems.

Of course that's just one company. I'm sure there are examples of hiring managers who don't like liberal arts majors. I just thought it was interesting because his company is definitely what most would consider techy.

Ha! We've heard the same thing about the large tech companies! We've also heard that medical schools are beginning to look at liberal arts majors over biology majors, for example - that the liberal arts majors are better at the patient assessment and diagnostics because of the critical thinking skills they practiced with a liberal arts major.

Actually, the people that I knew who went on to med school were actually decent in both STEM and liberal arts. They would have excelled in whatever field they had chosen.

Absolutely - students who are high-achieving in their undergraduate studies most likely also will be high-achieving in their graduate studies!

The thing we heard about liberal arts majors being good patient diagnosticians when they are out practicing came about from our talks with medical school faculty and staff as our son was going through the med school application process. Our nephew, a doctor on staff at Mayo, has heard the same thing and sent some articles about it. It all gets back to the thinking / expressing part of liberal arts. The med school folks said that they can easily teach the science but they are struggling with students who cannot move beyond the rote data and who cannot extrapolate from patient statements and patient histories to think 'outside the box'.

In any event, our HYP son, a history major, will go to a HYP medical school next year (he deferred to go on a one-year church mission and leaves in a couple of weeks).

Also, it should go without saying, but I'm making it explicitly clear here, that there are some benchmark courses to satisfy med school admissions requirements that still need to be part of the liberal arts student's curriculum. Calc I is a good example since it is the gatekeeper to so many other courses.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is an interesting topic to me - We were at Ponte Vedra Beach in Florida a couple of weeks ago and I sat across from a guy at dinner who does all the executive level hiring for a large company based in Jacksonville. He said the trend now is swinging towards a preference for liberal arts majors. He said he can teach things specific to his industry, but he can't teach people to write. And the ability to write well is the most important thing. His experience is that liberal arts majors are better writers and better at thinking critically and solving complex problems.

Of course that's just one company. I'm sure there are examples of hiring managers who don't like liberal arts majors. I just thought it was interesting because his company is definitely what most would consider techy.

Ha! We've heard the same thing about the large tech companies! We've also heard that medical schools are beginning to look at liberal arts majors over biology majors, for example - that the liberal arts majors are better at the patient assessment and diagnostics because of the critical thinking skills they practiced with a liberal arts major.

Actually, the people that I knew who went on to med school were actually decent in both STEM and liberal arts. They would have excelled in whatever field they had chosen.

Absolutely - students who are high-achieving in their undergraduate studies most likely also will be high-achieving in their graduate studies!

The thing we heard about liberal arts majors being good patient diagnosticians when they are out practicing came about from our talks with medical school faculty and staff as our son was going through the med school application process. Our nephew, a doctor on staff at Mayo, has heard the same thing and sent some articles about it. It all gets back to the thinking / expressing part of liberal arts. The med school folks said that they can easily teach the science but they are struggling with students who cannot move beyond the rote data and who cannot extrapolate from patient statements and patient histories to think 'outside the box'.

In any event, our HYP son, a history major, will go to a HYP medical school next year (he deferred to go on a one-year church mission and leaves in a couple of weeks).

Anonymous wrote:If you left it up to most 18-year-olds, they'd choose something easy to major in instead of challenging themselves. -Anyone- can finish a liberal arts degree. Every STEM is a grind. Most students need to be nudged to challenge themselves. If the college administrators hadn't watered down the liberal arts to the point every slacker can binge drink their way to a sociology, psych, "business" marketing, communications degree, maybe they wouldn't have such a bad rap.

I read some diploma mills are taking the college math requirement out of their liberals arts degrees so more idiots can graduate! That's why they're worthless.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is an interesting topic to me - We were at Ponte Vedra Beach in Florida a couple of weeks ago and I sat across from a guy at dinner who does all the executive level hiring for a large company based in Jacksonville. He said the trend now is swinging towards a preference for liberal arts majors. He said he can teach things specific to his industry, but he can't teach people to write. And the ability to write well is the most important thing. His experience is that liberal arts majors are better writers and better at thinking critically and solving complex problems.

Of course that's just one company. I'm sure there are examples of hiring managers who don't like liberal arts majors. I just thought it was interesting because his company is definitely what most would consider techy.

Ha! We've heard the same thing about the large tech companies! We've also heard that medical schools are beginning to look at liberal arts majors over biology majors, for example - that the liberal arts majors are better at the patient assessment and diagnostics because of the critical thinking skills they practiced with a liberal arts major.

Actually, the people that I knew who went on to med school were actually decent in both STEM and liberal arts. They would have excelled in whatever field they had chosen.

Absolutely - students who are high-achieving in their undergraduate studies most likely also will be high-achieving in their graduate studies!

The thing we heard about liberal arts majors being good patient diagnosticians when they are out practicing came about from our talks with medical school faculty and staff as our son was going through the med school application process. Our nephew, a doctor on staff at Mayo, has heard the same thing and sent some articles about it. It all gets back to the thinking / expressing part of liberal arts. The med school folks said that they can easily teach the science but they are struggling with students who cannot move beyond the rote data and who cannot extrapolate from patient statements and patient histories to think 'outside the box'.

In any event, our HYP son, a history major, will go to a HYP medical school next year (he deferred to go on a one-year church mission and leaves in a couple of weeks).

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is an interesting topic to me - We were at Ponte Vedra Beach in Florida a couple of weeks ago and I sat across from a guy at dinner who does all the executive level hiring for a large company based in Jacksonville. He said the trend now is swinging towards a preference for liberal arts majors. He said he can teach things specific to his industry, but he can't teach people to write. And the ability to write well is the most important thing. His experience is that liberal arts majors are better writers and better at thinking critically and solving complex problems.

Of course that's just one company. I'm sure there are examples of hiring managers who don't like liberal arts majors. I just thought it was interesting because his company is definitely what most would consider techy.

Ha! We've heard the same thing about the large tech companies! We've also heard that medical schools are beginning to look at liberal arts majors over biology majors, for example - that the liberal arts majors are better at the patient assessment and diagnostics because of the critical thinking skills they practiced with a liberal arts major.

Actually, the people that I knew who went on to med school were actually decent in both STEM and liberal arts. They would have excelled in whatever field they had chosen.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:These articles are so misleading. So you have an English degree from an Ivy or SLAC and got a 6 figure job out of college - whoop dee doo! What about the English major who went to community college then to a 3rd tier state university? Many of them are better off majoring in something practical.

I went to a third tier liberal arts school and then law school at Wash U. on a full ride. I got a very nice Biglaw job out of school and then went to a boutique firm before I started having kids. I make good money.

...because you have a law degree.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is an interesting topic to me - We were at Ponte Vedra Beach in Florida a couple of weeks ago and I sat across from a guy at dinner who does all the executive level hiring for a large company based in Jacksonville. He said the trend now is swinging towards a preference for liberal arts majors. He said he can teach things specific to his industry, but he can't teach people to write. And the ability to write well is the most important thing. His experience is that liberal arts majors are better writers and better at thinking critically and solving complex problems.

Of course that's just one company. I'm sure there are examples of hiring managers who don't like liberal arts majors. I just thought it was interesting because his company is definitely what most would consider techy.

Ha! We've heard the same thing about the large tech companies! We've also heard that medical schools are beginning to look at liberal arts majors over biology majors, for example - that the liberal arts majors are better at the patient assessment and diagnostics because of the critical thinking skills they practiced with a liberal arts major.