Welcome to all prospective or new M.A.L.S. students, and greetings to continuing students and alumni! We hope that this site helps to familiarize you with our unique program and answers many of your preliminary questions. Because M.A.L.S. is a program that requires the input and creativity of the student in designing the curriculum, many questions about the structure and content will depend upon your interests and your reasons for pursuing graduate education. Please see our information on M.A.L.S. Concentrations.
The Dartmouth College M.A.L.S. program is designed for individuals who want to engage in interdisciplinary study of the liberal arts at the graduate level. We have two concurrent goals: to become intellectually well-rounded, and to hone one's interest in a chosen discipline that emerges as an academic major. Building on this base, graduate liberal studies goes further to facilitate a more sophisticated interdisciplinary exploration of issues in an area by drawing from relevant bodies of knowledge. Dartmouth has offered this masters degree for adults in liberal studies since 1970.
Our program is specifically suited for students who want to engage in both directed and independent work on issues that extend beyond monodisciplinary perspectives. Students have the opportunity to select from an internationally acclaimed faculty who are prepared to help them design a plan of study suited to their intellectual, personal and professionals goals - students are encouraged to combine disparate subjects areas in order to forge new areas of scholarly inquiry. Sample M.A.L.S. Programs.
Our program attracts a diverse groupof adults, including educators, health professionals, business people, artists, lawyers, writers, and recent college graduates. Our student body comes from across the United States as well as numerous international locations, including Bahrain, Bosnia, Canada, China, Ecuador, England, Greece, Hungary, Indonesia, India, Iraq, Kenya, Korea, Morocco, the Netherlands, Niger, Nigeria, Peru, the Philippines, Russia, Taiwan, and Turkey.
Because of the strong academic program at Dartmouth College, a student's motivation, maturity and demonstrated ability to engage in independent graduate work are central to acceptance.
Students who graduate with a Dartmouth M.A.L.S. degree expand their base of formal knowledge, and enhance their capacity for analytic insight, creative research, and independent thought. Many M.A.L.S. graduates return to their chosen profession with heightened confidence in their intellectual strengths.
During the past few years, M.A.L.S. graduates have received recognition through prestigious awards such as the Fulbright Fellowship, the J.B. Reynolds Scholarship, and the MacArthur Genius Grant.
Within academia, our graduates go on to doctoral programs in cultural studies, American studies, literature, history, government, philosophy, and psychology, as well as professional schools in business, law and public policy. Others return to teach or go on to teach at the secondary or community college levels.
In addition, several of our current students and alumni have written professionally for various journals, magazines, and the film industry; while others prefer to work for non-profit organizations, the private sector, or the arts.
