Kent State Prof Weighs in on Liberal Arts Degrees and a Future Career as CEO

Ask some of the most successful CEOs about their undergraduate degrees, and you might get an unexpected answer. While most would expect to come from business backgrounds, many actually have bachelor degrees in communications, Spanish, or even theatre.

GoodCall, an online publication specializing in consumer information, talked with professors around the country about the use of liberal arts degrees and the skills that students use as a springboard to the next step in their education and career path.

David W. Odell-Scott, Ph.D., associate dean in Kent State University’s College of Arts and Sciences tells GoodCall how students with a liberal arts undergraduate degree do well on standardized tests to get into graduate school.

“In fact, access to good graduate professional schools is determined by performance on the entrance exams, not by one’s undergraduate major – no graduate professional school requires a specific undergraduate major for admission.” However, Odell-Scott says liberal arts majors tend to do well on these standardized tests. “In almost every instance, whether it is the LSAT, GMAT, or GRE, majors in philosophy who take the exams consistently score in the top ranks, along with majors in economics, mathematics, and physics, to name a few.”

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POSTED: Wednesday, April 5, 2017 11:44 AM
Updated: Thursday, December 8, 2022 09:29 PM
WRITTEN BY:
Kristin Anderson