A liberal arts education is by nature broad and diverse, rather than narrow and specialized. Choosing courses from many disciplines gives you a wide and useful education. In the first year, an Arts student normally takes a variety of introductory courses. This not only gives you a wide knowledge of subjects but helps you to choose certain areas for further study. In most cases, you will be encouraged to take courses in at least some of the major categories within the liberal arts: Humanities (English Literature, Modern Languages, History, Philosophy), Social Sciences (Anthropology, Economics, Geography, Political Science, Sociology), Creative Arts (Fine Art, Theatre, Speech, Creative Writing), and the Sciences.

A liberal arts education is not intended to train you for a specific job, though it does prepare you for the world of work by providing you with an invaluable set of employability skills, including the ability to think for yourself, the skills to communicate effectively, and the capacity for lifelong learning.