宾夕法尼亚大学

Your journey to the Master of Liberal Arts (MLA) at Penn starts with you: your passions, your questions and your unique combination of academic interests. You state your goals, and we help you craft your course of study within the rigorous academic environment of the Ivy League. The MLA offers intellectual explorers like you the opportunity to design your own curriculum at the intersection of your pursuits.

Whether as a full- or part-time student, you’ll have access to classes in more than 50 liberal arts course areas, and the chance to study in other world-renowned departments throughout the university. 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 MLA at Penn provides a powerful combination of customizability, advising and the outstanding resources of one of the nation’s top research universities. Enrich your career or create a launch pad for new opportunities today our doors are open.

Individualized curriculum

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 capstone is a large-scale academic project of your own choosing, created with the guidance of your professors and advisors. Previous capstones include memoirs, poetry cycles and research papers. The process of developing your capstone both tests and celebrates your education at Penn, and can be used to demonstrate the value of your time here to employers or graduate schools.

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. Moreover, the process itself of curating your own curriculum is one of the most valuable aspects of the MLA program. In doing so, you learn how to listen to your own instincts and curiosities, as well as to strategically direct your own development as a person, an academic and a professional in your field.

During the process of choosing your courses, you’ll be supported by the Program Director and our program staff. We take an intensive student-by-student approach, offering the open conversation and long-term advising relationships you need to help you choose the MLA path that meets your needs.

Your Master of Liberal Arts degree curriculum consists of nine graduate-level courses. At least seven of these courses must be taken in the School of Arts and Sciences. MLA students are not limited to enrollment in MLA program courses. As long as permits are not required, you can take any graduate-level course in the College of Liberal and Professional Studies and the School of Arts and Sciences, as well as schools throughout the University, such as the Annenberg School for Communication, the Graduate School of Education and the School of Social Policy & Practice.