In order to truly discover the benefits of a liberal arts education, we must first define its meaning. A liberal arts education is a broad-based education in which a student studies a variety of different subjects in order to gain a better working knowledge of the world around him or herself, rather than focusing in and specializing in one specific area. The liberal arts education prepares the student for a lifetime of opportunities and changes.

As an Admission Counselor, one of the largest parts of my workday is interviewing prospective students. One of the very first and most important questions I ask them is "What do you want to study?" If I were to guess, approximately seven out of ten times, the student replies either "Liberal Arts", or just plain "I'm not sure". It is at this point in the interview that I reassure the student that they are most likely making a very wise choice in selecting a liberal arts college. I tell them this for a few reasons. First and foremost, at age eighteen, most people do not know what they want to do next weekend, let alone what they want to do for the rest of their lives.

It is a known fact that in our ever-changing economy and workforce, the average American changes his or her career path between five and seven times, often enough, starting over in an entirely different field. This fact alone is reason enough to pursue the liberal arts because by doing so, you are preparing yourself with a broad enough background to enter almost any field. Today's employers are looking for someone who has a very well-rounded skill set. They want people who communicate effectively, can function at a high level both while working alone and as a team player, people who have a general knowledge base in many different areas, and who can analyze and problem solve effectively. These, and many other skills, are found at the very foundation of a liberal arts education.

It is my opinion that the main benefits of a liberal arts education are that it teaches a student how to think and, in turn, how to learn. You may wonder why a student who wants to study Accounting should ever have to take a course in Fine Arts or Philosophy, but if you take the time to mull it over, it does make sense. By studying many different areas, you are opening yourself up to a whole world that you may not have previously understood or even realized was there. While studying different areas that may or may not be of any particular interest to you, you are constantly training your mind to think critically in an ordered fashion, and to derive conclusions from any body of given information. This is extremely important because in the workplace you will need to know how to troubleshoot and how to figure out the complexities of each and every unique situation. A liberal arts education will give you the knowledge base and the confidence in your own analytical abilities to successfully handle some of the most challenging situations.

In the previous paragraph, I mentioned that a liberal arts education would teach you how to learn. This is one of the most desirable and competitive qualities found in today's workforce. If employers see that you have a liberal arts education, they know that you have studied a variety of topics in your college career. Some you may have enjoyed tremendously and others you may have had no interest in at all, but the bare truth be told, knowledge comes from previous knowledge. The more you know about something, the more you are able to build upon it and thus expand your overall knowledge base. There is not one classroom in the world that can teach you everything there is to know about a particular subject, and we all know that most of your knowledge is gained through actual experience, but the most important thing to the employer is that you are capable of learning and retaining new information so that you can be successful and innovative in your workplace.

The benefits of the liberal arts education are clearly undeniable. By obtaining a liberal arts education, you will be able to go anywhere and do anything. You will be prepared for a lifetime of new and exciting opportunities, and when one door closes, you have ensured that another will open. You will have gained the knowledge that is necessary to be successful in almost any field and you will have been taught how to learn, so that when you are faced with a career change, you will have the necessary confidence in yourself to take on the new challenges that lie ahead.