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If you’re planning on going to college, have many different interests and love learning for the sake of learning, you may be wondering about liberal arts program prerequisites. Thankfully, unlike some more technical majors, liberal arts programs usually only have a few prerequisites, and they’re all reasonable and attainable for the average student.
Humanities
Because you’ll probably spend a good portion of your time as a liberal arts student studying the humanities, it makes sense that you need to have at least a basic understanding of certain subjects. Most liberal arts program prerequisites include:
- four years of English
- two or three years of social studies
- two years of the same foreign language
All of these courses are to be taken during your high school years. It’s better to get at least a “C” in all of your classes, but many liberal arts programs will accept you as long as you’ve passed. Social studies courses include history, government and world cultures, and non-traditional language classes such as American Sign Language can count towards your prerequisites. Just don’t take a foreign language class if you already know the language – colleges tend to look down on that.
Math and science
Because liberal arts students learn about such a variety of subjects, you’ll also have to have some high school math and science credits under your belt. Liberal arts program prerequisites usually include at least three years of mathematics and two years of science. Some liberal arts programs may require more than this, however. For instance, no matter how many math credits you have, you may have to take a math class during your senior year of high school. Likewise, two science courses may not be enough – some programs prefer students to take at least three. While taking more classes than necessary is always a good thing, you should at least take algebra I, geometry and algebra II for math courses. Biology is an important science course that you should take, and chemistry and physics are also recommended.
Electives
This is one of the easiest liberal arts program prerequisites to meet. Since liberal arts majors have a lot of freedom in the types of courses that they take, it’s good to get a feel for what you like while you’re still in high school. Many liberal arts programs have a requirement of four elective credits, meaning that you should take an elective each semester. Don’t feel pressured to take certain courses – electives are meant to be fun for students. Even if the program that you’re applying to doesn’t list electives as a prerequisite, taking a few classes for enjoyment is always worthwhile. Options may include:
- cooking
- music
- drama
- woodworking
- technology
By choosing to major in liberal arts, you won’t have to worry much about taking a prescribed set of courses starting in ninth or tenth grade. While many majors have quite stringent requirements that potential students must meet, liberal arts program prerequisites are usually fairly basic and easy to fulfill.
