Liberal Arts degrees

[MA2]

While the specialized skills that come with other majors may seem to be an advantage, the universality of liberal-arts skills truly is your ace in the hole because you are not limited by a specialization. Employers can train new hires in specialized skills on the job. But they can't train workers to have the critical-thinking skills, problem-solving skills, and the capacity for lifelong learning that today's organizations require. Experts say that most people will change careers five to seven times in a lifetime; thus, specialized skills may be of limited value in the long run, while the depth and breadth of liberal-arts skills are limitless.

Now being a liberal arts major can change ones focus from "what I do" to "what I can do". Sometimes liberal-arts majors struggle a bit more than other majors when launching their careers, but the evidence shows that they tend to advance farther and be more sought out by CEOs for high-level jobs than non-liberal-arts graduate do." Liberal-arts majors in particular are the "what I can do" people.

Please, most employers don't care what your undergraduate degree is in--they just want to know if you can get long with others, can write and think critically, and you don't run with scissors. A liberal arts education is more than looking for a job--it is a about a quality of life. We have done nothing but reduce education to jobs in this country and have forgotten creativity, interdisciplinarity, and thinking outside the box that the humanities demands of you.

Nothing you said isn't also true, or more so, of a "real" degree. I would much rather prove my "critical thinking skills" with an engineering or economics degree instead of a "I just studied each subject a little bit" degree.

While it is true that not everyone can be an engineer, I would get a liberal arts degree as a last resort. As mentioned earlier, no company says "Liberal arts degree required" on their employment page.

Also, here is a link of the top 10 CEOs along with their degrees:

Education Level of The Top 10 CEOs in America |

While it does indirectly say that you don't need a degree to be successful or rich, it does show that no one on there has a liberal arts degree. The only one that even comes close is #7 the CEO of Starbucks with a communication Bachelors.

And in this job market how are you going to set yourself apart with a liberal arts degree? If I was a hiring manager and 2 people were identical, but one had a bachelors in math, English, science, economics, accounting, finance, etc, vs someone with a liberal arts degree, I would hire the first guy.

I think most people would agree.