<p>I'm applying to colleges this fall and my parents want me to apply to and hopefully attend a liberal arts school such as Claremont McKenna, Pomona, Swarthmore, Williams, etc. However I have always seen myself as attending a larger university such as UCLA, Berkeley, or USC. </p>
<p>Can someone basically describe the differences and overall experience of student life at a liberal arts college and large university? Social scene, classroom environment, etc. I'm very confused at the moment and very nervous about possibly attending a college with fewer students than at my current high school. Thanks!</p>
<p>I want to know what goes through the head of someone getting a BA degree. You have to spend 4+ years knowing that when you graduate the only jobs you’re qualified for are the exact same ones you were qualified for before you started.</p>
<p>UAkid does have a point. When you are studying liberal arts, it’s usually what you do OUTSIDE of the classroom that will get you a job. Unlike, say, nursing or accounting where the curricular training will make you very employable all by itself.</p>
<p>Even at a LAC, you MAJOR in something specific. LACs just usually have requirements that students have to meet in various areas so that the person is well rounded and not only exposed to one subject or so. Since so many students change their minds during college about career goals, it’s nice to be exposed to things a lac can offer that maybe they never experienced in high school,like different foreign languages, more science or humanities courses, etc. Your choice of major becomes very important, and gives you the knowledge base to then seek jobs in that field after graduating. The Bachelor of Arts degree just says you didn’t only study nursing, or biology, etc, but also stretched your brain to learn information beyond that one subject area.</p>
<p>Not everybody is meant to get a BS. What’s the point of going into something like engineering or physics if you are terrible at math? You’d be wasting your time and money getting a low GPA and certainly not getting a job. Getting a BS isn’t valuable if you’re terrible at it…lol.</p>
<p>^yes. Totally agree. I wasted two years at community college aiming for a BS…It really hurt my GPA and it didn’t make sense for me to continue to go that direction when it just wasn’t fit for me. So I will be a history major because I enjoy it and it’s not always about the six figure salaries.</p>
<p>Life is an intellectual adventure through many different perspectives of the human condition. You will be engaged in endless stimulation. From psychoactive particulates to sensually pleasing acts of vibration, life will be at its best at an LAC.</p>
<p>Well, I’m going to a larger university with about 16,000 students and they make it a focus to have a liberal arts type of education. I went in thinking I wanted a BS in microbiology, but the requirements are so restricting that the only classes I could take outside of science and math would be English comp (that I already completed) and 2 years worth of foreign language or enough to prove proficiency and I switched over almost immediately to get an AB. I’d still take all the classes necessary for graduate school in either environmental sciences or pharmacology, but I’d also have an easier time taking classes I want to take, to pick up a minor and get a BS in Clinical Lab Sciences at the same time (a lot of cross-over in the courses). </p>
<p>I’ve always liked the idea of a liberal arts education but I don’t think I’d like going to a school with such a small student body, so I just went for a larger school with a liberal arts focus and it’s the best of both worlds to me.</p>
<p>Yeah yeah blah blah college learning etc. Why do you need to go to a university to study history, art, or literature? The point of a degree is to certify you at least have a basic understanding of a topic. This matters for BS degrees but there’s no market for Russian art history majors (in other words, no one to care that you have a basic understanding of this).</p>
<p>From my perspective it seems like BA majors typically don’t want to learn anything useful but insist on doing it at a university so they can have the illusion their life isn’t stagnating.</p>
<p>You’re an idiot. I’d rather learn something I enjoy which enhances my perspective and views on life than trudge through cold calculations and formulas just to make money.</p>
<p>UAKid has no idea what he is talking about. It’s more useless to spend thousands of dollars at a university in something that you’re not even good at, just because you think you can get a job. There are plenty of jobs for something like engineering majors but if you major in it and pretty much fail in it, 1.) you’re not going to be able to get a job, 2.) you just wasted thousands of dollars, 3.) you have a useless degree because you can’t even do the work and 4.) you’re probably going to be miserable. Biology isn’t a marketable degree either, by itself. What can you do with that by itself? Pretty much nothing…but you can use that to go to med school if you’re smart enough and have the grades. No, Russian History isn’t the most marketable degree by itself but believe it or not, there ARE options. You could pair it with something like business or communications, and minor in the language and become fluent, study abroad and sort out your options there. No it’s not going to be easy but it’s better to do that than attempt to get a BS degree if you can’t even do the work.
Contrary to UAKid’s belief, I actually DO want to learn something useful. It’s not useful to go college and major in something you will NEVER have an understanding of.</p>