Kimberly Liu December 17, 2025 4 11th Grade,12th Grade,Applying to College,College Lists

What is a Liberal Arts College, and How Are They Different?

What’s Covered:

• What Is a Liberal Arts College?
• Liberal Arts Colleges vs. Research Universities
• What Are Some Examples of Top Liberal Arts Colleges?
• Why Should You Consider a Liberal Arts College?
• For More Information

“Do you want to go to a liberal arts college or a large university?”

Many students have probably heard this question or a variation thereof. But others may have never heard of a liberal arts college (LAC) at all.

So what is a liberal arts college? How do they differ from universities? Which is a better fit for you? Isn’t any institution that grants bachelor’s degrees technically a university? In this post, we’ll answer all these questions to clear up the common misunderstandings and confusion surrounding liberal arts colleges.

What Is a Liberal Arts College?

A liberal arts college is a college that focuses on undergraduate study of the liberal arts and sciences. Note that students do not only study the humanities at liberal arts colleges—LACs often offer equally strong STEM programs.

Here, we have a few words to break down for the sake of semantics.

Although in the U.S. we use the term “college” very loosely to refer to undergraduate studies in general, and often interchangeably with the term “university.” Strictly speaking, the term “college” refers to an institution that awards bachelor’s degrees, and one that is often part of a larger university. For example, undergraduates attending Harvard are attending Harvard College, the liberal arts and sciences college of Harvard University.

Liberal arts (from the Latin for “free arts/practice”) refers to the core academic subjects—natural sciences, social sciences, mathematics, arts, and humanities—considered distinct from professional, vocational, or technical studies.

These disciplines originated from the era of classical antiquity during which knowledge of the equivalent of these subjects for the time (grammar, rhetoric, logic, arithmetic, music, astronomy, etc.) were necessary to be a “free person.”

We’ve come a long way from the classical period, but the American liberal arts college retains the values of broad and applicable knowledge, critical thinking, inquiry, and general intellectual ability.

Liberal Arts Colleges vs. Research Universities

The characteristics of a liberal arts college are best made sense of when placed in contrast with those of a large university. The table below illustrates some of their major differences. Keep in mind that there are always exceptions.

What Are Some Examples of Top Liberal Arts Colleges?

Liberal arts colleges and universities are often ranked separately for a reason. Now that you have a general idea of what a liberal arts college is, here are the top ten liberal arts colleges according to CollegeVine’s rankings.

Why Should You Consider a Liberal Arts College?

Students often get so tangled up in the logistics of the college applications process that they don’t have the peace of mind to answer one of the most important questions regarding college: What are you going to college for?

If your answer is to major in a subject that will offer you the quickest and easiest path to a job (which will change as the market evolves), then a pre-professional track at a large university may be for you. Large research universities tend to work well for students who know exactly what job they want after graduation.

But if you want to go to college to expand your intellectual horizons, to improve your critical and interdisciplinary thinking skills, to gain the skills needed to approach a lifetime of learning in any field, then you should really consider a liberal arts college.

If you’re undecided and don’t have a particular major in mind yet, a liberal arts college can be ideal; most LACs allow students to declare a major at the end of sophomore year, giving students a chance to explore their interests.

You might have heard some of these common dismissals and criticisms of the liberal arts education—it’s useless, it’s impractical, it’s elitist. Yet, these dismissals fail to take into account the fact that liberal arts graduates are steadily highly sought after by prestigious graduate programs in fields like law and medicine.

In general, liberal arts students aiming to go to grad school have something of an advantage over students at large research universities. Liberal arts students are able to develop closer relationships with professors, allowing for more meaningful research/mentorship opportunities and letters of recommendation.

Liberal arts degrees are also becoming more desirable as the traditionally more lucrative industries of the hard sciences develop an increasing need for individuals from humanities and liberal arts fields. Whether they studied STEM or not, liberal arts grads have been known to go on to large companies like Google or innovative startups.

Liberal arts degrees tend to be slower in generating returns for students, but they provide strong fuel for the overall arc of their careers. You can think of the liberal arts education as something that will prepare you not only for a job, but for a future as a thinker and as an individual.

For More Information

While each of the aforementioned colleges has a different average acceptance rate, they are all quite selective. It’s great to be interested in selective schools, but it is also important to remember to create a balanced college list.

If possible, a student should apply to 8-10 schools, with about 25% being safety schools, 40% being target schools, and 35% being reach schools. These categories—safety, target, and reach—are determined by your chances of acceptance at the schools you are applying to.

Because your personal chances of acceptance at these schools may differ from the average acceptance rate, we’ve made it easy to figure out which schools fall into which categories with our free chancing engine. By taking into account your grades, test scores, and extracurriculars, we’ll estimate your odds of acceptance at different schools and give you tips on improving your profile.