2024 Best Liberal Arts General Studies Master's Degree Schools in the Southwest Region

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.

For its 2024 ranking, College Factual looked at 11 schools in the Southwest Region to determine which ones were the best for liberal arts general studies students pursuing a master's degree. Combined, these schools handed out 449 master's degrees in liberal arts general studies to qualified students.

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 take this into account we consider a school's overall Best Colleges for a Master's Degree ranking which itself looks at a host 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 colleges for liberal arts general studies students working on their master's degree.

More Ways to Rank Liberal Arts General Studies Schools

Since the program you select can have a significant impact on your future, we've developed a number of rankings, including this Best Liberal Arts General Studies Master's Degree Schools in the Southwest Region list, to help you choose the best school for you.

 

Best Schools for Master’s Students to Study Liberal Arts General Studies in the Southwest Region

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

10 Top Southwest Region Schools for a Master's in Liberal Arts

1

The University of Texas at Austin
Austin, TX

20 Annual Graduates

$84,623 Median Starting Salary

Any student who is interested in a master's degree in liberal arts general studies has to look into The University of Texas at Austin. UT Austin is a fairly large public university located in the city of Austin.

Liberal Arts General Studies master's degree recipients from The University of Texas at Austin earn a boost of approximately $36,796 over the typical income of liberal arts general studies graduates.

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

2

University of Oklahoma Norman Campus
Norman, OK

190 Annual Graduates

$52,036 Median Starting Salary

University of Oklahoma Norman Campus is a good option for students interested in a master's degree in liberal arts general studies. University of Oklahoma is a fairly large public university located in the suburb of Norman.

Those liberal arts general studies students who get their master's degree from University of Oklahoma Norman Campus receive $4,209 more than the typical liberal arts graduate.

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

3

Southern Methodist University
Dallas, TX

32 Annual Graduates

$47,515 Median Starting Salary

Every student pursuing a degree in a master's degree in liberal arts general studies has to take a look at Southern Methodist University. SMU is a large private not-for-profit university located in the suburb of Dallas.

Master's graduates who receive their degree from the liberal arts program earn about $47,515 for their early career.

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

4

University of St. Thomas
Houston, TX

13 Annual Graduates

University of St. Thomas is a wonderful choice for students pursuing a master's degree in liberal arts general studies. Located in the large city of Houston, UST is a private not-for-profit university with a small student population.More information about a master’s in liberal arts general studies from University of St. Thomas

5

Texas Christian University
Fort Worth, TX

38 Annual Graduates

$48,240 Median Starting Salary

TCU is a fairly large private not-for-profit university located in the large city of Fort Worth.

Students who graduate with their master's from the liberal arts program report average early career income of $48,240.

More information about a master’s in liberal arts general studies from Texas Christian University

6

University of Dallas
Irving, TX

31 Annual Graduates

$49,081 Median Starting Salary

UD is a small private not-for-profit university located in the large city of Irving.

Students who graduate with their master's from the liberal arts program state that they receive average early career wages of $49,081.

More information about a master’s in liberal arts general studies from University of Dallas

7

Arizona State University - Tempe
Tempe, AZ

20 Annual Graduates

$39,371 Median Starting Salary

Located in the midsize city of Tempe, ASU - Tempe is a public university with a very large student population.

Students who graduate with their master's from the liberal arts program state that they receive average early career income of $39,371.

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

8

Wayland Baptist University
Plainview, TX

5 Annual Graduates

Located in the town of Plainview, Wayland Baptist University is a private not-for-profit university with a small student population.More information about a master’s in liberal arts general studies from Wayland Baptist University

9

St. John's College
Santa Fe, NM

19 Annual Graduates

$30,832 Median Starting Salary

St. John's is a small private not-for-profit college located in the rural area of Santa Fe.

Students who graduate with their master's from the liberal arts program state that they receive average early career earnings of $30,832.

More information about a master’s in liberal arts general studies from St. John’s College

10

Arizona State University - Skysong
Scottsdale, AZ

26 Annual Graduates

$39,371 Median Starting Salary

ASU - Skysong is a fairly large public university located in the city of Scottsdale.

Students who graduate with their master's from the liberal arts program report average early career earnings of $39,371.

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

Best Liberal Arts General Studies Colleges by State

Explore the best liberal arts general studies schools for a specific state in the Southwest Region .

State	Colleges	Degrees Awarded
Texas	235	189
Arizona	180	51
Oklahoma	153	190
New Mexico	114	19

View All Rankings >

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	383
Humanities	53
Individualized Studies	7
General Studies	6

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.