A liberal arts degree focuses on traditional liberal arts subjects such as psychology, philosophy, history, literature, languages, and arts appreciation. Graduates are well-rounded learners with a broad base of knowledge. While a liberal arts degree may not lead directly to a career, it can provide skills that are valuable in many fields.
A liberal arts degree can be defined by what it is not. Students who study liberal arts do not focus on science, math or business. They are also generally not earning degrees dedicated to producing or creating fine art, such as playing music or creating visual arts (although this can vary in definition). Instead, these degrees tend to focus on what are traditionally considered the liberal arts and are things like psychology, philosophy, history, literature, languages, or arts appreciation (film studies, art history). A liberal arts degree also suggests that people have acquired a broad base of knowledge in a variety of subjects and are well-rounded learners.
Most people who attend a four-year college study the liberal arts to some extent. They will take classes in literature and writing, history and philosophy as part of their graduation requirements. However, when study becomes more intensive and people choose to focus on a particular art, such as philosophy, history, or the humanities, they can earn liberal arts degrees.
Many colleges offer Bachelor of Arts (BA) degrees and some offer Bachelor of Science (BS) degrees; if you are interested in pursuing one of the hard sciences as a career, a bachelor’s degree may be preferable. Some colleges do not offer this option and graduates receive a bachelor’s degree. Generally, this is just thought of as liberal arts if the focus was one on the liberal arts. Another route that may be offered at some colleges is a bachelor’s degree in liberal studies, which can take a broad view of the liberal arts and focus on all of them or how they apply to viewing the world. In general, though, unless science, business, or math were the major subjects studied, most people who graduate earn a liberal arts degree in fact.
So, the way to earn a liberal arts degree is to choose to major in a subject considered to be one of the liberal arts, and the options can be wide or narrow depending on the faculty and departments available. Typically, most colleges and larger state schools offer courses in subjects such as foreign languages, history, philosophy, humanities, psychology, and literature (which would normally be called English). All of these courses are interesting and require special writing skills and obviously an interest in the field being studied. People who maintain this interest may want to pursue a higher-level degree in a liberal art, and may go on to pursue master’s or doctoral degrees in their chosen field.
One of the things most people pursuing a liberal arts degree need to consider is how that degree leads to a career. People can continue to train teachers to teach their passion in schools. Obtaining higher degrees can be a pathway to college teaching. Some use their significant writing skills to study law or continue to seek counseling to become therapists.
However, on its own, a four-year liberal arts degree may not qualify people very much unless they find ways to translate what they learn into other fields. This is certainly possible, English learners can become editors and book editors for example. There are some practitioners who would argue that liberal arts majors tend to mean that people have learned to communicate effectively and can find entry-level work in many companies and environments that only remotely focus on majors, or not at all. . Some advantages may exist for the well-educated student, but it can sometimes be difficult to find work without first having specialized in a particular field.
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