<p>The second question is: How does a LAC education benefit someone who is undecided career-wise? I'm confused on this, as many LACs (such as Bates) still have core curriculums.</p>
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One who would feel out of place at a large institution(because of student population, lack of intimacy, etc)
One who needs hand holding/guidance.
One who loves and needs small class sizes.
One who wants to see familiar faces every time they walk to class etc.
One who values a liberal arts education in itself.
One who wants to learn for the sake of learning. </p>
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I don’t know if I really understand your question. Being undecided career wise has nothing to do with an LAC education. If your intentions of going to a college is to get a specific job or learn specific skills to be used as a qualifier for technical jobs, you’re better off at a research university/tech/trade school/large university that offers more pre-professoinal majors than LAC, so that you can take courses in different fields/trades and see where your interests lie. A liberal arts education, whether at a LAC or Research University, is bound to be the same. The difference in education is the access to resources, professors, small classes, personal attention, hand holding etc.
Aside of having a strong desire for learning, most students who go to LAC’s, tend to have plans for graduate school, medical school, law school, or simply to learn. If you don’t plan on higher education after undergrad, then regardless if you’re at a LAC or Research University, you’re options are taking advantage of the career resource offices at your schools and taking up internships and work experience during the summers to explore different fields.</p>
<p>Thanks for the informative post!</p>
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<p>All these lines make me cringe, even if they’re well-intentioned (?).
Rather:</p>
<p>One who feels more at home at a smaller institution.
One who feels comfortable knowing that guidance is always available.
One who shines and thrives in a small class environment.
One who shares a personal and intimate social environment.
One who perceives a liberal education as an end in itself and not a means to an end.
One who enjoys learning for learning sake.</p>
<p>The differences are subtle, but the picture painted is an entirely different one.</p>
<p>One that prefers to be taught my teachers rather than TAs :P</p>
<p>Another way to look at this would be to flip the question and ask, What kinds of student would NOT belong at a liberal arts college?</p>
<ul>
<li>Someone who wants training in specific career-related skills (business, engineering, nursing, architecture), possibly leading to a professional degree (B.S.E., B.Arch., M.F.A. etc.)</li>
<li>Someone who does not see much value in frequent class discussions (who’d like to snooze occasionally in the back row of a large lecture hall after a long night, or, who’d just rather sit back and hear a professor lecture than other students’ opinions)</li>
<li>Someone who quickly tires of familiar faces and settings</li>
<li>Someone who does not see much value in subjects like history or philosophy, especially if the topic is not clearly relevant to contemporary life and personal, practical goals</li>
<li>Focused math/science prodigies (kids who are likely to place out of basic courses, who will tear through the course offerings in a small program, and who want early exposure to bleeding edge, Big Science RDT&E)</li>
<li>Kids who have a passion for relatively obscure or new fields that only a larger school is likely to offer in depth (e.g. Tibetan studies, behavioral economics, human language technology)</li>
</ul>
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<p>By helping you develop the abilities and flexibility that are timeless instead of time-limited. If you get job-related education in a high tech field, the content is relevant for, what, a couple years at the max? Learning to communicate (verbally, in writing, and through both art and technology), reason, research, and synthesize data from multiple sources into new understandings is not only education for a lifelong career, but education for leadership in whatever career you choose.</p>
<p>Quote:
How does a LAC education benefit someone who is undecided career-wise?</p>
<p>It’s like eating at a buffet when you’re not sure what you’re in the mood to eat. You can sample a whole bunch of different subjects, and then when you find the subject you like the most, you can major in it. </p>
<p>A LAC education benefits those who are decided career-wise as well. It’s easy to focus too much on something, particularly if you have a strong interest in it. A LAC education ensures that students will leave college with a general education, as well as a more specific knowledge of the subject(s) that interests them most.</p>