The line here is rather fuzzy. Many students at prestigious private colleges major in economics as preparation for “business” jobs at graduation, and some economics departments where this is the case offer such things as finance, managerial economics, business law, etc. (example at a LAC).
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I think that what defines a liberal arts college/university is stuff like the following:
- same set of broad general ed requirements across all majors. At non-LACs which offer engineering majors (i.e., large public universities), something like engineering or computer science majors often have a reduced set of general ed requirements.
- gen ed might also require something like taking a 0.5 or 1-unit PE class once a year. Some LACs do this, but not all do.
- usually do not have a separate business school or “College of Business.” As a result, won’t have a wide range of business majors. Might only have a couple of business major options and they’re usually in same dept as the econ major is.
- probably does not have an MIS (management information systems) major.
- pre-health majors often limited to stuff like biology, biochemistry, etc. No wide range of stuff like majoring in nutrition, kinesiology, ‘medical sciences,’ and other majors that sound similar to that. BUT the LAC may have very strong pre-health or other pre-professional advising programs, along with connections to other organizations or institutions to help pre-professional undergrads get internship opportunities during the summer.
- may require completing a big senior project for each major.
- general culture at the school encourages students to take classes in a lot of different disciplines.
- gen ed class options likely also will offer a fair # of options that are interdisciplinary classes, where there’s a mix of science & art or science & history, etc., etc.
- smaller class sizes. Hardly any classes where # of students is >100.
- classes all taught by actual professors instead of only the large lecture sessions taught by the professor & then you also have to attend a separate smaller ‘discussion section’ class once a week with ~30-40 students and a grad student/TA.
- easy to get involved in research projects with professors as an undergrad. The LAC might actually even require it for graduation…compared to really large universities in which you’re lucky to get ANY research opportunity with a professor unless you fight for it and are really assertive about it.
- majority (more than ~60%) of students live on campus all 4 years.
The usual definition of “liberal arts college” on these forums seems to include the above, plus:
- A focus on liberal arts subjects and majors, with more overtly pre-professional subjects being few or none, or hidden as electives under liberal arts subjects (e.g. business-type courses under economics).
- Few or no graduate programs.
However, for some posters, it also seems to imply private, prestigious, and/or residential, since public schools, less selective schools, and schools with substantial commuter populations are rarely mentioned as “liberal arts colleges” (despite COPLAC). Also, general education, senior projects, research, and living on campus all years are characteristics that vary for both “liberal arts colleges” and other schools.
But, getting back to the title of this thread, what would a “liberal arts university” be? Which aspects of the school would be different between a “liberal arts university” and a “liberal arts college”?
I use “college” and “university” interchangeably because I view those 2 words to be the same. Others’ mileage may vary. 
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Economics is a social science discipline. It does not train students in a specific skill set to prepare them for a career in business in the same way that a degree in accounting or actuarial science would.
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If you look at some of the finance, business law, etc. courses found in some economics departments (example), it becomes more obvious that economics major is often a substitute for a business major, and some economics departments are willing to accommodate students using it as such.
Some colleges even say the quiet part out loud (example).
Exactly! So many students major in economics thinking that it is preprofessional for investment banking or some other “business” career. Not true.
The definition of “liberal arts” seems too artificial to be useful in today’s world. Can anyone actually define the term abstractly without referencing the few fields that are included by tradition?
IMHO: The study of academic disciplines to engage in critical thinking and to become an educated person and a participatory citizen of a democratic society.
It excludes paths of study that train the student in skills to be applied to a specific job, such as nursing, engineering, accounting, advertising, supply chain management, hotel administration, social work, education, speech therapy, exercise science, finance, construction management, real estate, culinary arts, pharmacy, marketing, architecture, healthcare informatics, computer science, actuarial science, fashion design, and the like.
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Of course, any liberal arts subject is pre-professional in the narrow sense of a profession of teaching or doing research in the same subject, but that is presumably excluded from definition of “liberal arts” as being not overtly pre-professional.
Of course, being not overtly pre-professional does not prevent students from choosing liberal arts subjects for pre-professional goals (e.g. economics majors aiming for Wall Street jobs) or departments from accommodating those students with elective courses (e.g. finance courses in the economics department) or subarea tracks (e.g. business economics).
Well, outside of Teach America which was a thing for a while (and may still be), it’s almost impossible to get a teaching job without some further certification.
Years ago this was one of the reasons I switched majors from biology to earth & ocean sciences. I was able to study marine ecology either way, but it was a blessing to get away from the grade-grubbing pre-meds that made up a majority of bio majors.
Admittedly, my undergrad has always had a noticeably higher percentage of pre-meds than most of its peers aside from Wash U and Hopkins, so perhaps this isn’t as common everywhere.
Yes, but that does not preclude a BA/BS in English or math from being the pre-professional major leading to (eventually, after additional needed education) high school English or math teaching, or college or university faculty jobs in English or math departments.
I dunno. Is it just me, or does it strike one as peculiar that teaching a liberal arts subject should be considered “pre-professional”?
Teaching is a profession, so studying a liberal arts subject in preparation for teaching it is pre-professional.
And studying to become a college professor is not?
Never said that. “Teaching” includes college, so I was saying the opposite of what you are implying with your question.
So, pursuing a PhD is “preprofessional”? That’s counterintuitive.
Why wouldn’t it be? A PhD prepares one for the profession of college or university faculty, or for other research jobs if they exist in the subject.
Gee, Beave. I think I hear my Mom calling.