<p>I'm a Junior and I'm going through the scenario: "If I could go anywhere then where would I go". </p>
<p>The trick is that the schools I thought I should like (based on reputation) don't seem to be keeping pace with the needs of todays world.</p>
<p>I want to study Liberal Arts... but todays world is technical and it seems that I almost need to build a fluency in speaking the language of science and technology since it touches so many parts of our lives. As I fill out my applications, I'm noticing a 4 year language requirement at the Ivys but they deemphasize math & science.</p>
<p>And that's the problem ... I was thinking Harvard, Yale, Princeton... but they no longer seem like the right fit for becoming a leader in a technologically based world.. I was thinking of MIT, and CALTEC but they don't put the premium on the liberal arts education ... So now I'm drifting into places like Stanford, Cornell, Olin and Harvey Mudd.
I know Cornell gets dumped on for not being Ivy enough but for todays world it seems like they are leading the way as they weave engineering into a liberal arts college.</p>
<p>and right now OLIN looks like the best techno/liberal arts school out there ..but its so small.. are any of you guys/gals wrestling with the same challenge.</p>
<p>and I know the colleges are very selective... but this is based on if I could pick anyone... the classic do I pick a label with reputation vs. something new and different...whats the best tool for the job.</p>
<p>When the world changes so quickly, culturally and technologically, a well-rounded classical education may be more relevant than ever. Good liberal arts programs work with timeless questions, abstract thought, creative catagories that do not become obsolete. A philosophy course may give one a more enduring foundation for a career than a CS course that is outdated in 3 years. I don’t think that the Liberal Arts need to scramble to become useful; they have always been so.</p>
<p>You are finding prestigious schools featured by strong liberal-arts-education tradition combined with excellent STEM programs. IMO Princeton and Swarthmore should be the best in this regard.</p>
<p>I agree Snarlatron (that’s a cool name) … I completely agree that a well rounded classical education is the way to go … and I am not subscribing to the need to be CS as the way forward, in fact I think CS is far too limiting. and Scrambling is never the right answer. but now I do have the chance to shape how I will fit into this world and I’m looking for the “Well rounded Classical education” that has found a way to weave technology (almost as if its a foreign language) into the curriculum. I want to learn language and history and writing and philosophy but I want to be able to fit it into the world that surrounds us … I’m not talking about computers … we are being engulfed by “Big data” tracking Verizon phone calls, email monitoring, CVS & grocery store & hardware store member cards that track our behaviors… I think our leaders need to be aware of the societal impacts of technical decisions … its not about being technically possible… its about being ethical … and I think we are in an age where technology is running past good people…</p>
<p>To dispel a few myths evident in the first post and others here:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>“Liberal arts” includes science and math.</p></li>
<li><p>For admission purposes (from high school), taking the highest level of math and foreign language available to you, and taking all three major sciences, in high school is looked at favorably by highly selective colleges.</p></li>
<li><p>Many schools (including HYP among many others) have good offerings in science and math, even though they do not require all students to take rigorous courses in them.</p></li>
<li><p>MIT has extensive general education requirements in science, math, humanities, arts, and social studies, so it is not like students there are not getting a well rounded education. (It is true that fewer than 20% of MIT students major in humanities, arts, or social studies.)</p></li>
<li><p>ABET-accredited engineering degree programs must require some humanities and social studies courses.</p></li>
<li><p>Not all science majors have good job prospects. (Biology job prospects are generally poor these days.)</p></li>
<li><p>The concepts behind good CS courses are not outdated in a few years, even if the programming languages involved fall out of favor. [This</a> introductory CS book](<a href=“http://mitpress.mit.edu/sicp/]This”>http://mitpress.mit.edu/sicp/) dates from the 1980s, but it or variants of it are still used in introductory CS courses today.</p></li>
</ul>
<p>Well put, Payne101! It is also reassuring to see that today’s youth is not as enraptured by technology as it would appear.</p>
<p>Let’s see, what were the original ‘liberal arts’ as prescribed by the Greeks? – grammar, arithmetic, logic, rhetoric, geometry, astronomy and music!</p>
<p>Hmm… leanid thank you for the vote of confidance … I think I’m going crazy because a “classical liberal arts” program thats designed around our technical world doesn’t seem to resonate. I don’t want to be a programmer or a Math teacher or a pure researcher. </p>
<p>Regardless of where my education takes me, I want my growth to be based on a Liberal arts foundation.</p>
<p>Princeton is excellent and Olin seems to also capture it. The more I study Olin the more I like their innovative teaching design. Olin seems to be very competitive for a school I’ve never realy heard of.</p>
<p>I appreciate the reference to Swarthmore and I will look into that school as well… more recomendations are very welcome.</p>
<p>1.Liberal arts education in the US critically changed after the WWII, including education of sciences (natural sciences + social sciences + math&stat ). Thus, liberal arts exactly means liberal arts and sciences now as ucbalumnus pointed.
2. The goal of this is to increase the students’ long term potentials after graduation,no matter which career paths you take - work,professional school or graduate school.
3. From the perspective of economists there are two ways increasing skills or productivity of labor. Education for general skills and on-the-job training for firm-specific skills (done by each firm). In my thoughts, Liberal arts education is really valuable for accumulating general skills and starting life-long learning process interwined with your future career path. from S. Korea.</p>
<p>I know quite a few people who majored in Liberal Arts like French, Art, history, even philosophy, but added a CS minor. They worked in small tech companies over the summer, helped out with tech in their dept (liberal arts depts always need someone to help with computer problems), got hands-on experience, studied what they loved, and found a job easily after college.
So it’s not an either/or proposition.
All of them I must add went to schools that were in the top 60 of either LACs or NUs.</p>
<p>Thank Passky81 and myos1634.
I do believe in the life long learning concept that you mention…and that is what I am intending to set myself up for.
I may be naive but at this stage I am not factoring money into my decision. My friends that were accepted this year and the year before found that there where very generous scholarships and grants that accompanied their letters of aceptance. I assume that trend will probably continue. My grades are consistent and my SATs are solid (2360) with comparable SAT II’s. I’ve been working to get ready for Early Action and get ahead of the application rush. The challenge for me is finding the best fit for a University. Visits are nice but the hardest part is weeding through the visuals to find the hidden tone of the school.</p>
<p>I realize that this thread is about Liberal Arts but I have to mention majors as well because the tech world needs people well beyond code writers. The three students I’ve known hired by Google in the last 5 years had the following majors: English, Sociology, Urban Studies. Today’s job world needs people with ideas who know the world as well as those savvy with technology. Thus, the Liberal Arts (including all branches of science).</p>