Liberal arts colleges fostering curiosity, communication skills and creativity

From StudyInternational.com, April 6, 2021

Liberal arts colleges offer curricula “that ‘liberate’ the mind and move beyond mere professional training, while at the same time ensuring that the student is able to focus on one academic subject that serves as the bulwark of this intellectual exploration,” says Mark Montgomery, founder and CEO of Great College Advice.

These colleges offer bachelor’s degrees in arts and sciences, in majors ranging from studio art and music to mathematics and chemistry. Students are trained to expand the capacity of their minds to think critically and analyse information effectively.

For those who want to study subjects that interest them, pursue a passion like music or the arts alongside their major, prepare for a diverse set of careers, or customize their major with a specific life goal in mind, a liberal arts college could be an excellent choice.

Here are four institutions that offer all of the above and more.

New College of Florida

This is where faculty members and students engage in in-depth exploration of ideas and subject matter. This is where students have the freedom to chart their own academic course. This is where students prepare for their future careers. This is the New College of Florida.

As Florida’s “honors college for the liberal arts,” it has one mission: to provide an undergraduate education of the highest calibre to leading students from around the world. Set on a beautiful 110-acre campus on sunny Sarasota Bay, NCF offers undergraduate programmes — with more than 40 areas of concentration (majors) and over 300 courses — and a Master’s in Applied Data Science degree.

Here, there are numerous opportunities inside and outside classrooms that spark personal growth and career-readiness. In small classes — the current student to faculty ratio is 7:1 — students receive personalised attention.

At the Center for Career Engagement and Opportunity (CEO), students prepare for their dream careers, graduate school, and to apply for grants and fellowships or the Peace Corps, amongst others. Support of all sorts are available, be it in writing resumes and cover letters, interviewing, career planning, networking or finding internship opportunities. The CEO matches each student with a career counselor even before they set foot on campus.

It’s an ecosystem that nurtures success. Four out of five NCF 2020 undergraduates had more than three internships or experiential learning opportunities prior to graduation and all students from its graduate programme in data science have secured a full-time job in data science within three months of graduation.

Life at university has more to offer than just classes and students at NCF are known to be prolific both in academics and athletics. There is a complete range of recreational, competitive sports, representative, and leadership activities to take part in. NCF is a great place to launch a life — to learn more,  click here.  Scholarships are available for international students.

Read the entire article (Bard, DePauw and Haverford were also named) here.