A master's in liberal or general studies is graduate school for people who won't narrow down. Where most master's degrees train you in one discipline, this one is built across several, and its students arrive from every major and most careers. The master's programs below are ranked on one figure, the degrees each program awarded in the latest year, because that's the only figure on federal record that belongs to a graduate program rather than to the university around it.
Source: IPEDS, as of September 2026.
master's programs in liberal studies, general studies and the humanities nationwide
142
general studies and liberal studies programs awarded 5 or more master's degrees in the latest year
73
master's degrees a year at the median ranked program
13
This ranking of master's programs covers liberal studies, general studies and humanities degrees together, because at graduate level they are one field under several names.
The 25 Best Master's Programs in Liberal and General Studies, Ranked
The 25 best master's programs in liberal and general studies are the largest programs in the field, because degrees awarded in the latest year is the one figure on federal record that belongs to a master's program, as the methodology page sets out.
1
University of Chicago
Master of Arts Program in the Humanities (MAPH)
Illinois
99.3- Private nonprofit
- Humanities/Humanistic Studies
- Degrees awarded, latest year
- 104
About the Program
Everyone starts together. In the fall quarter all MAPH students take Foundations of Interpretive Theory as a cohort, and the course begins two weeks before regular University of Chicago classes, so you need to arrive earlier than the university calendar suggests. After that one required course the degree is yours to shape, with seven or eight electives, and many students place all of those electives in a specific academic department.
Whether to write a thesis is your decision. You either complete a thesis under a faculty member's supervision, with guidance from your assigned MAPH Professor, or you take an additional advanced seminar course in its place. A thesis doesn't have to be a conventional paper, because you can produce a non-traditional thesis as long as a critical piece of writing accompanies it, which opens the thesis to work that isn't a standard academic essay.
Part-time study is a real route through the Master of Arts Program in the Humanities, since students have completed the program over 18 months, two years, and one course at a time over three years. Named options change what you apply with. The Two-Year Language Option needs a supplemental document, and the Creative Writing Specialization needs an additional creative writing sample, so decide on either before you submit your application.
MAPH does not require or accept GRE results and asks for an academic writing sample of 10-15 pages. The application fee is $90 and non-refundable. Your cohort arrives with varying academic and professional interests, and it's the group you'll share the fall course with. If you're already in The College at Chicago, you may be eligible for a combined BA and Master of Arts in the Humanities.
2
Middle Tennessee State University
Master of Professional Studies (M.P.S.)
Tennessee
97.9- Public
- General Studies
- Degrees awarded, latest year
- 80
About the Program
You shape the Master of Professional Studies through one of five concentrations: Human Resources Leadership, Leadership in Nutrition, Operations Research, Strategic Leadership, or Training and Development. Around that sits 12 credit hours of core requirements, which begins with a course on organizational transformation. The degree is 30 credit hours and fully online, so your concentration and a final professional project make up what the core leaves.
Your final semester belongs to a professional project, and it must be taken in that semester, so you can't get it out of the way early. What you can do is start planning it when you enter, which is what the college tells you to do. You develop the project with the program director, usually around a topic related to your professional work.
Admission doesn't require the GRE, but your GPA decides how you apply. At least a 3.0 gets you unconditional admission. Below 3.0, you submit a portfolio of works that includes a resume and an essay to be considered, so a weaker transcript means a longer application, not a closed door. If you're an eligible MTSU senior, Lightning Track is an invitation-only pathway into the degree.
Prior learning assessment and transfer credit share one ceiling, which is no more than 6 hours of the two combined. In a degree of 30 credit hours, that means you'll earn the bulk of it in MTSU courses, whatever you bring with you. On where the degree goes, employers of Training and Development concentration graduates include Deloitte and the City of Franklin.
3
Stony Brook University
Master of Arts in Liberal Studies
New York
96.6- Public
- Liberal Arts and Sciences/Liberal Studies
- Degrees awarded, latest year
- 50
About the Program
Your coursework is spread across three areas, 11 three-credit courses in all. The Liberal Studies Core takes up professional communication, thinking, global and cultural awareness, and action and leadership, along with a STEAM elective. Every course in that core has to be taken within the Master of Arts in Liberal Studies, because no transfer credits are permitted for the core, so graduate credits you bring with you can't shorten that part of the degree.
Designing the concentration is left largely to you. You can draw on courses offered through the School of Professional Development, or fill the concentration with courses from an Advanced Graduate Certificate program, which takes a separate application. Delivery is your call too, because you can take all of your courses online or combine online with face-to-face courses. The degree is valid toward meeting the requirements for a professional license (certification), with certain provisions.
Research closes the degree. In the 3-credit Capstone Seminar you conduct and present graduate-level research, but you can't take it until you've completed 24 graduate credits within the program, so the seminar comes late in your studies. Passing the seminar isn't enough by itself, because you must earn a minimum of a B in the course for it to fulfill the degree requirement.
Admission asks for a conferred bachelor's degree with a minimum 3.0 cumulative GPA, and the application carries a nonrefundable $100 fee. A clock runs on the degree, because all degree requirements must be completed within five years. That window matters if you plan to take courses slowly around work, so map the 11 courses against it before you start.
4
New York University
M.A. in Interdisciplinary Studies
New York
95.2- Private nonprofit
- Humanities/Humanistic Studies
- Degrees awarded, latest year
- 49
About the Program
At least 16 of the 32 credits in the M.A. in Interdisciplinary Studies come from XE courses, which leaves room to study elsewhere in the university. You're encouraged to take electives in any department or school at NYU, but each one needs approval from the course instructor. Courses are normally 4 credits, so each one is a real part of the 32, and you work closely with a faculty advisor to organize the balance.
XE courses range across social and environmental justice, media studies, literary theory, art and activism, gender and sexuality studies, creative writing, cultural anthropology and international human rights, so the home program itself crosses fields. If you want a named specialty beside the degree, the M.A. can be paired with a certificate program in Experimental Writing or in Public Humanities.
Tuition is cut for everyone in the program. All continuing and incoming XE students receive the Draper Scholarship, which covers 40% of tuition, so you don't have to compete for it. Fall applicants have an April 1 priority deadline and a May 1 final deadline, and spring applicants have a November 1 deadline.
Don't send GRE test results, because they will not be reviewed by the admissions committee. Your writing sample must be double-spaced and can't exceed 20 pages, including all images, notes and bibliography. You aren't expected to have defined a specific master's project topic when you apply, but you should indicate your main areas of scholarly or creative interest, so arrive with directions in mind.
5
University of Dallas
Master of Arts in Humanities
Texas
93.8- Private nonprofit
- Humanities/Humanistic Studies
- Degrees awarded, latest year
- 42
About the Program
Great Works courses are a fixed part of this degree, because you must take three of the four. The Humanities courses include one on the thought and art of Greece and Rome from 800 B.C. to 400 A.D. All Humanities courses are online, Great Works included, which means the three Great Works courses you take can be taken online.
Thesis or non-thesis is the choice that shapes your 36 credit hours. On the thesis track you complete 30 credit hours of coursework at the 5000 level or above and the thesis counts for 6, which is why the non-thesis track asks for 36 credit hours of coursework instead. In-person students build the rest around one or two concentrations or periods of 15-18 credit hours, plus 6-9 of related courses, and a Classical Education Concentration serves current and aspiring teachers.
Before you begin the thesis you have to demonstrate a reading competency in a foreign language, so plan for that alongside your 36 credit hours. You'll also sit a written examination on three questions that professors write. And the clock is real: all requirements ordinarily must be met within six years of registration, leaves of absence excluded.
Admission doesn't hinge on what you studied before. You need a bachelor's degree, not necessarily in the humanities, plus permission of both the Director and the Dean of the Braniff Graduate School. Transfer is tight, though. Up to six credit hours of graduate work from other institutions may be accepted, which means nearly all of your 36 credit hours will be earned in this degree.
6
New York University
Master of Arts in Individualized Study (Gallatin School)
New York
91.8- Private nonprofit
- Fully Online Option
- Liberal Arts and Sciences/Liberal Studies
- Degrees awarded, latest year
- 41
About the Program
No curriculum is set in advance for the Master of Arts in Individualized Study, so you design your own path with a faculty adviser and the 40 credits take their shape from that plan. What holds it together is a 14-credit core of five Gallatin courses, which runs from the Proseminar through a Thesis Proposal Seminar to Master's Thesis I and II. The remaining 26 credits are electives, which means the larger share of the degree is yours to argue for.
Your work builds to the thesis, which can be research, artistic or project-based, and you defend it in a discussion with the three members of your Thesis Defense Committee. Your primary adviser chairs that committee and is its first reader, so the person who approved your Plan of Study each semester is also the person judging where it ended up. That adviser can come from Gallatin or from another part of NYU, so choose with the thesis in mind.
Electives can come from Gallatin or from courses across NYU, but some of those courses hold their seats for their own students, so check the limits before you plan around a class. The degree also caps the less conventional credit, at 12 units in individualized projects and 6 units of private lessons. And you need at least 14 units in classroom courses, which means you can't build the whole degree out of independent work.
Transfer credit stops at 12 credits of earlier graduate coursework, and those credits count if the courses weren't already used toward another degree. At least 28 units have to be earned at NYU while you're in the Gallatin School. You can't finish in fewer than three semesters, though the sample timeline for a full-time student runs two years.
7
Tennessee Technological University
Master of Professional Studies
Tennessee
91.8- Public
- Fully Online Option
- General Studies
- Degrees awarded, latest year
- 41
About the Program
Certificates are the building blocks of the Integrated Leadership concentration. In the Integrated Leadership concentration, 6 hours of required core courses sit beside two 12-hour certificate blocks, which together fill the 30 hours of interdisciplinary coursework. You earn a 12-hour graduate certificate along the way and can then continue to the MPS degree, so you hold something on paper before the master's itself is finished.
Every part of the MPS is offered online, and classes are 7 weeks long, so you work through the 30 hours of interdisciplinary coursework in short stretches. What you study depends on the concentration you choose, which can be Corporate Communication, Healthcare Administration, Human Resources Leadership, Media & Strategic Communication, Project Management, Public Safety, Strategic Leadership, TESOL or Training & Development.
Getting in doesn't hang on a test, because the GRE is not required. What you need is an undergraduate GPA of at least 2.5 on a 4.0 scale plus one further condition, and one option is 5 years of professional work experience shown through a portfolio. That portfolio includes a 500- to 600-word essay on why you want to enter the MPS program, and the admission decision includes an interview.
Provisional admission comes with a limit. To advance from provisional to full admission, you must earn a 3.0 GPA on nine semester hours of graduate study in your concentration. If you're an eligible Tennessee Tech undergraduate, the Fast-track option lets you take up to six hours of MPS courses that count toward both degrees. International applicants with an IBT TOEFL below 80 complete 6 extra hours of coursework on top of the degree hours.
8
Texas Christian University
Master of Liberal Arts
Texas
89.7- Private nonprofit
- Fully Online Option
- Liberal Arts and Sciences/Liberal Studies
- Degrees awarded, latest year
- 39
About the Program
Career training isn't what this degree is for, and the catalog says so, describing the Master of Liberal Arts as a multidisciplinary, non-career oriented program for students of diverse educational backgrounds. That shows in the courses, which include one titled Superheroes Across Global Contexts. You complete 30 hours of coursework and no thesis is required, so the degree is made of courses from start to finish.
Thirty hours is the requirement, but the hours have rules. Twelve of them must be in MLA courses designated Perspectives on Society, and nothing but MLA courses will fulfill the degree, which means graduate courses from another department won't fill the 30 hours. You can count up to nine hours taken pass/no-credit, and you can do travel/study as an independent study supervised by an MLA instructor. Graduation requires an average GPA of 2.75.
Every course can be taken online if you wish, so you can complete the entire MLA at a distance. Entry is in fall, spring or summer, and the listed duration is 1 to 2 years. You do have a clock, though. You're expected to finish all requirements within five years of the earliest credit you count toward the degree, and that includes transfer credit.
Admission requires a bachelor's degree from a regionally accredited college or university, and the application carries a $60 fee that's due when you submit it. Don't count on transfer credit to shorten the degree, because no more than six hours will be accepted and every request is subject to approval by the MLA Advisory Committee. So most of your 30 hours will be MLA courses taken here.
9
CUNY Graduate School and University Center
M.A. in Liberal Studies (MALS)
New York
88.4- Public
- Liberal Arts and Sciences/Liberal Studies
- Degrees awarded, latest year
- 38
About the Program
Choosing a concentration is the first decision in the M.A. in Liberal Studies, and there are 16 concentrations to choose from. They include Fashion Studies, Literary Translation, New York Studies, Urban Education, and the Archaeology of the Classical, Late Antique, and Islamic Worlds. If none of them covers your subject, the Individualized Studies concentration has you work closely with a MALS faculty member to create one, so a new area of study isn't ruled out.
Seminars are small, and you learn alongside master's and doctoral candidates, which means the room includes people further into graduate study than you are. The degree ends with a thesis or capstone project, and the form is open: a film, a digital portfolio, a website or a traditional paper. So if your concentration is Public Scholarship or Fashion Studies, the final work can take a form that suits the subject.
Alumni have taken more than one path. Some went on to doctoral degrees, including at Yale and UC Berkeley and at the Graduate Center itself, which matters if you're using the master's to test whether a doctorate is for you. Others have worked at Sesame Street Workshop, HarperCollins Publishers, the Rubin Museum and the New York City mayor's office. To start, application deadlines are March 1 for fall and November 1 for spring.
10
Dartmouth College
Master of Arts in Liberal Studies (MALS)
New Hampshire
85.6- Private nonprofit
- Liberal Arts and Sciences, General Studies and Humanities, Other
- Degrees awarded, latest year
- 36
About the Program
Creative Writing is a named concentration within the Master of Arts in Liberal Studies (MALS), and it changes what you can send with your application, because applicants to that concentration have the option to upload a creative writing sample. The sample is optional, so you decide if your own writing should speak for you alongside the personal statement. The degree you'd earn is an MA.
February 15 is the application deadline, and the GRE is not accepted. You need 3 recommendation letters, and up to 4 are accepted, which gives you room for a further voice. The personal statement is a brief essay of 1000 words max, so it favors a clear case over a long one.
Applying costs $150, which is the application fee. Financial assistance for this degree takes the form of a partial tuition scholarship, so plan on covering part of the cost yourself even if you receive it. To be considered, you indicate yes on your application and complete the CSS Profile, which means the request for assistance starts with the application itself.
11
Pacifica Graduate Institute
M.A. Depth Psychology and Creativity with Emphasis in the Arts and Humanities
California
85.6- Private for-profit
- Humanities/Humanistic Studies
- Degrees awarded, latest year
- 36
About the Program
Once a quarter you travel to campus for a 4-day residential weekend, and the remainder of the work happens online in D2L. The split is set per course: each 3-unit course has 30 contact hours, 55% in residence and 45% online. So this is a hybrid degree you can't finish from home, but the campus time is packed into one long weekend in each of the four quarters.
Making things is part of the work here. You complete two substantial personal creative projects plus smaller ones each quarter, and the two Project Workshops mark the turning points. At the end of the first year you work in dyads or small groups on a shared artistic product, which means your work depends on other people. At the end of the second, you build a project or portfolio that reflects what you've learned.
Applying takes a bachelor's or master's degree and a 3-5 page writing sample, which can be creative or academic. Once you're in, full-time means two classes per quarter, which the college says typically takes 8 to 10 hours per week, and you have to hold a 3.0 cumulative GPA across all 48 units. If you're using the Yellow Ribbon program, this M.A. qualifies for up to $5,400 per year.
Teaching is where many graduates end up, in K-12, Waldorf and college classrooms. The two Project Workshops have you first make something with other people and then assemble a project or portfolio of your own, so you leave with finished creative work as well as the 48 units.
12
Tiffin University
Ohio
85.6- Private nonprofit
- Humanities/Humanistic Studies
- Degrees awarded, latest year
- 36
About the Program
Based in Tiffin, Ohio, Tiffin University is a private nonprofit university with 3,831 students on its rolls. Look for Humanities/Humanistic Studies in the catalog, because that is the heading this degree is reported under. Some 36 master's degrees were conferred in the last year on record, a bigger output than 86% of the programs ranked alongside it. That output is 2.2% of the 1,671 master's degrees awarded across this field nationally, which is a real share for one program.
13
Austin Peay State University
Tennessee
82.2- Public
- General Studies
- Degrees awarded, latest year
- 34
About the Program
Clarksville, Tennessee is home to Austin Peay State University, a public university of 10,439 students. Look for General Studies in the catalog, because that is the heading this degree is reported under. Some 34 master's degrees were conferred in the last year on record, a bigger output than 82% of the programs ranked alongside it. Set against the 1,671 master's degrees conferred in the field nationwide, that comes to 2.0% from a single program.
14
University of Pennsylvania
Master of Liberal Arts
Pennsylvania
82.2- Private nonprofit
- Fully Online Option
- Liberal Arts and Sciences/Liberal Studies
- Degrees awarded, latest year
- 34
About the Program
Nine graduate-level courses make up the Master of Liberal Arts, and you design the set yourself around a theme that interests you. Two rules shape it. At least seven of these courses must be taken in the School of Arts and Sciences, and one to three must be MLA Proseminars. So the theme is yours, while the proseminar requirement is fixed.
Your capstone project can take one of three forms. It can be an in-depth research paper, a creative work such as memoir or fiction, or a hybrid project. If you've met the prerequisites and have permission from the instructor and home department, you can also take graduate courses across the university, including the Annenberg School for Communication and the Graduate School of Education.
Part-time study is the norm here, since 87% study part time and those who do take an average of 3.5 years to complete the MLA. Courses run in daytime, evening and online formats, so you have a choice of when and how you attend. When you choose courses, you're supported by the program director and program staff.
Penn also offers a Master of Philosophy in Liberal Arts, which can serve as a step in preparing for PhD study. Graduate certificates are offered too, with topics that include African studies, cinema studies, cultural heritage management, environmental studies, folklore, global studies and religion.
15
St. John's College
Master of Arts in Liberal Arts
Maryland
80.1- Private nonprofit
- Liberal Arts and Sciences/Liberal Studies
- Degrees awarded, latest year
- 29
About the Program
Four segments and four preceptorials make the degree. The 36 credit-hour program is organized into five subject segments, Politics & Society, Philosophy & Theology, Literature, Mathematics & Natural Science, and History, and you complete any four segments along with four elective classes called preceptorials. You can group all of your preceptorials under one segment to give yourself a focus, but that's optional, so the default is breadth across the great works of Western thought.
Each semester puts you in three classes inside your selected segment: a seminar, a tutorial and a preceptorial. All classes are 20 or fewer students, and class conversation matters later on. The optional Master's essay is open by petition to students who have completed at least two segments and have shown facility in writing and class conversation, which means how you talk in class counts toward what you're allowed to write.
Evening classes are why the college pitches this degree to people working full-time. You can start in fall, spring or summer and finish in two years, in one year, in four summers, or part time over several years. The degree runs on the Annapolis and Santa Fe campuses and online through the low-residency program, so you choose where you study as well as how fast.
Writing carries your application, because the admissions office weighs the essay prompts above everything else in the file. The GRE isn't required and no application fee is charged, so applying costs you time and thought, not money. The degree itself is priced by the class, at $3,954 per class or $1,318 per credit hour on the current tuition page, which lets you work out what a part-time term will cost before you commit to one.
16
Johns Hopkins University
Master of Liberal Arts
Maryland
78.8- Private nonprofit
- Fully Online Option
- Liberal Arts and Sciences/Liberal Studies
- Degrees awarded, latest year
- 26
About the Program
Courses run in an asynchronous online learning environment, so you don't have to be anywhere at a set hour. You can also begin in summer, fall or spring and apply at any point in the year. Put together, that means the start date and the weekly timetable are both yours to choose.
Eight electives carry the bulk of the Master of Liberal Arts, and you pick them with an academic adviser from topic-based courses that draw on history, philosophy, religion, music, digital humanities, psychology and more. Around them sit a core course, such as Ways of Knowing, and one capstone. Any core course you take after the first may count as an elective, so an extra core needn't cost you a slot.
One capstone course closes the degree, and an internship is one option for it. That matters if you want the Master of Liberal Arts to connect to work, because choosing the internship means the final course can then happen in a workplace.
Admission asks for a minimum GPA of 3.0 on a 4.0 scale, a resume, and a statement of purpose of up to one page about your background or an experience that shaped your goals. The application fee is $75 and nonrefundable. If you've taken courses elsewhere, know the cap: no more than two outside courses can qualify for advanced standing, so plan on taking the remainder here.
17
Southern Methodist University
Master of Liberal Studies (M.L.S.)
Texas
77.4- Private nonprofit
- Liberal Arts and Sciences/Liberal Studies
- Degrees awarded, latest year
- 24
About the Program
Every student takes two foundational courses, and these courses may not be waived. One, The Human Experience, examines the human condition from an interdisciplinary perspective, and the other is a designated writing-intensive course. Each carries three credits, so they are a small share of the Master of Liberal Studies (M.L.S.), but they are the part of the degree that everyone shares whatever concentration follows.
Concentrations each take up eighteen hours in a specific field and are printed on your transcript, so the subject you choose is visible to anyone who reads it. The main concentrations include Humanities, Human rights and social justice, and Arts and cultural traditions. You can also build a self-designed concentration with the department chair's approval, or add a double concentration for an additional 3 credit hours, depending on the courses you select.
Evening and weekend scheduling shapes how this degree is taken. Classes meet on evenings and weekends, and no term carries a minimum course load, so you can speed up or slow down as your year allows. The 36 credit hours can be completed in as quickly as 1 year or take up to 6 years, with the average at 2 to 3 years of study, which gives you a realistic figure to plan around.
Prior graduate work counts in a limited way. You may ask about applying up to six hours of Independent Study and transfer graduate credit toward concentration or elective coursework, but a transferred course must be graduate level, numbered 6000 or above. For admission, an undergraduate GPA of 3.0 or higher is preferred, so a lower figure is something to raise with the school before you apply.
18
Duke University
M.A. in Graduate Liberal Studies
North Carolina
75.3- Private nonprofit
- Liberal Arts and Sciences, General Studies and Humanities, Other
- Degrees awarded, latest year
- 23
About the Program
Nine courses and a master's project make up the 30 units, and the project is where the degree bends toward you. It can take the form of academic research, applied research or creative work, which means the final piece can match the kind of work you came to do. Faculty from throughout the university teach and supervise student work.
Seminars developed specifically for this degree are the core, but you aren't confined to them. You can take courses from other Graduate School departments, and study-abroad or study-away courses come up occasionally. You can also pursue a graduate certificate in areas such as African and African-American Studies, International Development Policy or Latin American Studies, which gives a broad degree one named specialty.
The GRE isn't required for admission. You need a minimum 3.2 undergraduate GPA on a 4.0 scale, a statement of purpose of about 750 to 1000 words, and a writing sample of 750 to 2500 words. That sample can be a newly written essay about a time you were excited by something you learned, so you don't need an academic paper on hand.
Part-time and full-time study are both open to you, and courses run in fall, spring and summer. You can start in spring or fall. The spring deadline is November 2, and fall has a February 15 priority deadline with a final deadline of June 1. Financial aid reaches 60% of people in the degree, which comes from merit awards, outside scholarships and grants, or help from an employer.
19
North Carolina State University at Raleigh
Master of Arts in Liberal Studies
North Carolina
75.3- Public
- Liberal Arts and Sciences/Liberal Studies
- Degrees awarded, latest year
- 23
About the Program
You design this master's around an interdisciplinary theme or topic, working with an academic advisor, and the rules keep it interdisciplinary. Six courses make up your interdisciplinary concentration plan, and no more than two can come from any one discipline. So the 18 credit hours can't pile up in a single department, which suits you if your question doesn't sit inside one field.
Seminars give the thirty hours of coursework a shared spine. You take three MALS seminars, or two seminars and a research methods course, for 9 credit hours. The topic of the Seminar in Liberal Studies changes each semester, so what you study there depends on when you take it. One 3-credit-hour culminating project or thesis closes the degree.
Concentrations in the catalog are examples of what a plan can look like. It names Science, Technology and Society, the American Experience and Leadership, National and International Issues and Decision Making, Women's Health Equity & Equality, and Climate Justice. Because you design your own plan, those names show the kind of theme that works. The Department of Interdisciplinary Studies, within the College of Humanities and Social Sciences, runs the degree.
Admission asks for writing and an interview. The GRE isn't required, but every applicant is interviewed, and you submit a four to five page statement describing your objectives along with a resume. The catalog gives the delivery method as on-campus, so plan on being there, though you can study part time or full time, which lets you set the pace.
20
University of Chicago
Master of Liberal Arts (MLA)
Illinois
73.3- Private nonprofit
- General Studies
- Degrees awarded, latest year
- 22
About the Program
Breadth comes before choice in the Master of Liberal Arts, because the core is one course in each of four divisions: Humanities, Social Sciences, Biological Sciences and Physical Sciences. So someone who reads novels takes science courses, and a scientist takes a humanities course. You also take three electives, either spread across any discipline or all in one of the three optional concentrations, Ethics and Leadership, Literary Studies, or Tech and Society. One elective has to focus on a non-Western culture.
Every class meets once a week on Zoom, on evenings or Saturdays, so the degree is set up to sit beside a full-time job. Classes are small, averaging 15 students per course, with a group of peers and your professor. If you want time on campus, week-long residential seminars are held twice a year, in the Spring and Autumn Quarters, and they're optional.
Finishing means a thesis or a special project, and the special project doesn't have to be a paper. Past special projects have included a piece of visual art and a book of poetry. The work takes two quarters in most cases, so count that into your timeline. A dedicated writing advisor is available to review your essays and assignments, so you can get feedback on your writing well ahead of the thesis.
Admission asks for a bachelor's degree in any major from an accredited university, and you don't need the GRE or GMAT. Pace is your call within limits: one year on a full-time schedule, or part time for up to five years. That range matters because the thesis or special project takes two quarters in the usual case, so a part-time plan should leave room for it at the end.
21
American Public University System
Humanities MA
West Virginia
71.2- Private for-profit
- Fully Online Option
- Humanities/Humanistic Studies
- Degrees awarded, latest year
- 21
About the Program
Reading is the method here, and the Humanities MA tells you so from the first course, which introduces a program of study centered on civilization's great works, authors and ideas. That opening course covers how to approach the great works and a philosophy grounded in the classical and liberal tradition, and it assigns Adler and Van Doren's How to Read a Book, so before you're handed Homer or Machiavelli you're taught how a serious reader takes a book apart.
From there the courses are cut by period. A course on the ancient world sets the Hebrew Scriptures beside the Greeks, reading the Epic of Gilgamesh, the Bible, Homer's Odyssey, Thucydides, Aeschylus and Plato's Republic, and a course on antiquity and the middle ages picks texts for what they clarify about moral values, grouped around devotion, consolation and the otherworld. The Renaissance course reads Petrarch, Elizabeth I, John Donne and Machiavelli, while the Enlightenment course pairs Wollstonecraft and Rousseau with the journals of the Lewis and Clark expedition.
Science sits inside the curriculum rather than beside it. A course on the evolution of the earth and the universe assigns Stephen Hawking's A Brief History of Time, and another examines genetics, the human nervous system and artificial intelligence, so the great-books frame reaches open questions. Later courses work the same way: nineteenth-century literature becomes the lens for urbanization, class, gender, industry and slavery, a course on society, class and wealth reads Rousseau, Adam Smith, Weber and Marx and Engels, and one on individuals and society reads William James and Durkheim on religious life.
Everything ends in a capstone portfolio seminar, where you assemble representative work developed across the whole Humanities MA, so what you produce in the period courses isn't disposable, it's the raw material of your final product. You can't start the seminar until every other course is completed and you hold a 3.0 GPA, which means a weak term early on has to be repaired before you can finish, and the portfolio is where you show the courses added up to one education.
22
DePaul University
MA or MS in Interdisciplinary Studies
Illinois
71.2- Private nonprofit
- Liberal Arts and Sciences, General Studies and Humanities, Other
- Degrees awarded, latest year
- 21
About the Program
Whether you finish with the MA or the MS in Interdisciplinary Studies depends on where your courses come from. If the majority come from programs that award the Master of Science, you earn the MS, and if the number is equal you can choose. Caps apply, so you can take no more than six courses in any single discipline within the College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences, and no more than five in the Kellstadt Graduate School of Business.
Significant work from your courses, such as final papers or special projects, goes into a portfolio you keep, along with the professor's comments and grades. After your sixth course but before your ninth, you write a 3-5 page essay examining your progress, using work from the portfolio as evidence. That midpoint counts later, because the thesis and practicum options both require an evaluation of satisfactory on the Midpoint Portfolio.
Finishing takes 48 or 52 quarter hours of graduate credit, depending on the completion option you choose: thesis, practicum, enhanced portfolio or exit course. You have to apply and be approved for the option, and thesis and practicum also require a minimum cumulative GPA of 3.3, a formal proposal and committee approval. The thesis is a paper of approximately 35-50 pages, which includes a research component. The practicum comes with a 15-25 page essay documenting the project.
Admission requires a grade-point average of 3.0 or better in your junior and senior years, plus a Statement of Academic Purpose of two or more pages explaining your academic goals and how the courses you have chosen will help you reach them. So you need a list of courses when you apply. The IDS advisor may require certain courses in areas such as writing, statistics or foreign languages when appropriate. The application fee is $40 domestic and $75 international.
23
St. John's College
New Mexico
69.2- Private nonprofit
- Liberal Arts and Sciences/Liberal Studies
- Degrees awarded, latest year
- 18
About the Program
Based in Santa Fe, New Mexico, St. John's College is a private nonprofit college with 467 students on its rolls. Federal records file this degree under Liberal Arts and Sciences/Liberal Studies, which is the heading to look for in the university's own catalog. During the most recent year on record it awarded 18 master's degrees, a count at the 69th percentile for size. Because the whole field awarded 1,671 master's degrees that year, this program's share of them is 1.1%.
24
Auburn University at Montgomery
Master of Liberal Arts
Alabama
67.1- Public
- Liberal Arts and Sciences/Liberal Studies
- Degrees awarded, latest year
- 17
About the Program
Nine electives of your own choosing make up the bulk of the Master of Liberal Arts, set against 3 interdisciplinary core classes, so the degree is mostly what you decide to read and study. If you'd rather write, you can pass 6 electives and complete a thesis instead. The thesis is optional, but the program encourages it for anyone intending to go on to a PhD, and it makes past theses from its graduates available to download, which lets you see the scale of the work before you commit to it.
Where you study is up to you, since the degree can be taken online, in person or as a hybrid, but the core courses are exclusively online, so even a student who wants a campus seat will do the interdisciplinary core at a distance. You can begin in fall, spring or summer, which means you don't have to wait for August to start.
Applying is quick. You send the application, a $25 fee and official transcripts from every university you've attended, and if your undergraduate GPA is 2.75 or higher, either overall or across your last 60 credit hours, you're accepted automatically. No GRE, MAT or recommendation letters are required, though an applicant under 2.75 can take one of those tests to get in. A decision arrives a few days after your transcripts do. Graduate research assistantships are available and pay $1,500 a semester for about 8 hours of work a week.
Graduates, according to the program, have gone on to full-time jobs in community colleges, government, business and nonprofit organizations, so the degree is presented as a way into work as well as a step toward more school. If a doctoral program or law school is your plan, the thesis route is the one to weigh, because it is the version of the degree that ends in a piece of sustained research a later admissions committee can read.
25
Middle Tennessee State University
Master of Arts in Liberal Arts
Tennessee
67.1- Public
- Liberal Arts and Sciences/Liberal Studies
- Degrees awarded, latest year
- 17
About the Program
Building your own plan of study is the point of the Master of Arts in Liberal Arts. You construct a personal plan from the departments and programs of the College of Liberal Arts, and you do it with the program director, who helps you aim it at career advancement, preparation for further graduate study or lifelong learning. Since the degree is interdisciplinary and offers both a thesis and a non-thesis option, which of those aims you pick shapes whether a thesis belongs in your plan.
Thirty semester hours finish the non-thesis option and 30 to 33 finish the thesis option, and both open with a 6-hour core in the foundations of the liberal arts. Nine hours of area courses cover topics in culture and ideas, society and people, and science and reason, so the breadth is built in rather than left to your electives. Twelve hours of guided electives come from further liberal arts topics courses or from other College of Liberal Arts graduate programs with the director's approval, and non-thesis students close with a 3-hour capstone project.
Whichever option you pick, you'll have to complete and defend a thesis or a capstone project, so the plan you build has to end in a piece of work you can stand behind. Along the way, some courses carry EXL and MT Engage designations, which mark hands-on, reflective learning, and you can take part in projects in the region or enroll in education-abroad courses, so a plan of study here can leave the classroom.
Admission asks for a bachelor's degree from an accredited college or university, plus a 500-word statement of purpose on your academic interests and goals and a resume. Plan on being on campus, because the degree is offered on ground. Once you're building the plan, no more than 30 percent of your degree hours can come from courses dual-listed for undergraduate and graduate students, so the bulk of your hours must be at the graduate level proper.
How We Rank
Every eligible program at this level is scored out of 100. Each figure becomes a percentile against the 73 ranked programs, and the percentiles are weighted as below. The methodology page explains each choice.
- Degrees awarded, latest year: 100%. Degrees the program conferred in the latest reported year. The one figure on record that belongs to the program itself.
Reading the cards. Degrees awarded is the program's own count for the latest year reported to IPEDS, and it is the only figure scored, because the university's graduation rate and tuition on federal record describe undergraduates. Each card names the federal heading the degree is reported under, since this list spans four of them.
Source: federal IPEDS records for each college, as of September 2026. Scores are this site's own.
What Is a Master's Degree in Liberal Studies or General Studies?
A master's degree in liberal studies or general studies is an interdisciplinary graduate degree, built from seminars in several fields and finished with a thesis or a capstone project that ties them together. The federal classification describes liberal studies as a structured combination of the arts, sciences, social sciences and humanities, with breadth of study as the point. You don't declare a discipline. You and an adviser decide which questions the degree is organized around, and the seminars you choose follow from that.
Universities title it Master of Arts in Liberal Studies, Master of Liberal Arts, Master of Liberal Studies, Master of Arts in Humanities or Master of Professional Studies. Some add a named concentration. The title on the diploma changes from one university to the next, and the structure underneath changes far less: a core seminar or two, electives drawn from graduate courses across the university, and a final project you propose yourself.
That final project is what separates this degree from a subject master's. A master's in history asks you to go deeper in history and expects you to arrive with some. A master's in liberal studies asks you to connect fields, and it admits you from any of them. If you hold a bachelor's degree in general studies, or a bachelor's in anything at all, you meet the usual entry requirement.
Be clear about what it isn't. It isn't a professional degree, it doesn't lead to a license, and no employer requires it by name. If the job you want names a degree, this isn't that degree. What it gives you is a graduate degree at the master's level, earned on a subject you chose, and the sections below say what that's worth and to whom.
Why Are Master's Programs in General Studies Called Liberal Studies?
Master's programs in general studies are called liberal studies because that's the name graduate schools settled on for the same idea, and the federal record shows how complete the switch is. Of the 142 master's programs in this field, 9 are reported under the general studies code. 82 are reported as liberal arts and sciences or liberal studies, 36 as humanities, and 15 under a catch-all heading for programs that fit none of the three.
The reason is what the two names mean at each level. General studies at the bachelor's level is a degree completion route, built to absorb credits a student already holds. At the master's level nobody is completing anything. Everyone at the table already holds a bachelor's, so the degree got named for what it teaches rather than for how you got there.
The heading tells you something about the program, and each card names it. A program reported as humanities follows a definition that emphasizes languages, literatures, art, music, philosophy and religion, so expect seminars built around texts. A program reported as liberal studies is likelier to reach into the social sciences and the sciences as well. Neither heading is a verdict on quality. It's a label the university chose when it reported the degree.
So a search for a general studies master's that stops at the name will miss almost every program that fits. This list takes all four headings together. When you read a university's own pages, search for liberal studies, liberal arts and humanities as well as general studies, and you'll find the same degree under whichever name that graduate school uses.
Who Earns a Master's Degree in Liberal Studies?
A master's degree in liberal studies is earned by 1,671 people a year across the whole field, on the latest counts reported to IPEDS, and most of the programs that award it graduate fewer than twenty people. 66 of the 142 programs awarded fewer than 5 degrees, 118 awarded fewer than 20, and the median ranked program awards 13. The 25 on this page together conferred 54% of every degree in the field.
Small changes how the degree is taught. A program that graduates a dozen people a year runs seminars, not lectures, and you'll know the faculty and they'll know you. The universities behind the ranked programs enroll anywhere from 467 to 56,832 students in total, so the seminar is small whether the campus is or not.
Who sits in those seminars follows from who the degree is open to. Because it crosses fields, it admits graduates of any major, and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences reports that among people whose highest degree is a humanities master's, 28% work in teaching, 16% in management and 11% in arts and media, on the 2019 National Survey of College Graduates. Those are the people you'll be reading beside: teachers adding a graduate degree, managers who want one, writers and people in media, and adults who want the seminar for its own sake.
The programs are spread across 39 states and the District of Columbia, and New York holds the most with 18, followed by Texas with 13 and Illinois with 11. Ask any program who its current students are, what they do during the day and how old they tend to be. The answer tells you more about fit than the course list will.
How Long Does a Master's in Liberal Studies Take?
A master's in liberal studies takes at least 30 semester credits beyond the bachelor's, which is the minimum program length the Higher Learning Commission treats as commonly accepted for a master's degree, and universities set their own requirement at or above it. At nine credits a term that's four terms. At six credits it's five terms. At one course a term, if that's the pace your job allows, a 30-credit degree is ten terms and a 36-credit one is twelve.
The final project is where time slips. A thesis depends on an adviser's availability, on your own reading and on how many drafts the committee wants. A capstone is usually shorter and more contained. Where a program offers both, the choice is a choice about time as much as about the work, so ask how long students take from their last seminar to the degree, and ask for the figure rather than the plan.
Three things shorten it. Graduate credit you already hold may count, and each university decides how much. Summer terms and short accelerated terms add a course to the year without adding a term to your life. And a program that runs enough seminars each term to give you a real choice lets you take the one you need now rather than waiting a year for it to come around.
Two things lengthen it. A concentration can carry prerequisites, and a required campus residency or intensive can only happen when it's scheduled. Ask whether the university sets a time limit on the degree, and what happens to credits older than that limit if you stop out for a year.
How Does an Online Master's in Liberal Studies Differ From the Campus Version?
An online master's in liberal studies differs from the campus version less in what is taught than in how the seminar happens, and 37 of the 142 programs in the field report to IPEDS that the degree can be completed at a distance. 27 of those 37 are at public universities. Among the 73 programs large enough to be ranked, 21 are online, and 6 of the 25 on this page are, each marked on its card.
The seminar is the method of this degree, so the first question for an online program is what a seminar looks like on a screen. Some programs meet live on video at a set hour each week. Others run the discussion in writing on a forum across the week, with no set hour. Both are seminars. They suit different lives, and a program will tell you which it runs if you ask.
The thesis or capstone is the second question. On campus your adviser is down the hall. Online, ask how often you'll meet, by what means, and whether the program has graduated distance students through a thesis before. A program that requires a short residency for the final project should say so before you enroll, not after.
Two practical checks remain. A university may enroll you as an online student only where it's authorized to, and many do so through the reciprocity agreements that NC-SARA administers across 49 member states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, so check the university's state authorization page for your state. And ask which tuition rate an online student pays, resident, nonresident or a separate online rate, because the three can differ a lot at the same university.
What Does a Master's in Liberal Studies Do for Your Career?
A master's in liberal studies does for your career what any master's degree does where the level, not the subject, is the requirement: it satisfies a rule that asks for a graduate degree. A pay step on a teacher's salary schedule, a promotion gated on a master's, an instructor post that asks for one. Where the rule names the level alone, this degree meets it, and where the rule names a subject, it doesn't.
The earnings picture is plain, and you should see it before you pay. The American Academy of Arts and Sciences reports that people whose highest degree is a humanities master's had median annual earnings of $60,000 in 2019, against $82,000 for master's degree holders across all fields, one of the lowest medians among master's fields. The figures cover humanities master's degrees broadly, not liberal studies alone, and much of the gap follows from the jobs people hold, since a large share of these graduates teach.
Set against that, the same survey found that 92% of workers with a humanities master's were satisfied with their job, about the same as master's degree holders in every field, and less satisfied than other master's holders with salary and job security. That's the trade. If pay is the goal, a professional master's in the field you want will serve it better. If a graduate degree on a subject of your own choosing is the goal, this is the degree built for it.
Two things to do before you enroll. If your employer or your school district raises pay for a graduate degree, get it in writing that this degree title qualifies. And if a doctorate is in view, know that the doctoral programs in liberal studies and humanities are the natural next step, while a department in a single discipline will read your transcript for graduate work in that discipline.
Are Master's Programs in Liberal Studies Accredited?
Master's programs in liberal studies are accredited through the university's institutional accreditation, because no agency accredits liberal studies, general studies or the humanities as a subject. When a university describes its accredited liberal studies master's, the accreditation it means is the university's own, held from a regional or national accreditor that reviews the whole institution. There is no seal for this degree in particular, and none to look for.
That makes the check simple. Look the university up in the Department of Education's accreditation database and confirm the accreditor and the status. Do it for every university on your list, including the well known ones, because federal student aid is available only where the institution is accredited by a nationally recognized agency, and that includes the federal loans most graduate students use.
Accreditation is a floor, not a recommendation. The Department is direct that it gives no assurance that graduates will be accepted by employers or that credit will transfer. Once every university on your list clears the floor, accreditation stops separating them, and the things that do are the faculty who teach the seminars, the final projects recent graduates wrote, and whether the graduate school lists the program as its own.
One more reason to run the check rather than assume it. 2 of the 25 programs on this list are at private for-profit universities and 15 at private nonprofit ones, and the database treats all of them the same way: accredited or not, by a named agency, with a date. Read that entry, and then read the program's own pages with the question of who teaches it in mind.
What Should You Ask a Master's Program in Liberal Studies Before You Enroll?
Ask a master's program in liberal studies seven questions before you enroll, and expect written answers to the ones about money and time. Programs this size tend to have a director rather than an admissions office between you and the faculty, so ask the director.
- What is the graduate tuition per credit, and what fees are billed on top? The tuition on federal record is the undergraduate rate, and graduate tuition is priced by the credit, so this is the only figure you can multiply by the credits you'll take.
- Is the final project a thesis, a capstone or a choice, and who supervises it? The project decides how long the degree takes and what you'll have to show at the end.
- How long do students take from their last seminar to the degree? The answer separates a program that gets people through the final project from one that lets them drift.
- How many seminars run each term, and which graduate courses across the university are open to you? A degree built on choice is only as wide as the courses you can register for.
- Who are the current students, and what do they do during the day? You'll spend two years or more reading with them, and the program's schedule is built around their lives.
- What is the time limit on the degree, and does graduate credit from elsewhere count? Both change the cost, and a limit you didn't know about can cost you the credits you've already paid for.
- If the program is online, are seminars live or asynchronous, and does the degree require any visit to campus? A live seminar at a fixed hour and a written one across the week are different commitments, and a required residency is a plane ticket.
Take the answers to the two or three programs you're weighing and compare them side by side, the way the table above compares the federal figures. Rank got you to the shortlist. These answers are what decide it.
How Were the Best Master's Programs in Liberal and General Studies Ranked?
The best master's programs in liberal and general studies were ranked on one figure, the master's degrees each program awarded in the latest year reported to IPEDS. A program needed 5 degrees in that year to be ranked, which 73 of the 142 met, and the 25 shown here awarded between 17 and 104. A program the university has since closed is removed before scoring, so it shapes nobody's position and sends nobody to a degree that can't be applied to.
Degrees awarded carries the whole score because it's the only figure on federal record that belongs to the master's program itself. The graduation rate on record follows full-time, first-time undergraduates and says nothing about whether master's students finish. The tuition on record is the undergraduate rate, and graduate tuition is set separately and by the credit. Using either would have scored the university's undergraduates and called it a judgment on the master's program.
Read the order for what it is, then. It's an ordering by size. A program that awards forty degrees a year has more seminars running each term, more faculty attached and more graduates whose experience you can ask about than a program that awards eight, and that's real information about a degree built on choice. It isn't a verdict on the quality of the seminars, and the 5-degree threshold is there so that a program which graduated two students doesn't sit beside established ones on the strength of a university's name.
The list spans all four federal headings because only 9 programs in the country are reported as general studies at this level. 78 of the 142 programs are at public universities, but the largest programs lean private, so 8 of the 25 on this page are public. The methodology page sets out the model, the threshold and the reasoning for each choice.
What Does This Ranking of Master's Programs Leave Out?
This ranking of master's programs leaves out everything that makes one liberal studies program different from another: the faculty who teach it, the seminars on offer, the freedom it gives you in a final project, and the students at the table. None of that is reported to the federal government, and all of it is on each program's own pages, which is where the choice between two programs gets made.
The one figure it does use is a single year's count. A program that awarded eight degrees one year can award fifteen the next as a cohort finishes its theses, and its position would move with it. In a field where the median ranked program awards 13, a difference of a few degrees moves a program several places, so read neighboring positions as roughly equal rather than as a strict order.
Size also can't tell a program that's large because it's good from one that's large because it's easy to enter, and it can't see how many of the students in a fully online program study online. Use the list to find the programs that are established and running, then let the answers to the seven questions above decide between them.
Common Questions About Master's Programs in Liberal and General Studies
Is There a Master's Degree in General Studies?
What Does MALS Stand For?
Can You Get a Master's in Liberal Studies Online?
Do You Need a General Studies Bachelor's Degree to Enter a Master's in Liberal Studies?
Can a Master's in Liberal Studies Lead to a Doctorate?
How Many Credits Is a Master's in Liberal Studies?
Are Master's Programs in Liberal Studies Mostly at Public or Private Universities?
What Is the Difference Between a Master's in Liberal Studies and a Master's in One Subject?
Where Do the Figures on These Master's Programs Come From?
- Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS)
- Classification of Instructional Programs, series 24.01
- Assumed Practices, Higher Learning Commission
- Classification of Instructional Programs, code 24.0103
- Graduation Rates survey component, IPEDS
- Accreditation in the U.S., U.S. Department of Education
- Overview of Accreditation in the United States, U.S. Department of Education
- National Council for State Authorization Reciprocity Agreements
- Occupations of Master's Degree Recipients in the Humanities, Humanities Indicators
- Earnings of Humanities Master's Degree Recipients, Humanities Indicators
- Job Satisfaction of Humanities Master's Degree Recipients, Humanities Indicators
- Database of Accredited Postsecondary Institutions and Programs
The figures on these master's programs come from federal records that each university reports about itself, as of the dates shown.
Show the federal record for all 25 colleges ranked, in 13 states and territories
University of Chicago Middle Tennessee State University Stony Brook University New York University University of Dallas New York University Tennessee Technological University Texas Christian University CUNY Graduate School and University Center Dartmouth College Pacifica Graduate Institute Tiffin University Austin Peay State University University of Pennsylvania St. John's College Johns Hopkins University Southern Methodist University Duke University North Carolina State University at Raleigh University of Chicago American Public University System DePaul University St. John's College Auburn University at Montgomery Middle Tennessee State University