Liberal Arts in Social Sciences and What It’s Made of

Liberal Arts in Social Sciences is a three-year Bachelor degree offered at Tallinn University in English. When a prospective student goes to the university website and looks up the program, they will find that it offers a wide range of courses in various social sciences, such as sociology, international law, international relations, and social entrepreneurship. Moreover, the program is advertised as a perfect fit for those who are still searching for the perfect field in social sciences to capture their attention.

Personally, I like to think of Liberal Arts in Social Sciences as sort of a salad. Each new class is an ingredient that compliments the degree, a perfectly-fitting puzzle-piece the lack of which would leave the entire picture incomplete. Throughout my time as a student in this program, I have taken a wide array of social sciences classes advertised to me during the application process. My ultimate favorites, though, entail the kind of feedback that is not easily found on a university website.

I had taken Public Relations in my second year. To my utmost relief, apart from the necessary reading analysis (which, I’m afraid, is a staple in any of LA in Social Sciences classes), I got to do tasks with a more creative lean, such as writing a fair treatment and equal opportunities policy for an imaginary company, coming up with a base for a PR campaign, and having a good laugh at brands that made terrible PR mistakes in the past.

During Estonian Society classes - another second-year course - my classmates and I were watching The Singing Revolution, creating our own political parties, and coming up with our own language policies. Meanwhile, Introduction to Anthropology in my first year was easily the most fascinating class I had ever taken - the class itself was an interesting mix of academic and creative writing that couldn’t be found anywhere else in the program. Similarly, Intercultural Communication stood out among other classes in my second year. My final portfolio consisted of answers to questionnaires, self-reflections on culture shock, and, surprisingly enough, graffiti analysis.

The infamous LIFE-project, albeit compulsory for the program and as a result highly selective, was one of my best experiences as a student at Tallinn University. While I had a lot of options to choose from, I applied for a project heavily focused on social media, psychology, and sociology, in particular on the potential of social media for building meaningful connections. I got to become a leader of my group, analyze research in a non-academic setting, and develop a prototype for a brand-new social media app.

Thus, Liberal Arts in Social Sciences is, in fact, a perfect fit for students who need
practical learning experience to figure out their future field of expertise. After graduation from high school and during my first year as a university student, I was unsure about the future, and committing to a more specialized program felt utterly limiting. Studying Liberal Arts in Social Sciences gave me both the time and the experience necessary to find the field of social sciences that feels like mine.