College of the Liberal Arts

• Undergraduate
• Graduate
• Faculty and Staff
• Research
• Alumni

Prospective Penn State Liberal Arts Graduate Students

We appreciate your interest in the Pennsylvania State University and the College of the Liberal Arts.

Penn State's Graduate School is one of the largest in the nation with more than 10,000 graduate students enrolled throughout our campus's. Several Liberal Arts departments are ranked among the top-twenty-five nationally. Our graduate programs today enroll more than 800 students in 15 different programs. Liberal Arts graduate students are a diverse group: 24 percent are international students, and about 10 percent are African American, Latino and Latina, or Asian American. The College is committed to increasing the diversity of our graduate student body, to achieving high completion rates, and to ensuring outstanding career opportunities.

Admission is granted jointly by The Graduate School and the program in which the applicant plans to study. An applicant must apply for admission to a particular program of study. Below you will find each department Web link listed which provides instructions on each program's individual admissions and contact information so you can learn more about requirements, faculty, research assistantships, and other opportunities that will assist you in your studies.

Liberal Arts Graduate Programs

• Anthropology
• Applied Linguistics
• Communication Arts and Sciences
• Comparative Literature
• Crime, Law & Justice
• Economics
• English
• French
• German
• History
• Industrial Relations & Employment Relations
• Philosophy
• Political Science
• Psychology
• Russian & Comparative Literature
• Sociology
• Spanish, Italian, and Portuguese
• Teaching English as a Second Language
• Women's Studies

Graduate Minor Programs

• Language Acquisition
• Linguistics
• Literary Theory, Criticism, and Aesthetics
• Medieval Studies
• Religious Studies
• Social Thought