What is a liberal arts education?
A liberal arts education is one that prepares you not only as an expert in your field, but also as a well-rounded individual knowledgeable in many different disciplines. A liberal arts education gives you the opportunity to explore a variety of subjects while still advancing toward graduation and helps you understand topics from many different perspectives. The benefits of choosing a liberal arts education include the ability to analyze situations from many viewpoints, the skills to think critically about complex issues, and the flexibility to tackle diverse challenges in our changing world.
A liberal arts education emphasizes both breadth and depth. In our liberal arts program, students are broadly educated both in the social and natural sciences and the humanities, as well as trained in a particular academic field of specialization called a concentration. At Harvard, students fulfill the requirements of the Program in General Education, which seeks to “connect a student’s liberal education … to life beyond the college.” Since the goal of the General Education Program is to broaden each student’s perspective, students take one course in each of the eight areas. They also select a field of specialization from more than 40 academic departments and may choose courses from nearly 3,500 courses offered at the College. Students will usually take about half of their courses in their concentration, one-quarter in the General Education Program, and one-quarter freely elected. The only specific course that is required for all students is a one-semester writing course, although ea
