Are you uncertain of your future career path and how to link it to an academic program? Do you want to explore what your passions are? Come to NCC and enroll in our Exploratory Liberal Arts Program. Our Associates in Liberal Arts degree is designed to be your first step to a bachelors’ degree, with partnerships throughout New Hampshire. Liberal Arts at NCC is an affordable and transferrable degree that provides you with the opportunity to focus on building an academic and career pathway that makes sense for you!
Why Study at NCC?
Not all students are certain of their future career path as they enter college. Nashua Community College’s Exploratory Liberal Arts Program invites students like you to take advantage of this unique degree option.
Exploratory Liberal Arts provides tools and resources necessary for selecting a college major in preparation for transfer to a four-year college with an identified career pathway based on your interests and aptitudes. Or you may decide to complete one of NCC’s certificate program options in about the same time frame.
Credits earned in this program transfer to many colleges and universities including Granite State College, Keene State College, Plymouth State University, University of New Hampshire, Rivier University, Southern New Hampshire University, and University of Massachusetts-Lowell.
Career Options
- Select an Academic Focus Area (AFA) and explore the many career options that may be available to you through completing either an Associate Degree or a Certification Program.
- Transfer to any four-year institution for completion of a Bachelors Degree
Related Programs
- General Studies
- Programs associated with Degree and Certification AFAs
Internships and Service Learning
In the past year, NCC has begun developing additional internship and apprentice programs for our students as well as service-learning opportunities with area businesses and non-profit organizations. Exploratory Liberal Arts staff are participating in this development.
Course Sequencing
First Year – Fall Semester
First Year – Spring Semester
Second Year – Fall Semester
Second Year – Spring Semester
The Exploratory Liberal Arts Program is a transfer program that seeks to help students determine:
- an academic focus area (AFA) in either liberal arts or in another academic focus area leading to a degree or a certificate offered by NCC; or
- a career path which leads them to transfer to another 2-year degree or certificate program outside NCC; or
- a transfer to a four-year college via existing articulation agreements (such as the 2+2 transfer to a New Hampshire state college) or other student application and transfer process.
Program Outcomes
Graduates with an A.A. in Liberal Arts from NCC will have completed the course requirements to transfer to four-year institutions. The Program is aligned with NCC’s General Education outcomes that focus on preparing students to:
- Communicate effectively and fluently; read with comprehension; listen, speak, and write competently.
- Develop skills in reflection, analysis, logical reasoning, and evaluation to formulate judgments, reach conclusions, and solve problems.
- Evaluate and utilize quantitative and qualitative data and apply mathematical and scientific principles and methods.
- Utilize technology to locate, evaluate, organize, and utilize information accurately and responsibly.
- Acquire knowledge and skills to function effectively as informed and responsible citizens.
- Acquire knowledge and skills that will enable respect for diversity as well as an awareness of global interdependency.
- A minimum of 60 credits must be earned in the required categories to complete the program of studies.
- A minimum of 15 credits must be earned at NCC, and 8 of those 15 credits must be earned in courses at the 200 level.
The exploratory Liberal Arts program at NCC provides guidance toward discovering college majors and career opportunities.
This is how it works:
- During the Application Process, you will be assisted by Admissions staff in taking the free on-line Career Coach survey to narrow down your interests and goals.
- Most students then feel confident enough to choose an Academic Focus Area that best matches their identified interests and aptitudes.
- All Liberal Arts students enter Semester 1 of Exploratory Liberal Arts and are registered for ANTH105, Ethnography of Work, which enables them to continue to identify and define their career interests, major concentration, and academic transfer pathway.
- Some students continue this search in Semester 2 of their first year, depending upon the requirements of their AFA, their desire to keep looking at career paths, and their interest in continuing their exploration of specific 4-year majors and career options.
- Students in Exploratory Liberal Arts can complete the A.A. Degree in Liberal Arts in four full-time semesters – no additional time is required for graduation.
- Exploratory Liberal Arts guides students in researching careers; selecting extra-curricular events and activities and on-campus training opportunities; building interviewing skills and portfolios; and participating in available service learning, volunteering, and job shadowing opportunities.
From the Professor:
“The Liberal Arts foster the development of a broad range of knowledge and skills for the 21st century workplace, such as clear communication, critical thinking, and the ability to collaborate. Our program helps students identify potential career paths and develop the ability to research the educational and training programs that will lead them there.” —Virginia G (Gini) Egan
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Student Testimonial
Nashua Community College has provided me with a multitude of resources, experiences, and skills that will all benefit me in the future. Even simple tasks such as making sure I have gas in my car to attend my classes, scheduling shifts that work around my class times, and meeting deadlines for assignments have given me a sense of adulthood that I would not have found if I was not attending a community college.” — [Exploratory Liberal Arts student with an AFA in Social, Educational and Behavioral Sciences, who will transfer to a four-year college after completion of an associate’s degree at NCC.]
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Social, Educational and Behavioral ScienceIn its 2018 report on Liberal Education and the Future of Work, the Association of American Colleges and Universities reported that:
. . . employers place a great deal of value on many of the “soft skills” that a liberal education provides. The key findings from the report indicate that at least 75% of hiring managers value oral communication, teamwork skills, critical thinking and reasoning skills, information literacy, written communication, and complex problem-solving skills. These are skills that are provided by a liberal arts education.”
