There’s an age-old adage that big things come in small packages. How perfectly fitting to describe liberal arts colleges in the United States, which are frequently overlooked in favor of their bigger, more widely known university peers. As a former admissions officer at a liberal arts college, and a believer in their benefits, I believe it’s crucial to introduce the power of these institutions.
One of the major distinguishing factors between liberal arts colleges (“LACs”) and universities is the presence of graduate and doctoral programs: the central mission of LACs is to educate undergraduates broadly and intensively, while universities will also try to balance graduate education, research production, and doctoral training. In other words, the liberal arts college experience is an exclusively undergraduate one – the professors are there to teach and mentor only undergrads, and are drawn to that ethos. Due to the inherently smaller size (most LACs enroll 1,500-3,000 total students), faculty accessibility is achieved through consistently small classes and labs. Universities of course offer undergraduate teaching, yet depending on the size of the university, this often results in numerous classes of over 100 students and professors balancing teaching responsibilities with research expectations. It can also lead to graduate students teaching classes or leading labs.
As you consider future schools of interest, ask yourself what type of learner you are: do you crave discussion and building relationships with teachers, or are you a good listener, take reliable notes, and advocate for yourself when you need something? Similarly, might you prefer a tight-knit college campus outside a New England town – such as Williams in western Massachusetts or Middlebury in Vermont – or on the outskirts of a big city like Claremont McKenna and Pomona near Los Angeles, or Swarthmore outside Philadelphia? These can feel less intimidating than large campuses with over 15,000 students.
There’s also something to be said for exploration. I have always been a strong proponent of embracing “undecided” as your intended major. While some high school students have an undeniable passion and strength for a certain subject, the vast majority deserve time to figure it out. (This is my American bias showing!) To reduce those expectations, LACs frequently encourage students to enter undecided. Bowdoin assigns a Liberal Arts advisor for your first two years, who will advise on course selection until students declare a major in the second half of their sophomore year.
If you like multiple academic disciplines, find schools that encourage trying multiple disciplines, make it easy to switch majors, and seek advice when changing your mind. College is a time to find and confirm what you love to study. There are excellent universities that structure their academics for similar interdisciplinary learning, and it’s important to understand which promote this. Liberal arts colleges, such as Amherst and Grinnell naturally do with the “open curriculum,” which removes any required courses and asks students to try what sounds interesting.
The other significant trait of LACs is their commitment to intellectual breadth. Mandatory classes across writing, history, philosophy, quantitative reasoning, and the sciences are intended to create strong writers and more adaptable thinkers. The longstanding criticism has been, “What do you do with a [humanities] major?” At a surface level, it feels less employable than a bachelor’s degree in engineering or finance. And yet, with technology accelerating our rapidly changing world, how well can we answer what the workforce will need in 5-6 years, when you will be graduating college?
Consider what the co-founder of Anthropic, the AI company behind Claude, recently said: “I actually think studying the humanities is going to be more important than ever. A lot of these [AI] models are very good at STEM. The ability to have critical thinking skills and learn how to interact with people will be more important in the future, rather than less.”
Now, I don’t believe that all STEM majors are in danger; however, I can absolutely see corporations prioritizing candidates who think creatively and demonstrate broad cognitive flexibility to solve a range of problems. That’s what extensive practice in the liberal arts grants.
You may not have heard of many of these small gems scattered around the U.S., but just because they’re small doesn’t mean they don’t stack up.
