Program Overview
The Associate of Arts in Liberal Arts (A.A. Liberal Arts) is designed to prepare students to transfer to a four-year institution and pursue a Bachelor of Arts degree in an area of the arts and humanities. Because of the flexible curriculum, this program is also a good choice for students who have not yet decided on a post-transfer major and are exploring options.
Pathways in Liberal Arts
The program requirements for the A.A. Liberal Arts are very flexible and include a long list of elective choices. This degree has to work for many different possible majors after transfer, and the best choices for a student who wants to major in Fine Arts after transfer look very different from the choices for a student who wants to major in English. A pathway through a degree provides a recommended set of choices that are more specific for setting up for a major after transfer.
This program supports the Transfer Virginia common curricula in English, History, and Visual Arts. We have created pathways guides for these post-transfer majors. These guides give recommendations for elective choices and course sequencing. Download a guide and use it with the transfer resources below to develop a plan to complete your degree!
English Pathways Guide
Visual Arts Pathways Guide (Coming Soon!)
The transfer majors listed above aren’t the only ones that might fall under A.A. Liberal Arts. Philosophy, Religion, Communication Studies, and Political Science may also fit well under this degree. Students should carefully consider the requirements of their intended four-year institution and work with an advisor to determine if the A.A. Liberal Arts provides the most appropriate plan of study for their transfer goals.
Setting up for Success
Even within the major-specific pathways guides, you’ll still see spots to make choices, because the exact recommendations depend on not only what you want to major in, but where you want to transfer to. It helps to decide early on what your first choice four-year institution is for transfer, but it’s fine to still be considering options. Here are some steps you can take to help make the transfer process go smoothly:
- Look in the Transfer VA Resource Center to see if there is a guide that is an exact match for what you want to major in at your preferred transfer school.
- If there is no Transfer VA guide available, there may be information on that school’s website. Start from our Academic Advising transfer guides page to see a list of links to the transfer information we’ve pulled together for each four-year institution in Virginia. Here is the link to our main transfer advising support page.
- Some four-year institutions will have a world language requirement, especially if you are looking at a Bachelor of Arts program. Look for that on the transfer guide – you might be able to complete the language requirement at BRCC. If there is a world language requirement and you’ve already studied a language in high school, you may be able to start at the 200 level – check with an advisor.
- Our advisors can help you pull all the information together and work out a semester-by-semester plan using the pathways worksheets. They can also help you out if you want to major in something there’s no pre-existing pathway for, and can look over the requirements and help you make a custom plan.
Not sure what you want to major in?
If you know you want to transfer, but you’re undecided about what you want to major in, the A.A. Liberal Arts is the best program to start in. In addition to all the general education coursework, this electives list for this degree includes introductory courses from many major areas, including business, computer science, education, and engineering. The plan below offers guidance for the first year of an “undecided” or exploratory pathway.
Exploratory Pathways Guide (Coming Soon!)