<p>I plan on applying to Cornell CAS as my top school and majoring in physics, but my parents are disagreeing because they saw the words "liberal arts" lol.. My mom says she thinks the majors lack focus and aren't specific enough to be applicable to a strong career. I guess other schools do have majors that sound more specific, but I seriously doubt that Cornell doesn't prepare you to apply your studies to a career. What do I tell my parents to convince them? (they're the ones paying after all) I've already mentioned the undergraduate research and such.</p>
<p>I’m in Cornell’s CAS for Biology and, at least for my major, being in CAS doesn’t really matter. The education is identical between CAS’s BA and CALS’s BS, the differences lie in the electives and requirements for graduation. I chose CAS as my top choice because I was also interested in double majoring in psychology which CAS offers. No matter what major and school, expect your education to be rigorous. Also, if you really want to go to Cornell (especially if you have a particular school in mind) then apply to the school you want to go to the most. Cornell’s admissions are known to place a lot of emphasis on interest in particular schools and programs. But keep in mind that they ask you what your top two choices of schools are, so you can look for opportunities in more than one school.</p>
<p>I guess you can tell them that CAS is the most competitive school to get into (which isn’t really that important when you look at other factors). And that one could always internally transfer to other schools if you feel that you would benefit more there. </p>
<p>To be honest, I have no idea why your mom would look down on liberal arts. Top universities including all the ivies started from and have flourished on their liberal arts curriculums.</p>
<p>If nothing can convince your parents, you can apply for another school and transfer in once you are there. Or put it as a choice and not tell them?</p>
<p>I can see why, in this economy (Welcome to the New Normal!), parents are leery of liberal arts.</p>
<p>Keep in mind that, as you noted, it’s not CA, it’s CAS. The S is for Sciences. And last time I checked, Physics is a science.</p>
<p>Yes, it’s true that at Cornell CAS, you may take some classes (especially in your freshman and maybe sophomore year) <em>with</em>, say, English or Philosophy majors. Putting aside the career value of learning how to write and think rigorously, <em>you</em> still will be trained in a hard science – just like your Physics classmates.</p>
<p>It’s only relative to Cornell’s own other six undergraduate units that CAS as a whole appears to lack focus…which is another way of saying it offers diverse studies. Your parents may want to note that Cornell is the only Ivy here:</p>
<p>I am a physics major and I am not a liberal arts major, lol.
The physics major lacks focus and is very broad. However, it is set up that way to give you a wide variety of opportunities. Rather than the department choosing a focus for you, you can choose whatever focus you want as part of the physics major and decide exactly how much you want to focus on it.
e.g. If you want to go to grad school, you’ll probably concentrate in physics (50+% of everyone does this).
If you want to go to astronomy grad school, you can concentrate in astronomy (or physics, actually).
If you want to go to Wall St, you can concentrate in economics.
If you want to go to med school, you can concentrate in chemistry or biology.
etc.</p>
<p>As a completely separate option, you can also do Engineering Physics in the College of Engineering, which is a lot more focused and covers all of the grounds for engineering and applied physics.</p>
<p>Thanks so much for your explanations guys. Your posts along with some of my own research helped convince my parents that CAS is not a stereotypical liberal arts school that lacks focus. :)</p>
<p>CAS is not only liberal arts. All the major science subjects (including Computer Science) and math are in CAS. I’m not really sure why the STEM subjects aren’t all in one school (i.e. why science/math aren’t combined with the engineering school), but it definitely doesn’t mean that the majors are “soft,” easy, or non-career-applicable. Many more colleges, like Harvard and Princeton, put science+math in the liberal arts school. Although, if you want something more “engineering-y” and don’t feel like taking as many liberal arts requirements (although they can be fun if you pick the right classes) you might try for AEP in the college of engineering.</p>