You’re also more likely to find unique areas of study that may better suit your career path. A Liberal Arts College is an institution that provides a broad, diverse range of education rather than specialized career training. But if you gravitate to the latter idea, then a liberal arts college may be right for you. While liberal arts colleges share some common features, they also vary significantly in personality and mission. Either way, you’ll live and learn in close proximity to a major city. Most are private schools located in small towns and most are in the midwest and east coast. Both of those schools were undergraduate schools with about 2,000 students, and all of their focus being on the students who were there. Their goal is not necessarily to train students for a career (though that may happen), but to challenge their beliefs, make them critical thinkers, and poise them to become global citizens. In general, a liberal arts college is characterized by the following: You'll find liberal arts colleges throughout the country, although the greatest concentration is in New England and the Middle Atlantic states. Wellesley is a private liberal arts college for women about 10 miles from Boston in Wellesley, Massachusetts. Liberal arts colleges develop the whole person to his fullest potential — including mind, body and spirit. While the great majority of liberal arts colleges are private, not all are. “That typically involves exposing students to a range of subjects including the humanities, arts, natural sciences and the social sciences,” said Osborn. Great Colleges for Students with "B" Averages, What Is a Communications Major? Some urban colleges have buildings spread throughout the city, making the city feel like part of your college campus. Today, there are far more disciplines that fall under the liberal arts curriculum, including — surprise! Ask yourself an important question: Why are you going to college? Liberal Arts College-” emphasize undergraduate education and award at least half of their degrees in the liberal arts fields of study.” According to their methodology, US News used the Carnegie Classification of “Baccalaureate Colleges: Arts & Sciences” for the Liberal Arts Colleges category. Liberal arts colleges, however, give students the opportunity to take classes in many disciplines such as arts, humanities, socials sciences, natural sciences and math. While, at large universities, it’s not hard to find lecture halls filled with hundreds of students, the classes at liberal arts colleges usually have 15-20 students. Because liberal arts colleges are small and have a strong sense of community, most have holistic admissions. Send a plate of cookies. Do These 5 Things to Make College Even More Memorable, 5 Advantages of Going to College in the City, Why Befriending Your Admissions Counselor Is So Important. Liberal arts grew out of this period in which certain studies were considered liberales, or worthy of a free person. The main difference between liberal arts college majors and university majors is that liberal arts schools generally offer one expansive area of study, whereas at universities, the same major may be broken into two or more degree tracks. But what exactly is a liberal arts college? Non-numerical measures such as letters of recommendation, application essays, and extracurricular involvement will often play a meaningful role when applying to liberal arts colleges. Liberal arts colleges, on the other hand, tend to be smaller schools, and only focusing on undergraduate degrees, so that four-year undergraduate degree. To get you started, here’s a look at the top liberal arts colleges in the country. To find that out, you have to go back to the era of classical antiquity. There’s also an emphasis on undergraduate education at liberal arts schools, whereas universities may offer a lot of graduate, Ph.D. and professional programs, as well as house extensive research efforts. A liberal arts education’s main goal is to prepare students for a variety of career paths. Liberal Arts colleges support a wide range of programs with a variety of subjects in the field of arts. Now let's look at those features in more detail. See more. Spelman College in Atlanta is a historically black women's college that wins high marks for social mobility. One of the country's top public liberal arts colleges might be an excellent option if you're looking for the features of a liberal arts college with the price tag of a public university. They’re usually small. However, a liberal arts student’s time spent in college is more focused on preparing for life, as opposed to work, with the belief that their skills will translate into a variety of career paths. Regardless of the reason, even if you know a liberal arts college is right for you, you still have to find the right one for you. That’s not to say that liberal arts graduates don’t go on to become professionals — they absolutely do. A liberal arts college is a school that offers four-year degrees that are based on general liberal arts educations. Liberal arts colleges (primarily a US term) typically enroll fewer than 5,000 students and focus on professors teaching undergraduates as opposed to professors performing research.Some prominent colleges include Middlebury College in Connecticut, Wellesley College in Massachusetts, and Claremont McKenna College in California. It includes instruction in independently designed, individualized, or regular programs. A Liberal Arts College is a type of college very unique to the United States. What is a liberal arts college? A liberal arts college is a college that focuses on undergraduate study of the liberal arts and sciences. Ali is the former Content Writer/Editor at Niche. Students take courses in the humanities, arts, sciences, and social sciences. Liberal arts definition, the academic course of instruction at a college intended to provide general knowledge and comprising the arts, humanities, natural sciences, and social sciences, as opposed to professional or technical subjects. All students select a major area of focus—or even create their own—to study in depth, while also taking classes across an array of disciplines to enhance their perspective, make unforeseen connections, and discover new possibilities. The admissions folks want to get to know the whole applicant, not just empirical measures such as grades and standardized test scores. But a liberal arts college prepares students to a variety of career paths. Among the country's top liberal arts colleges, Williams College and Amherst College in Massachusetts often top the national rankings, as do Swarthmore College in Pennsylvania and Pomona College in California. There are some top liberal arts colleges in the south and on the west coast as well. Students at Wellesley have more than 1,000 courses and more than 50 majors to … Together, these were known as the trivium. One obvious reason to choose a liberal arts school is to ensure that the focus is learning, as opposed to training for a future career. She's a content strategist and award-winning writer, as well as a former editor at LA Weekly and NEXTpittsburgh. Hampshire College in Massachusetts, for example, is well known for open and flexible curriculum in which students receive written evaluations rather than grades. Let’s start at the beginning: What is meant by the term “liberal arts”? Simply put, Liberal Arts colleges don’t focus on only particular subjects; instead, they support a large number of disciplines, including mathematics, sciences, social … Or is it to broaden your horizons, expand your mind, and find out who you are? As a mom of one who's lived and worked all across the country, she's glad to have once again found her niche in her hometown of Pittsburgh. Move beyond the classic college experience by participating these 5 things that are sure to make your four years some of the most unforgettable of your life. There are few or no teaching assistants, which makes it easier to get personal attention from professors. These sort of programs exist to educate students with the purpose of preparing them for a specific career - that is, there’s a clear professional end goal. Liberal Arts College vs University . A liberal arts education prepares graduates for careers in education, the nonprofit sector, government, and professional services. If a liberal arts college is associated with multiple other colleges, this usually means they are part of a consortium. Liberal arts is a field of study based on rational thinking, and it includes the areas of humanities, social and physical sciences, and mathematics. The Best Liberal Arts Colleges in America, 3 Myths About Liberal Arts Colleges, Busted. Faculty tends to be more accessible at liberal arts colleges. Others may choose a liberal arts college simply because they don’t want what they see as a “typical” college experience. These schools are also extremely selective and select fewer than 20% of applicants each year. But there’s more to it than that. Community College vs. University: What's the Difference? A generally agreed upon definition of the liberal arts college is a college or university curriculum that emphasizes general knowledge and developing broad intellectual capacities. What is a liberal arts college? A liberal arts college, then, is a place of higher learning that maintains focus on these classical themes and objectives. The colleges tend to be relatively small and place value on the close relationships between students and their professors. Preparation for Graduate School ; By far more liberal arts graduates attend graduate school than other students. There are now many subjects that fall within the broad scope of the category; a typical liberal arts degree program is interdisciplinary, covering topics within the humanities, as well as social, natural and formal sciences. Liberal arts colleges don’t require you to focus on only one course of study. Liberal Arts College and University are two educational institutions that show some differences between them when it comes to the nature of study, courses offered, infrastructure, and the like. Despite these evolutions, the goal of a liberal arts education has remained the same: to create an individual whose education is robust and versatile. A liberal arts college, then, is a place of higher learning that maintains focus on these classical themes and objectives. The admissions folks aren't simply asking how smart you are; they want to know if you will be someone who will contribute to the campus community in a positive and meaningful way. Note that students do not only study the humanities at liberal arts colleges … Athletics and Greek life tend to be much smaller scenes at liberal arts colleges, which some students prefer. The numerical measures do, of course, matter, but as the table below illustrates, admissions standards vary widely from school to school. You’ll be glad you did. Liberal arts has nothing to do with being liberal, and originally, it actually had nothing to do with arts. Is it to prepare for a career? 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