Liberal-Arts Colleges Earn Kudos
January 26, 2010
The distinctive elements of a Dickinson education—a campuswide global awareness, commitment to sustainability, emphasis on hands-on, experiential learning and a useful education that goes beyond graduation—are certainly features that make us unique among our competitors. But as one of about 120 selective private liberal-arts colleges in the country, we have some shared characteristics that make us distinctive not from our peer institutions from but from the 4,000 overall institutions of higher education.
On her blog, The College Solution, at CBSMoneyWatch.com, Lynn O’Shaughnessy posted an entry on “5 Reasons to Attend a Liberal Arts College.” A financial journalist and the author of a critically acclaimed book, The College Solution: A Guide for Everyone Looking for the Right School at the Right Price, O’Shaughnessy has done her homework on this topic. In the post, she shares that these top five reasons came to her during a conversation with “a West Coast mover and shaker, whose children went to Yale and whose husband is an influential and involved Yale alum.” Not blinded by the “Ivy League mojo,” O’Shaughnessy lauds liberal-arts institutions for their:
- focus on students
- small classes
- great grad school preparation
- value of liberal arts to employers
- price discounts
O’Shaughnessy encourages students and their parents to “at least entertain the possibility that a liberal-arts college could be as good as or superior to an Ivy.” We couldn’t agree more.
Learn more about Dickinson or read O’Shaughnessy’s full post.