College Life

Private Schools That Are Well Known for This Major

• Williams College
• Amherst College
• Swarthmore College
• Wellesley College

State Schools That Are Well Known for This Major

• United States Naval Academy
• United States Military Academy
• United States Air Force Academy
• The College of New Jersey

Classes in the Major

Foreign Language: Liberal arts students are often expected to complete higher levels of foreign languages than other students. For example, some majors may have Spanish 2 as a requirement, while liberal arts students may have Spanish 4. Employers love someone who's proficient in a foreign language, if not fluent. If you're not a fan of learning other languages, you can at least rejoice in the fact that you can often take trips to the countries where your chosen language is spoken.

Writing: Graduates of liberal arts are expected to know how to write well. Liberal arts leaves you with slight expertise in a few different areas, and writing skills are at the top of that list. From academic writing to creative writing, you'll learn it all. Potential employers will look at your degree and assume that if they hand you a pen and paper and ask you what the meaning of life is, you won't write down, "Life is tuf." Well, let's hope.

Quantitative Reasoning: We know you're not exactly interested in liberal arts for the numbers, but don't worry; quantitative reasoning is much less intense than upper-level calculus. These courses revolve more around your everyday numbers, like those you see on the news or in the newspaper. After a QR class, you'll be able to figure out what a 100% increase of pizza consumption means. Has consumption doubled, or are we adding 100% to the original percentage? Is absolutely everyone eating pizza now? Both seem plausible to us, but the answer is the former.

Science: Taking a few science courses should be expected if you're going to college. You might say that science is, we dunno…important? Now, as a liberal arts major, you won't be expected to learn String Theory, but a typical requirement is taking basic biology courses, along with introductory classes to physics and chemistry. You'll be as well-rounded as an egg, and you'll understand the very basics of life on Earth and the rest of the universe—from evolution to the chemical makeup of water.

Social Sciences: Many colleges and universities have lower-level social science courses built into their general education curriculum, but…you'll have to do a bit more than the other students. For example, instead of picking between Psychology 101 and Sociology 101, you'll likely end up taking both. You can choose from all kinds of disciplines, like anthropology, economics, and criminology.