Liberal Arts & Sciences
What experts say
Not only do liberal arts and sciences majors earn more throughout their career lifespan than graduates from many other disciplines (DePauw graduates earn in the Top 7% of universities for lifetime earnings of its graduates), arts and sciences graduates report feeling more satisfied with their jobs and their lives. At DePauw, our Gold Within education develops leaders the world needs. Why? Because the best leaders benefit from being able to write, think, communicate and collaborate — all outcomes of studying humanities and sciences. Check out what some leading national influencers and our own Tigers have said about the subject …
Steve Jobs - Apple CEO, Founder
“...Technology alone is not enough—it's technology married with liberal arts, married with the humanities, that yields us the results that make our heart sing.”
“In an age when parts or all of many jobs are constantly going to be exposed to digitization, automation, and outsourcing…it is not only what you know but how you learn that will set you apart. Because what you know today will be out-of-date sooner than you think.”
Thomas Friedman
“The World Is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty-First Century”
Inc. magazine
A recent analysis by LinkedIn economist Guy Berger shows that, over time, those with more broadly focused liberal arts degrees handle today's fast-changing job market better than those with narrowly focused pre-professional degrees.
Georgetown University Center on Education and Workforce
A recent study found that, over the course of a career, the median ROI of liberal arts colleges is nearly $200,000 higher than the median for all colleges and is close to that of four-year engineering and technology schools and four year business and management schools.
Futurist Bernard Marr
The 10 most important job skills that “every company will be looking for”: data literacy; critical thinking; tech savviness; adaptability and flexibility; creativity; emotional intelligence; cultural intelligence and diversity; leadership skills; judgment and complex decision-making; and collaboration.
- Forbes Magazine
World Economic Forum
Critical thinking is a top requirement of employers. Too often, prospective employees lacked … problem-solving, critical thinking, innovation and creativity; ability to deal with complexity and ambiguity; and communication.
Ravi Kumar, president of Infosys
“The liberal arts degree is alive and well – and critically important to the future of tech” because tech companies need employees with “holistic skills that are truly the key components for success in the modern economy. By investing in liberal arts graduates, we gain people with human-centered skills who can approach problems in entirely new ways, contributing to out-of-the-box thinking in a digital age.”
Economist Nathan Grawe
“Those prepared with a liberal arts education match or better their professionally trained peers in employment rates and earnings.”
Jon Fortt '98 - CNBC Anchor
“A Liberal Arts education at DePauw taught me to adapt quickly, analyze thoughtfully and engage broadly with my peers.”
Reid Hoffman - founder of PayPal and LinkedIn (philosophy major)
“Liberal arts graduates are generalists. They adapt quickly to fluid environments. Since a liberal arts education is not vocationally oriented, the individual is cross-functional and can work in various different scenarios, whether in project management, human resources, corporate communications, marketing, data analysis, research, design or technical writing with remarkable and interchangeable facility. Critical thinking and creativity are liberal arts skills. As a result, they have permanent shelf life. There is no end date to it. The technology is never going to be outdated.”
Notable Alumni
A few of the successful DePauw graduates we're proud to call Tigers. Our 35,000-strong alumni network spreads far and wide, shaping industry and transforming communities wherever they go. And they begin making their mark just as soon as they leave DePauw.
