1. You'll learn skills that your major might not teach you

Interpersonal skills, competent communication, teamwork and creativity — these are all skills that employers are searching for, and ones you might not develop as easily in a chemistry lecture or accounting class.

2. Burnout becomes less likely

Burnout is a term often associated with the workplace but it can occur just as easily in the classroom. Burnout occurs when long hours, lack of support, and lack of satisfaction accumulate and create feelings of depression and lethargy. If you're taking a full-time course load of nothing but your area of study you may be more apt to burn out as stress from those classes mixes with lack of stimulation.

Taking a humanities class can help break that repetition, and you might even find out you like the class!

3. It can help you find your path

If you're like me you sort of blindly picked a major when beginning college, not knowing if it was something you would excel at or even enjoy. While I did stick with my broad major, the core classes I had to take helped me to decide on a concentration and my second major.

Taking general classes early on is especially helpful when you begin college undecided on a major and can save you a lot of time and stress before you end up three years into a major that you hate.

4. Core classes help you in your major classes

Classes outside my major have helped me with my writing, time management, study habits, and my base knowledge for many subjects. This has helped with dozens of papers and assignments and has boosted my performance in college. Skills from the humanities courses I've taken have been more useful in my major classes than anything I learned in high school.

5. You'll have more chances to get involved on campus and in the community

I took a drawing class for my studio art requirement and part of our grade was submitting to the student art show — I ended up selling the piece I submitted for an easy hundred dollars! When I took History of Rock and Roll we were required to go to a handful of concerts around town and write reviews so I was able to see more of the local talent and get credit for it.

Core classes open up doors to community events, lectures, and activities that just don't come up in other classes.

6. You'll meet people you might not have otherwise

I attend a small college of fewer than 1,000 undergrads, so while you pretty much know everyone you especially get to know the people in your major. When you take core classes, though, you have the opportunity to interact with different peers and faculty.

Building relationships is a huge skill in the "real world", and engaging with this in core classes is a great way to expand your network.

7. You'll (hopefully) become a well-rounded person

You know those people that only talk about one thing all the time? Do you get tired of that pretty quickly? Yeah, me too. This is what a liberal arts education aims to prevent — the goal is to expand your base knowledge so that you aren't arriving at an office party with no conversation topics except the latest accounting laws in your pocket.