Quick Facts About the Liberal Arts Education

Benefits of a Liberal Arts education:

Click here to learn more about what a Liberal Arts Education is and why it is a great preparation for life and career. Two key components are:
• A liberal arts education is designed to prepare you for a long, varied life in the world and workplace. This is increasingly important in our rapidly changing world.
• It fosters flexible, complex thinking; problem solving; moral consideration; skepticism of faulty arguments; and tolerance for new and complicated ideas.

Hope's Excellence in the Liberal Arts:

• Hope is among the small number (7%) of all colleges and universities in the U.S. to be recognized by Phi Beta Kappa. This distinction is given based on programs of excellence in each area offered. Attending a Phi Beta Kappa college ensures students that they will receive a strong education in whatever field they choose - something that is particularly comforting to those who are undecided about their career paths.
• The U.S. News and World Report recognizes Hope as a “National Liberal Arts College”.
• Hope College centers its foundation for the liberal arts in its core “general education curriculum,” a series of courses that expose students to the sciences, mathematics, social sciences, humanities, and arts.
• All students are provided an “advisor”, a professor who helps select classes and discuss academic plans.
• Hope’s First-Year Seminar provides an introduction to college academic life and develops skills needed to succeed in that environment. The professor is also the first year advisor for students in his/her class, providing many opportunities to be available and to get to know students individually.
• Hope encourages opportunities to develop “real world” experience by offering a variety of local, domestic, and international internships and faculty-student research experiences.
• Hope’s Career Services Office offers counseling and guidance throughout the college experience - from what to major in, to resume writing, to interviewing skills.