As far as life skills go, one of the most valuable courses I had was a senior philosophy class. Of the 14 students in the class, 12 were philosophy or theology majors studying to be priests.
Our weekly routine was class on Tuesdays and Thursdays. At the end of Tuesday's class, our assignment for Thursday was "read this book", such as Wittgenstein, and prepare a two page, typewritten book report. It will be read in class, and be critiqued by your fellow students.
I was surprised by the A I received on my first paper, because I said the exact opposite of everyone else. The professor, one of the few Jesuits I had as professors, laughed and obliterated the veneer of "philosophy": he said, "with philosophy, it's not what you say, but how you say it. Philosophy is nothing but a bunch of BS."
I busted my tail in that class, spending 3-4 hours outside of class for every hour in class. I'm as proud of the B I earned, as any A I earned in other classes.
Like you, I was a product of a Jesuit University. They insisted on a core of liberal arts courses. It was designed to make you familiar with the major trends of western civilization but being able to think and argue was an inherent part of the work - and it was always contrasted or integrated with Christian thought. Indeed, all western philosophy came and evolved from Christian beliefs as the foundation.
It may sound odd, I could only put philosophy in context, and study it more deeply, once I studied statistics. ie) what do we know, and what do we only think we know? In my world, I would make statistics a firm requirement for any philosophy degree!