What the fuck is a "liberal arts college"

frenchsteeze

frenchsteeze

Member
this may seem like a stupid question to you americans, but i grew up in france and we never heard of such a thing

wtf is a "liberal arts college" ? not all of them seem that "liberal", in fact some seem pretty damn traditional/conservative, nor are they arts-focused, in the traditional sense of the word

so what is it? different values? different teaching style? or is it just a name so that stupid kids dont feel bad? i dont get it
 
I may be wrong here, but I believe liberal-arts colleges differ from technical colleges, in that a technical college teaches a trade like machining or welding or other such qualities, while a liberal-arts school teaches things like accounting, engineering, and the like.
 
its not liberal in the political sense, but liberal in the sense of variety and freedom to choose a wide genre of courses for your degree.
 
^ yep like i'm applying to Burlington College and its a liberal arts school and they are super open minded and chill about everything.
 
its to learn how to be a hippy that bitches about everything but also teaches you to avoid making any real changes except to the weed supply.
 
precisely. and I'm learning a helluva lot more here at a liberal arts college than I did at the big traditional university I went to. if you go to a liberal arts college, go to a good one. not worth it otherwise.
 
a liberal arts college teaches you subjects that can give you skills on a big variety of things so you dont have just one specialized option when u get your degree
 
aight so i'm headin off to coollege next year and almost all the schools I'm looking at are Liberal Arts. After visiting a lot of the schools and researchin, what I can tell you is that they focus on educating a person as a whole, developing a well-rounded individual, a holistic person. Basically if you know what you want to do you don't usually go to liberal arts because they have a lot of core requirements to help people figure out what they want to do. Hope I helped dis d00d
 
they usually have a large number of required courses in stuff that you most likely don't give a fuck about
 
Someone up top there got it, in the US it has nothing to with the term "liberal" in the political sense. It's kind of a general degree where the curriculum is broad. I used to go to a liberal arts college but you can major in almost anything you can at most schools like Business Administration, Graphic Design, Education etc..
 
liberal arts colleges dont teach engineering. The main difference is that when you get a degree from a liberal arts school you get a bachelor of arts of BA and when you graduate from a school that has engineering or similar you get a bachelor of science or BS degree
 
A liberal arts school is for you if: you know what you'd like to study, but still would like the option to take classes outside of your focus/ don't know what to study and would like the full spectrum of options incase your gut feeling is wrong. It really is the best option if you're looking for a rounded, diverse education without the stress of four years of the same monotonous work.

Don't listen to the dumb kids who rag on liberal arts schools, they're just upset that they got deferred to that shitty state college everyone else from high school goes to.
 
bam. pretty much a liberal arts school is a school for someone with an open mind and not necessarily commited to their major choice.
 
The liberal arts, rather than prepare you for a specific career, liberal arts schools seek to develop an individuals general knowledge and intellectual capabilities; they aim at creating a person who has wisdom and a strength of mind. The overall goal is to make you a better human being. I recommend you read David Foster Wallace's Kenyon Commencement Speech if you would like a better understanding of the purpose of the liberal arts.
 
liberal arts colleges are colleges that are usually in small towns where everyone lives on campus away from home, and the schools are very small with like 15-20 ppl in a class on average. Also, you can usually just get you undergraduate degree and teachers at liberal arts colleges usually are interested only in teaching and not research.
 
essentially liberal arts colleges are the same as high school and generally for people who fear growing up
 
this is what it is, almost everything else said has been fucking retarded. some of you are so stupid and narrowminded it's hard to believe
 
maybe for the shitty ones, definitely not at a NESCAC school. A good liberal arts school gives you a better education than a comparable school in many fields due to more individualized classes, professors who actually know you, and the opportunity to take classes outside of your major.
 
but they dont teach engineering...and who the fuck cares about anything besides that?

fuck schools that dont have D1 football and and engineering school!

that is all this PSA is now over
 
I want to do engineering, but the school i want to go to is a liberal arts college and doesn't have an engineering major :(
 
*The liberal arts, rather than prepare you for a specific career, seek to develop an individuals general knowledge and intellectual capabilities
Fuck, pardon my silly mistakes.
 
^ Plus you go to Hogwarts School of Magic and Wizardry, what do you know about the Liberal Arts?
 
Teaches you a wide variety of knowledge instead of a specific trade, skill or specific knowledge. Its inteded to produce diversely knowledgable intelectuals
*sorry for the poor spelling
 
you mean burlington college in burlington vt?.... If so you should apply to some real schools too.
 
ahhh. so when you graduate from a traditional university and compete for a job with someone from, lets say, amherst or williams, you think you will get the job?

you wont.

im going to Hamilton college, a liberal arts school.
 
False. Liberal Arts schools generally do not have engineering programs. They are focused on the humanities and core curriculum stuff. While some have strong science programs, they tend to be very small. They are conservative places that tend to be on the smaller side, usually with a student body under 5000.
 
searched: what the fuck is a libberal arts college

response:

A liberal arts college is one with a primary emphasis on undergraduate study in the liberal arts and sciences.

Students in the liberal arts generally major in a particular discipline while receiving exposure to a wide range of academic subjects, including sciences as well as the traditional humanites subjects taught as liberal arts.

A "liberal arts" institution can be defined as a "college or university curriculum aimed at imparting broad general knowledge and developing general intellectual capacities, in contrast to a professional, vocational, or technical curriculum."[1] Although what is known today as the liberal arts college began in Europe[2], the term is commonly associated with the United States. Prominent examples in the US include the so-called Little Three and Little Ivy colleges in New England and the surviving, predominantly female Seven Sisters colleges along the northeastern seaboard, but similar institutions are found all over the country.



Occidental College Johnson Student Center and Freeman College Union

Liberal arts colleges are found in countries all over the world as well. Examples of such colleges are Bishop's University in Canada, European College of Liberal Arts in Germany and University College Utrecht in the Netherlands. However, especially in Europe, many topics covered in the general education conveyed at American liberal arts colleges are also addressed in specialized secondary schools. The “liberal arts college experience” is typically American, and attempts to transfer it to other countries have largely failed.

The “liberal arts college experience” in the US is characterized by three main aspects that demarcate it from undergraduate experiences in other countries:

(1) smaller size than universities, which usually means more individual attention is given to each student;

(2) residential, which means students live and learn away from home, often for the first time, and learn to live well with others. Additionally, the residential experience of living on campus brings a wide variety of cultural, political, and intellectual events to students who might not otherwise seek them out in a non-residential setting; and

(3) a typically two-year exploration of the liberal arts or general knowledge before declaring a major.
 
tell that to my buddies from school who are working at goldman, barclays, jp morgan, citibank, UBS, all of whom made more money in their first year than a 5th year engineer would make, not to mention all the lawfirms and hedgefunds other friends work for.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top