College in America - what is a Liberal Arts education, and is it for you?

So, you are looking at American universities, but aren’t sure what you want to study. You’re interested in multiple subjects and don’t know which you want to pursue. A liberal arts program might be the one for you. Many colleges in the US are liberal arts schools or have liberal arts programs, but what does that really mean? 

Essentially, if a school claims to be liberal arts based, it means that you will not just be focusing on one specific subject throughout your time at the university. Instead, the college will encourage you to branch out and explore many different fields before finding the one that is right for you. Professors and advisors will also help you find creative ways to combine your interests to ensure you pursue the right career. Liberal arts schools also focus on creative thinking and problem solving techniques by emphasizing student discussions in classes and by combining multiple fields in one class. These programs also tend to focus on social and physical sciences, as well as literature, philosophy, and mathematics. While you will be studying many different things, you will still have a major which you will focus on above the others. By combining all of these different subjects, students get a broad and impactful education while getting a new perspective of society and the world.

As the technology industry has begun to spread and become one of the largest internationally, people have started thinking that liberal arts degrees are no longer valuable and they should take computer science instead, but this is not true. Going to one of these schools will help you develop many skills that employers value and will help you in the real world. Some of these skills include a mature sense of responsibility, strong and clear communication, unique problem solving techniques, and more. These things will help you to succeed in any sort of professional setting, whether it is in business, science, or architecture.

Whether you know what you want to study or not, a liberal arts education could be beneficial to you, widening your horizons and teaching you things you never realized were so interesting before. You can develop skills that will help you for the rest of your life and will present you as a valuable worker to an employer. So before you decide which school you want to attend and what you want to study, think twice about liberal arts; it might just be for you.

If you are thinking of going to college in the US, stay tuned for GradTrain's college matching tool that will launch soon here: https://www.gradtrain.com

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