What is a "liberal arts college?"

Colleges and Universities A-Z Claremont McKenna College
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<p>Hi.</p>

<p>Getting straight into it, can someone please explain to me what exactly a liberal arts college is? </p>

<p>I know, the question is sorta eh.. but I just felt that getting any answer from an actual student would give me a better idea. So far, all I know is that the overall student population at a liberal arts college is a lot smaller than a UC and so the class sizes are obviously smaller. And that's about it.</p>

<p>But does "liberal arts" college mean that it doesn't follow the traditional system of GEs, lower divs, and upper divs?? Is a liberal arts college a radically different school system, just a smaller version (population wise, not quality wise of course) of a UC, or something else that I didn't list??</p>

<p>WHY DO I ASK? Well, a lotta kids apply to UCs because that's what everyone does right? But I'm just starting to learn about liberal arts colleges and want to know what its about!</p>

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<p>A liberal arts college is an educational institution that generally only serves undergraduate students, and its student populations are also commonly small. However, there are some very very large (larger than some UCs) liberal arts colleges. </p>

<p>Some liberal arts colleges (like Wesleyan and Amherst) do not have any requirements for graduation, but rather recommendations. Most, however, have requirements that are very similar to GEs, and the lower/upper divs. </p>

<p>Pomona college actually has a really nice page on WHY one should consider LACs. I think you may find it instructive.</p>

<p><a href="http://pomona.edu/ADWR/Admissions/viewbook/liberalarts.pdf%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://pomona.edu/ADWR/Admissions/viewbook/liberalarts.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

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<p>Another way of looking at it is that nearly every American institution of higher learning founded before the Civil War (1861-1865) started out as a liberal arts college. This included Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Columbia, Rutgers, William and Mary -- nearly all the Ivy League "colleges". As the economy demanded more specialized training in the learned professions, law schools and medical schools got tacked on and graduate degrees in science and engineering later became popular. The schools known as LACs today are the colleges that for one reason or another refused to make those additions to their campuses. But, they still offer the same baccalaureate degree in pretty much the same academic milieu as colleges of arts and science located on university campuses.</p>