Liberal Arts as a Major?

[FlushingNemo]

Does that seem a little shady to you guys? I don't know. For some (unfounded) reason I keep getting the feeling that that would be a cop-out. I'm currently a philosophy major and theology/religion minor, but I've found out that I can do a liberal arts major with a primary discipline of concentration in philosophy and a secondary discipline in religion and easily graduate a semester early, core requirements, pre-med requirements (+2 extra bio courses) and all. That'd give me a semester off to do something way more interesting than attending class and writing papers. Opinions, anyone?

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[Apparition]

I would probably continue with the philosophy degree, it shows that you have commited to one of your interests. Liberal arts degree is too general. Maybe you can spend a semester abroad if you're looking for something interesting.

 

[b-real]

Yeah, I think that a general "liberal arts" degree is along the lines of "pre-medicine" as a major (think Penn State). At least major in something within liberal arts.

 

[Gerg]

I'm a Chemical Engineer by undergrad.

We got locked into labs, and had to sit in uncomfortable chairs in rooms without windows, while monotone professors dronned on and on about equations and table and numbers.

I've always grouped anybody who gets anything other than a BS as having a Cushy time in college. Business, Philosophy, English. Heck, there all the same to me. People who got to sip on lattes intead of pounding coffee. People who got to see the sun. People who got to sit in PADDED chairs in lecture halls. People who got to USE computer programs instead of having to write a custom one for every problem they had to solve.

Go ahead and get your "Liberal Arts" degree. That's all I see anyway.

'course I know a lot of Liberal Arts guys who think I have the same training as a Civil Engineer. I don't know the 1st thing about concrete.

 

[Medikit]

Grrrr Liberal Arts is fake college.




Yeah it probably doesn't matter go for it.

 

[dmk724]

I'm a Chemical Engineer by undergrad.

We got locked into labs, and had to sit in uncomfortable chairs in rooms without windows, while monotone professors dronned on and on about equations and table and numbers.

I've always grouped anybody who gets anything other than a BS as having a Cushy time in college. Business, Philosophy, English. Heck, there all the same to me. People who got to sip on lattes intead of pounding coffee. People who got to see the sun. People who got to sit in PADDED chairs in lecture halls. People who got to USE computer programs instead of having to write a custom one for every problem they had to solve.

Go ahead and get your "Liberal Arts" degree. That's all I see anyway.

'course I know a lot of Liberal Arts guys who think I have the same training as a Civil Engineer. I don't know the 1st thing about concrete.

Wow. Are you, by any chance, a little bitter?

No, I can understand where you're coming from. However, as a history major, I have to say that I sometimes felt that the engineers had it slightly easier. They never spent hours locked up in uncomfortable chairs in stuffy, locked rooms, listening to professors drone on about the Industrial Revolution. They didn't have to dig through dusty old books that fell apart when you opened them, walk to 3 different libraries to find an obscure book on Spanish royal portrait traditions, translate 500 page books from Spanish or French to English (just to do basic research), or call the Library of Congress to track down an obscure 19th century Catalan newspaper article. I also doubt that they had professors assign book lists with 20-25 books on them. And we all pounded coffee (or espresso, as the case may be). And the only time that I saw the sun was when I walked from class to the library. (By the time I left the library, it was always dark.)

And the bio classes were always held in lecture halls with padded chairs. The humanities classes at our college were held in classrooms with hard chairs.

As for the original poster, I agree that liberal arts is too broad. I would just keep going with the philosophy/religious studies stuff. Good luck.

 

[Jeff3614]

I don't think I'll ever tire of the, "My science/engineering major is so much harder than everyone else's", posts. It interesting that everyone wants to be propped up and recognized, as if they chose the major because it was difficult, not because it was something they were interested in. I'll give credit though, this particular post was much more sublime in it's approach.

And to the OP, I totally agree with the advice that you should major in something other than liberal arts. Stick with the Philosophy, we need more people like you in world.

 

[Gerg]

I'd think dmk724 and I could both agree that the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence.

I've got friends in my med school class who were English Majors, and know people who were Chemistry Majors. If you do your pre-reqs and still get a stellar GPA, a lot of schools don't care what it says after "Bachelor of".

dmk724 says something about "engineers" as if we're all the same. I'm just saying I say the same thing about liberal arts people.

Thing is, as a Bio or Chemistry Major, a lot of the pre-req classes are part of your core curriculum.

As any Liberal Arts major, you'll have to meet a bunch of new professors, walk 1/2 way across campus, find different study groups, ect. to do your med pre-reqs.

I can't see anything wrong with getting a general "Liberal Arts" degree, opposed to say a "Philosophy" degree.

I stated in my post "Go ahead and get your 'Liberal Arts' degree. That's all I see anyway."

I tried to illustrate with my last scentence that that's as much a statement attesting my ignorance as anything else. Maybe a bit of jealousy.

(They seriously did a study of lecture seat sizes at my Undergrad University, it was concluded that Science/Engineering majors got seat sizes that were 4 inches smaller than those in other halls)

Back to the OP, if you do well enough (and I believe you can, if you've got the heart) to get in with whatever degree you get, I'd be proud to call you a fellow medical student, and a fellow physican in the future. Also, I like the idea of taking a semiester off.