Master of Arts [M.A] [Liberal Arts] From University of Pennsylvania

The MLA offers intellectual explorers like you the opportunity to design your own curriculum at the intersection of your interests in the liberal arts. With the support of Penn professors and program staff, you’ll choose nine courses that deepen and broaden your engagement with the ideas, questions and practices that matter most to you. Most of our courses take place in a small seminar format, allowing you to connect with both professors and peers in an intimate setting.

The program culminates in a large-scale capstone project tailored to your professional and intellectual goals. Our alumni have found the capstone—whether a research paper, memoir, screenplay, novel or other form of expression—to be both a defining process of intellectual self-discovery and a professional asset as they consider a career shift or prepare for a PhD program.