2025 Best Liberal Arts General Studies Master's Degree Schools

a master's degree in liberal arts general studies is more popular than many other degrees. In fact, it ranks #69 out of 343 on popularity of all such degrees in the nation. As a result, there are many college that offer the degree, making your choice of school a hard one.

College Factual looked at 25 colleges and universities when compiling its 2025 Best Liberal Arts General Studies Master's Degree Schools ranking. When you put them all together, these colleges and universities awarded 1,693 master's degrees in liberal arts general studies during the <nil> academic year.

What's on this page: * Our Methodology

• Best Master’s Degree Schools List

Choosing a Great Liberal Arts General Studies School for Your Master's Degree

The liberal arts master's degree program you select can have a big impact on your future. This section explores some of the factors we include in our ranking and how much they vary depending on the school you select. To make it into this list, a school must excel in the following areas.

A Great Overall School

The overall quality of a master's degree school is important to ensure a good education, not just how well they do in a particular major. To account for this we include a college's overall Best Colleges for a Master's Degree ranking which itself looks at a combination of different factors like degree completion, educational resources, student body caliber and post-graduation earnings for the school as a whole.

Early-Career Earnings

One measure we use to determine the quality of a school is to look at the average salary of master's graduates during the early years of their career. That is, everyone wants their master's degree to be worth something, and salaries are one measure of determining that.

Other Factors We Consider

The metrics below are just some of the other metrics that we use to determine our rankings.

• Major Focus - How many resources a school devotes to liberal arts general studies students as compared to other majors.
• Major Demand - How many other liberal arts general studies students want to attend this school to pursue a master's degree.
• Educational Resources - How many resources are allocated to students. These resources may include educational expenditures per student, number of students per instructor, and graduation rate among other things.
• Student Debt - How much debt liberal arts general studies students go into to obtain their master's degree and how well they are able to pay back that debt.
• Accreditation - Whether a school is regionally accredited and/or accredited by a recognized liberal arts general studies related body.

Our complete ranking methodology documents in more detail how we consider these factors to identify the best schools for liberal arts general studies students working on their master's degree.

More Ways to Rank Liberal Arts General Studies Schools

The liberal arts school you choose to invest your time and money in matters. To help you make the decision that is right for you, we've developed a number of major-specific rankings, including this list of the Best Liberal Arts General Studies Master's Degree Schools.

Best Schools for Master’s Students to Study Liberal Arts General Studies in the United States

The following list ranks the best colleges and universities for pursuing a master's degree in liberal arts general studies.

10 Top Schools for a Master's in Liberal Arts

1

The University of Texas at Austin
Austin, TX

10 Annual Graduates

$94,745 Median Starting Salary

The University of Texas at Austin is one of the best schools in the United States for getting a master's degree in liberal arts general studies. UT Austin is a fairly large public university located in the large city of Austin.

Master's recipients from the liberal arts general studies program at The University of Texas at Austin get $40,951 more than the typical college graduate with the same degree when they enter the workforce.

More information about a master’s in liberal arts general studies from The University of Texas at Austin

2

Georgetown University
Washington, DC

17 Annual Graduates

Georgetown University is one of the finest schools in the country for getting a master's degree in liberal arts general studies. Georgetown is a fairly large private not-for-profit university located in the large city of Washington.More information about a master’s in liberal arts general studies from Georgetown University

3

New York University
New York, NY

104 Annual Graduates

$40,856 Median Starting Salary

It's difficult to beat New York University if you want to pursue a master's degree in liberal arts general studies. NYU is a very large private not-for-profit university located in the city of New York.

Students who graduate with their master's from the liberal arts program state that they receive average early career wages of $40,856.

More information about a master’s in liberal arts general studies from New York University

4

Saint Mary's College of California
Moraga, CA

14 Annual Graduates

Any student who is interested in a master's degree in liberal arts general studies needs to take a look at Saint Mary's College of California. Located in the large suburb of Moraga, SMC is a private not-for-profit college with a small student population.More information about a master’s in liberal arts general studies from Saint Mary’s College of California

5

University of Oklahoma Norman Campus
Norman, OK

135 Annual Graduates

$64,717 Median Starting Salary

University of Oklahoma is a very large public university located in the medium-sized suburb of Norman.

Master's recipients from the liberal arts general studies degree program at University of Oklahoma Norman Campus get $10,923 above the typical college grad with the same degree shortly after graduation.

More information about a master’s in liberal arts general studies from University of Oklahoma Norman Campus

6

Southern Methodist University
Dallas, TX

33 Annual Graduates

$57,967 Median Starting Salary

SMU is a large private not-for-profit university located in the suburb of Dallas.

Master's recipients from the liberal arts general studies degree program at Southern Methodist University make $4,173 more than the typical college graduate in this field when they enter the workforce.

More information about a master’s in liberal arts general studies from Southern Methodist University

7

Arizona State University - Tempe
Tempe, AZ

17 Annual Graduates

$39,198 Median Starting Salary

Located in the medium-sized city of Tempe, ASU - Tempe is a public university with a fairly large student population.

Students who graduate with their master's from the liberal arts program report average early career wages of $39,198.

More information about a master’s in liberal arts general studies from Arizona State University - Tempe

8

North Carolina State University
Raleigh, NC

12 Annual Graduates

$48,700 Median Starting Salary

Located in the large city of Raleigh, NC State is a public university with a very large student population.

Master's students who receive their degree from the liberal arts program earn an average of $48,700 in the first couple years of their career.

More information about a master’s in liberal arts general studies from North Carolina State University

9

San Diego State University
San Diego, CA

16 Annual Graduates

Located in the large city of San Diego, SDSU is a public university with a very large student population.More information about a master’s in liberal arts general studies from San Diego State University

10

Middle Tennessee State University
Murfreesboro, TN

67 Annual Graduates

$55,570 Median Starting Salary

Located in the midsize city of Murfreesboro, Middle Tennessee State University is a public university with a fairly large student population.

Students who graduate with their master's from the liberal arts program state that they receive average early career income of $55,570.

More information about a master’s in liberal arts general studies from Middle Tennessee State University

Liberal Arts General Studies by Region

View the Best Liberal Arts General Studies Master's Degree Schools for a specific region near you.

Region
Southeast
New England
Rocky Mountains
Plains States
Middle Atlantic
Far Western US
Southwest
Other U.S. Territories
Great Lakes

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Liberal Arts General Studies Related Rankings by Major

One of 0 majors within the Liberal Arts / Sciences & Humanities area of study, Liberal Arts General Studies has other similar majors worth exploring.

Liberal Arts Concentrations

Major	Annual Graduates
Liberal Arts	901
Humanities	504
General Studies	175
Individualized Studies	113

Notes and References

• The bars on the spread charts above show the distribution of the schools on this list +/- one standard deviation from the mean.
• The Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) from the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), a branch of the U.S. Department of Education (DOE) serves as the core of the rest of our data about colleges.
• Some other college data, including much of the graduate earnings data, comes from the U.S. Department of Education’s (College Scorecard). More about our data sources and methodologies.