1. Create Account
  2. Login
StudyUSA
Match Me
  • Create Account
  • Login
  • School Search
  • Resources
    • All Resources
    • Articles
    • Student Voices
    • Videos
    • Magazines
  • Services
    • All Services
    • Accommodation
    • Support
    • Career
    • Financial
    • Testing
    • Other
  • Apply
  • Chat

STEM and Liberal Arts? More Intertwined Than You’d Think.

STEM and Liberal Arts? More Intertwined Than You’d Think.

November 22nd, 2021

From my own experience I can tell you that one of the questions that people with liberal arts degrees get asked the most is probably, “What will you do with your degree?” 

This doesn’t come from a bad place; we are in a tech-driven economy. According to Forbes and Glassdoor, computer science is the highest paying major five years out of college, along with electrical, mechanical, and chemical engineering. 

However, this doesn’t mean that it’s as simple as “tech is the future and liberal arts are not.” Trying to think of both as completely unrelated may support the dangerous belief that technology can be separated from its human context.

Harvard Business Review challenges this dichotomy as well by talking about Cents and Sensibility: What Economics Can Learn from the Humanities, a book by Northwestern University professors Gary Saul Morson and Morton Schapiro. HBRexplains that in this book, “They argue that when economic models fall short, they do so for want of human understanding . . . People don’t exist in a vacuum, and treating them as if they do is both reductive and potentially harmful.”

 This is where the liberal arts education can come in. But first, what does it entail?

According to TopUniversities.com, a liberal arts degree program would include classes in the following areas:

  • Humanities, such as art, literature, theatre, and ethics.
  • Social Sciences, such as philosophy, psychology, sociology, and gender studies. 
  • Natural Sciences, such as biology, chemistry, and physics. 
  • Formal Sciences, such as math, logic, and statistics. 

But more than just the curriculum, a liberal arts education would prioritize a relationship between students and faculty with small class sizes, as well as qualities that would help personal growth such as ethical decision making, critical thinking, and better oral and written communication skills. In the long run, these are all skills that will benefit students when they enter the workplace, so why shouldn’t fields such as computer science intertwine with liberal arts?

Dalena Le, a recent graduate from Seattle University exemplifies this way of thinking. “I thought it was good for me to get a STEM degree from a liberal arts college,” she says. “Outside of my programming classes, I was required to take university core classes. They’re basically samplings of other disciplines: literature, social science, religion, ethics, philosophy. I was pretty well rounded by the time I graduated and what thrilled me most and scared me most was that the questions I was asked about myself, and the aspects of human nature and society I had to analyze in those classes ultimately came back to me in my computer science classes.”  

Befittingly, the American Association of Colleges and Universities conducted a survey that found that, regarding liberal education outcomes, 81% of employers wanted more emphasis on critical thinking and analytic reasoning, and 89% wanted more emphasis on written and oral communications. Regardless of the major, these “soft skills” are what is gradually becoming more appealing for employers.   

When asked about one of the biggest lessons she learned during her time as a student, Dalena mentions a class she took with a researcher from Microsoft:

“I remember her telling us once, with great emphasis: ‘The old school thought of engineering is: you come up with a brilliant product, you bang it out and make millions of dollars. Yeah, that doesn’t work anymore. It’s not enough. You must care about your customers. You are making these products for people. You guys as the new generation of engineers are going to come into those companies and you’re going to meet engineers like that, and they’re going to tell you that’s how things should be done and they’re WRONG.’ In other words, I may have somewhat dodged writing boatloads of essays and reading hundreds of pages between classes, but I wouldn’t be avoiding the human component of my work. . . I, as an engineer, will inevitably be faced with the task of creating a product that both satisfies my employers and my clientele, I must follow specifications but I must also think about the person who is going to be using my product and that requires far more than pushing keys. Luckily enough, my liberal arts education has equipped me with those sensibilities.”

A 2018 report titled “Robot-Ready” by Strada Institute for the Future of Work and Emsi delves deeper into the topic. One of its key insights, similarly to what Dalena expressed, was that human skills, such as leadership, communications, and problem solving are applied differently across different fields. This report believes that it’s not about choosing between STEM or liberal arts; it’s both. These researchers specifically, believe that the most valuable workers are those who are able to combine these different sets of skills.

STEM and liberal arts may seem like two drastically different fields of study, but as you can see, they can be far more intertwined than you would have thought. And, even if you choose not to combine your liberal arts degree with a technical one, the perception that a liberal arts degree will leave you jobless is simply wrong. The skills learned through a liberal arts education are transferrable to various fields. This degree could be well suited for technology, marketing, even business operations.  

Howard Schultz, the CEO of Starbucks got a B.S. in Communications from Northern Michigan University. Andrea Jung, Former Avon CEO studied English Literature at Princeton University. Michael Eisner, Former Walt Disney Company CEO studied English Literature and Theatre at Denison University. Susan Wojcicki, YouTube’s CEO got her B.A. in History and Literature at Harvard. If you really think about it, what you study is not going to define what you do for the rest of your life, so really it’s about what you have learn and how you decide to use it. 

Follow us:
Written by

Wendy Tafur

Get matched to the best program for you

Let us know what you're looking for so we can find the best school for you.

Get matched
Call to action background image. Decorative.

Useful Articles

Main image for the article titled HOW DO I GET AN EDUCATION & TRAINING DEGREE IN THE USA?
HOW DO I GET AN EDUCATION & TRAINING DEGREE IN THE USA?
Main image for the article titled HOW DO I GET A LAW DEGREE IN THE USA?
HOW DO I GET A LAW DEGREE IN THE USA?
Main image for the article titled READ STUDY IN THE USA'S NEW VIETNAMESE MAGAZINE
READ STUDY IN THE USA'S NEW VIETNAMESE MAGAZINE
Main image for the article titled READ STUDY IN THE USA'S NEW PORTUGUESE MAGAZINE
READ STUDY IN THE USA'S NEW PORTUGUESE MAGAZINE

Check Out These Schools

The University of Tulsa

The University of Tulsa

$50,000—$60,000 Year

Masters English Programs Bachelor Degree
Contact
Bellevue College International Education

Bellevue College

$10,000 — $15,000 Year

2yr/Community College - 2+2 Programs Bachelor Degree Summer
Contact
Berkeley Global

Berkeley Global

$15,000—$20,000 Semester

Secondary/Boarding English Programs 2yr/Community College - 2+2 Programs
Contact

Related Stories

What is a GPA?

Main image for the article titled What is a GPA?
What is a Community College in the USA?

Main image for the article titled What is a Community College in the USA?
What is a Standardized Test?

Main image for the article titled What is a Standardized Test?
What is a High School Completion Program?

Main image for the article titled What is a High School Completion Program?

Start your U.S. adventure with Study in the USA

What's your dream? We can guide, advise, and connect you with your perfect U.S. school. We can also help you with the application process.
More about us
Partner Services

Learn About U.S. education financing, housing, and more

Partner service logo for A cheaper, faster way to send money abroad

A cheaper, faster way to send money abroad

Join over 6 million people and businesses who get a better deal when they send money with the real exchange rate.

Read more
Partner service logo for There’s a business school for everyone. Meet yours at a free upcoming event!

There’s a business school for everyone. Meet yours at a free upcoming...

Ready to make your MBA dreams a reality? Register now for a virtual or in-person event with The MBA Tour! Don’t miss your chance to speak directly with leading business schools, such as Harvard University, Boston University, Columbia University, UC...

Read more
Partner service logo for campusSIMS

campusSIMS

campusSIMS helps students get connected with mobile phone service in the US. Get a US phone number while in your home country so you have service that’s ready as soon as you land. Plans start as low as $15/month.

Read more

Testimonials

Quotation mark.

Study in the USA provides me with information about new colleges. My plan is to transfer, so it gives me more options for choosing my next college.

Zepei Zang China

StudyUSA.com always checked up on me to ensure that I was taking the right step. They gave me reasons to study in the USA and helped me out with some questions I couldn’t answer on my own.

Stephanie Cole Nigeria

I used StudyUSA.com to find the various Universities that I choose to apply for Fall 2018. It was quite helpful cause of the easy to use interface and it had all the relevant pieces of information about every Universities/ Institutes.

Harsa Mitra India

Resources

Learn about American culture and education direct from our experts at Study in the USA. Read more

Achieving Your Goal
Admissions and Placement Testing
Beyond the Basics
Education System in the USA
Financing Your U.S. Education
Frequently Asked Questions
Life in the USA
Resources
Student Experiences
For students age 10-18
Study in Canada
Podcasts
Magazines
Videos
Student Voices

Subscribe to get the latest from Study in the USA

You can unsubscribe at any time.


StudyUSA
Explore

  • School Search
  • Resources
  •   Articles
  •   Student Voices
  •   Videos
  •   Magazines
  • Partner Services
  •   Accommodation
  •   Career
  •   Financial
  •   Other
  •   Support
  •   Testing
  • Apply
  • Chat
Information

  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Course Index
  • Article Index
  • Create account
  • Sign in
  • For Educators & Institutions
Match Me
  • English
    العربيـة English Español Français Bahasa Indonesia 日本語 한국어 Português Русский ภาษาไทย Türkçe Tiếng Việt 简体中文 繁體中文

  • Privacy & Policy
  • /
  • Terms

Study in the USA logo

© 2022 Study in the USA. All Rights Reserved.

Global Study logo
A member of the Global Study network

When you visit or interact with our sites, services or tools, we or our authorised service providers may use cookies for storing information to help provide you with a better, faster and safer experience and for marketing purposes.