Jacqueline Said:

What are good liberal arts colleges with good dance programs?

We Answered:

If you are looking for a BA Then schools like Goucher or Eugene Lang New School. Barnard has a nice Dance program too.
Although it is a large school, my daughter is a grad of NYU Tisch and has a BFA from their dance program. The dance department is very small however. They only take 30 dancers into the Freshman class. NYU has great academics as you already know. Juilliard has rather poor academics in case you were wondering.
I suggest you look at Dance Magazines College Guide. They list all the schools that offer dance programs and gives you information about what they offer. There are really a lot of good choices out there.
http://www.dancemagazine.com/thecollegeg…

Samantha Said:

Help understanding liberal arts and a liberal arts school?

We Answered:

Liberal arts schools are (usually) private and smaller than universities, and (typically) only offer bachelor degrees. They offer many of the same majors as universities - English, art, languages, history, sciences - and some even offer engineering - but they don't offer the majors that include more job or technical training, like nursing, criminal justice, or accounting. They're the more theoretical background you'd get before going to, say, graduate school, medical school, or law school.

I attended a liberal arts school and got a degree in physics - now I'm finishing my PhD in physics. Another friend of mine went on to Stanford for engineering after a liberal arts degree and is now making $500,000 a year. While a degree IN liberal arts (which you can also get from any university) is pretty useless (like a 'general studies' major) a degree from a liberal arts school is often very highly regarded.

Edith Said:

What subjects are considered liberal arts?

We Answered:

The traditional liberal arts are: grammar, rhetoric, logic, geometry, arithmetic, music, astronomy.

The term is used in a modern sense to refer to all of the arts and sciences but not the professions (business, education, engineering, etc..)

A liberal arts college is one that has a philosophy that college students should receive a well rounded education that includes what most of us call "general education" as a significant component as opposed to a vocational or occupational education.

It doesn't mean that they only teach the traditional or modern liberal arts - it means that every student will receive a strong education in those subjects in addition to their major.

The liberal arts college of a university is simply the arm of that university that teaches courses in the liberal arts to all students of that university.

Journalism is a professional field though often found in the English department. The others you mention would be among the liberal arts.

If you think that every college graduate should have taken several courses in composition, math, sciences, social sciences, history, language, etc... in addition to his major then you support a liberal arts education. If you think all of those are "Mickey Mouse courses" or a waste of time that would be better spent learning to do a job then you support vocational/professional education.

You can get a liberal arts education in either a liberal arts college or at a university. You don't generally get the vocational/professional education at a liberal arts college.

In your case, just about every college of both types will offer the majors/minors you're considering.

I'd say though - at a good liberal arts program you'd be taking those "minor" courses you have listed as part of your general education whether you wanted to learn them or not.

Note: "Liberal" in this use has nothing at all to do with the Liberal-Conservative political spectrum. In this use, 'liberal' means that the intent is to impart general knowledge and teach you to think. 'Professional' is used to mean the intent is to teach you the specifics of how to do a job.

Dawn Said:

What is the liberal arts job market like?

We Answered:

I think your best bet for a good wage right now is to look toward one of the larger consulting firms. They are always trying to recruit fresh talent out of school. Often times they will be willing to help put you through an MBA as well. My advice would be to put a solid resume together and try to get audience with companies like Accenture, Bearing Point, Cap Gemini, IBM BCS, Serco, KPMG etc... and get a position as a junior consultant or analyst (start out around 50k) and work your way up. It's pretty easy to make Senior Consultant within 4 or 5 years if you're a hard worker (around 120k) then after that you can stick with the company and move into management or go off and become an independent consultant.

Joshua Said:

What are examples of liberal arts classes?

We Answered:

To be safe look in your college catalog, which is probably online. There may be specific liberal arts courses you are expected to choose from. If you can't find the info online or in the catalog, contact an advisor at your univeristy.

The courses may be things like Fine Arts, Music History, English, Humanities. But you'll definitely want to be advised before signing up to make sure the courses you choose are going to be accepted toward your degree.