Liberal Arts

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.

Students in the Master of Liberal Arts degree program have the rare opportunity to develop their own concentration in the liberal arts from courses across the University. As an MLA student, you will design an individualized curriculum of nine graduate-level courses that center on a particular theme that interests you, culminating in an individual capstone project. The range of courses available means you can construct a course of study at the precise nexus of your interests, or sample several different fields before settling on an ongoing focus.

The Master of Liberal Arts program (MLA) is designed for individuals from a variety of backgrounds and requires no specific prerequisite courses. However, for your admission to the program, it is necessary that you have previous coursework in the liberal arts and evidence of preparedness for graduate-level work, such as independent research and writing experience.Applicants must hold either a baccalaureate degree from a regionally accredited US institution. International students should make sure that their degree is the equivalent of a four-year degree in the US. Successful applicants to the Master of Liberal Arts program must possess at least a 3.0 grade point average in their undergraduate studies.Standardized tests such as the Graduate Record Exam (GRE) are not generally required when applying for the Master of Liberal Arts. However, you may choose to submit standardized test scores in support of your application. English Language Requirements IELTS band: 7.5 TOEFL paper-based test score : 600 TOEFL iBT® test: 100