Liberal arts degree - anyone got experience?

[NCTDN]

So DD is keen on liberal arts as a degree but looking for anyone with any advice they are willing to share. Thank you.

I have only just seen this. My DD is studying Liberal Arts at Nottingham and she absolutely loves it.

She loves the flexibility of the course - she started thinking she would study History and Maths but had now moved on to Psychology and Sociology.

What is your DD interested in?

Oh, thanks for this : following with interest! On our radar , too. but can't decide whether just doing a 'normal' degree is better. It does seem mainly to be an experiment (?) by some prestigious unis?

I too was worried about this. However when we spoke to the course director at Nottingham he was absolutely amazing. He told us that the degree had been created in response to employers coming to university and saying that they wanted people with particular skills namely the ability to think critically and apply different skills across different disciplines. I don't know how true that is but my DD is really enjoying her course.

This is helpful, thanks. DS is a sociologist too but enjoys history, economics and wants to get involved in public policy so a Lib Arts degree may help him keep all these disciplines going.

Thanks @kaleishorrid What does your dd want to do after uni? It appeals to my dd as she doesn't know what she wants to do so keeps options open.

@NCTDN

Thanks *@kaleishorrid* What does your dd want to do after uni? It appeals to my dd as she doesn't know what she wants to do so keeps options open.

She doesn't know and wanted to keep her options open. I think she is interested in pursuing the psychology side so maybe something linked to criminology or the prison service. It's possible she'll end up doing something completely different but I can't imagine that she would ever say that she picked the wrong degree.

That's really good to know. Nottingham looks to have a fabulous course although it wasn't somewhere dd was considering until now. (Not that there's many places offering the course). What was her offer for a place? What's Nottingham like?

Nottingham is brilliant- but I am biased as I lived there in my early 20's and loved it.

She actually got in through clearing as she missed a place at Birmingham by one grade. She now says that she is happier at Nottingham than she ever would have been in Birmingham- I'm not sure if that is true as I am sure she would have loved Birmingham as well if she had gone there but I hope it shows that Nottingham is not a consolation prize.

Out of curiosity, what were her offers?

We haven't really considered Birmingham for this course as it seems to require sciences and arts but it looks like it is slightly more competitive entry.

I lived in Nottingham for a short while in my 20s too! I really enjoyed my time there. The city has smartened up considerably since the 90s and now has a fantastic city centres and trams!

Her offer at Birmingham was AAB I think.

She got ABD - they would have accepted BBC on the day.

Hope that's useful

@kaleishorrid

I too was worried about this. However when we spoke to the course director at Nottingham he was absolutely amazing. He told us that the degree had been created in response to employers coming to university and saying that they wanted people with particular skills namely the ability to think critically and apply different skills across different disciplines. I don't know how true that is but my DD is really enjoying her course.

They are correct. I took a liberal arts degree some ermmm 20 years ago, and in the job market that's exactly what I found to be the case in the international corporates.

I've had a fantastic career. A good liberal arts graduate is still very much coveted for their critical thinking and analysis.

Thank you anotherchangeforachange. So good to hear that.

@Piggywaspushed (I recognise your name from when DD was applying two years ago) my DS has been offered a place to study liberal arts and natural sciences at Birmingham this year. You don't have to do any sciences it's just an additional option for those that want to do so - he does not. Applicants were asked to write an essay before they were made an offer with a choice of three titles which he did (What do you consider to be the greatest transformation of the 21st century?) Birmingham have have offered him AAA (actually he's doing the French Bac so he has to get 14, but that's the equivalent). He's currently weighing up whether he might be better putting Exeter as first choice because they have offered him 14 - same as Birmingham - or 13 (AAB) if he puts them first.

Hi lillian! Thank you for al that info. I think the Exeter course looks really good : we will definitely be looking there for sociology anyway.

DS2 v different from DS1 as you can tell!

Ha ha @Piggywaspushed how is DS1 getting on? DD hated everything about her course, accommodation and university and didn't even last until Christmas. She came home and is now happily installed at a university in Paris. Sorry for the derail, but not entirely irrelevant. DD was studying philosophy and economics, hated her course, but was unable to change. She would have been SO much better on a Liberal Arts course where she could have chosen those subjects and then easily changed to more interesting modules. Ironically she had been offered a place to study Liberal Arts at Exeter, but chose to go to Cardiff instead. I think the flexibility of Liberal Arts is great and DS - with the huge benefit of being the second born - is learning from her mistake.

Oh, that is both a shame and uplifting all at the same time.

DS1 bobbling along with standard laissez faire/occasional panic! Come out of his shell though and making friends, learning a bit about life!

That's good to hear @Piggywaspushed. Their cohort has taken the full force of Covid disruption. Fingers crossed things will be a bit more back to normal in September.

Here's hoping .

Did just finishing liberal arts at Leeds.
Crappy 4th year due to covid restrictions especially as her major is music and performance modules have been on line. Hardly the uni fault though.
3rd year in Toronto was amazing but lost the travel after the end of the year again due to pandemic.

All in all she’d choose it again and had an amazing time until covid. Loved Leeds. Has a choral scholarship too , so town “ family “ as well as uni mates.

Nottingham bril place. Older 2 kids did uni there. She wanted to go somewhere else though , and Birmingham was a great course but , heck we live here so she wouldn’t consider it 😂

Ooh! DD2 briefly considered this but is now considering English at Nottingham - I think she didn't really understand what Liberal Arts is, and obviously there's no Open Days at the moment.

Can anyone explain for us? It looks like you just get to mix and match arts and humanities modules, is that right?

Thanks

[quote LillianGish]@Piggywaspushed (I recognise your name from when DD was applying two years ago) my DS has been offered a place to study liberal arts and natural sciences at Birmingham this year. You don't have to do any sciences it's just an additional option for those that want to do so - he does not. Applicants were asked to write an essay before they were made an offer with a choice of three titles which he did (What do you consider to be the greatest transformation of the 21st century?) Birmingham have have offered him AAA (actually he's doing the French Bac so he has to get 14, but that's the equivalent). He's currently weighing up whether he might be better putting Exeter as first choice because they have offered him 14 - same as Birmingham - or 13 (AAB) if he puts them first.[/quote]
As I said earlier Birmingham was DD's first choice and guess what she did the same essay!

@hoolala

Ooh! DD2 briefly considered this but is now considering English at Nottingham - I think she didn't really understand what Liberal Arts is, and obviously there's no Open Days at the moment.

Can anyone explain for us? It looks like you just get to mix and match arts and humanities modules, is that right?

Thanks

Yes - there are loads of different modules to choose from and seems to cater for most tastes.

Thank you Think we need to go to the Open Day when they restart...

Leeds is on dds list for liberal arts so good to know. I think the ones in the running are Durham, Bristol, Leeds, Nottingham and Birmingham.