​

Finding a college that is ‘right’ for you can seem daunting, given that there are over 2000 colleges to choose from. The process of college selection need not be complex if you follow a methodical process to define your goals and needs as accurately as possible and work on finding colleges that best meet each of your individual priorities. The act of researching colleges is an important step in order to do this effectively and help is available in the form of guidebooks, the plethora of online resources available and for sure the abundance of information on the college websites.

 

What kind of colleges should you look at in your search and should Liberal Arts Colleges be part of the mix? That’s the question we shall try and explore here. To be clear, when we talk about Liberal Arts Colleges and a Liberal Arts Education, the term art is used in the sense of a learned skill rather than specifically the fine arts. Before we go further, let’s take a broader look at how the curriculums are designed for any course.

 

 

Core Curriculum

​

The curriculum for any course is defined as the set of prerequisites to be satisfied by completing the required coursework. There is always an element of building up viz. advanced courses in most any subject will require a foundation of basic courses, often in some other department of related study based on the dependencies between the topics.

 

On the topic of whether a core curriculum is needed and what it should comprise of, there are two broad schools of thought. Some believe that students should have a common knowledge foundation, whereas others believe that students should be able to pursue their own educational interests, often through early specialty in a major or through the free choice of courses. Educational institutions worldwide (more so in the western world) try to balance these two opposing forces. The definition of what the core curriculum should comprise of varies from college to college and also from one program to the next and may fall anywhere in the spectrum.

 

 

Liberal Arts Colleges

​

While there is no formal definition of a liberal arts college, these colleges emphasize undergraduate education in the liberal arts and sciences. Liberal Arts Colleges aim to impart a broad body of knowledge and develop general intellectual capacities, in contrast to following a professional, vocational, or technical curriculum. The curriculum is designed to foster critical skills in a broad range of academic disciplines, including the social sciences, humanities, physical and biological sciences, mathematics, writing and foreign languages. It is also designed to inculcate critical-thinking skills, a sense of moral and ethical responsibility etc. ultimately aimed at creating a more complete individual and prepare him or her to best meet life’s challenges successfully.

​

While students in a liberal arts college major in a particular discipline, in the first couple of years, they receive exposure to a wide range of academic subjects, including sciences as well as the traditional humanities subjects. Many Liberal Arts Colleges also tend to follow a system of distribution requirements which requires students to take courses in particular fields of learning, but students are free to choose specific courses within those fields.

 

Liberal Arts Colleges also have these distinguishing characteristics in addition to the generalist curricula. Smaller class size, faculty that focuses on teaching (vs. research), a more close-knit community, more interaction and better camaraderie between the students and faculty etc. all of which leads to higher student satisfaction.

 

Whether a Liberal Arts College is the right choice for you is obviously a very personal choice depending on your educational imperatives and whether you place a high priority on building a strong foundation comprising of a variety of skills. It is definitely worthy of consideration if a Liberal Arts Education and the characteristics of a typical Liberal Arts College appeals to you.

​

​

​

College & Me is a series of articles featuring useful information about College Admissions for undergraduate and graduate degree programs in US colleges.

​

​