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Future Students

Future Students
Future Students
Academic Recovery Specialist Kristie Kalvin meets with a Liberal Arts student.
Academic Recovery Specialist Kristie Kalvin meets with a Liberal Arts student.

The College of the Liberal Arts is

the place to find Your Place

Unlimited options and unwavering support to prepare you for life and any career you choose. It all starts here. Launch your legacy with the College of the Liberal Arts.

Liberal Arts by the Numbers
5,300
+

undergraduates

800
+

students participating in out-of-classroom experiences

1,000
+

student organizations

most diverse
student body

(at University Park)

5/5 stars for overall campus climate in the 2022 Campus Pride LGBTQ-Friendly Campus Climate Index

Academics

The College of the Liberal Arts is home to nearly 150 undergraduate majors, minors, integrated undergraduate-graduate degrees (IUGs), associate degrees, and certificates.   

49
53
25

Majors

Minors

IUGs

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Students in an economics class raise their hands to answer a question.

Major of the Month: Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies

Each month, we feature one of our 49 majors. Learn about the Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies at Penn State and what our students and alumni are doing with their degrees. 

Student Spotlight

Sean Eden

Sean has found numerous ways to pursue his goals and grow personally during his time at Penn State, from his classes to the organizations he’s involved with to the content he creates. Sean is majoring in Sociology and double minoring in Spanish and Deafness and Hearing Studies.
Sean Eden
Sean Eden
Program Spotlight

Sociology Major

Majoring in Sociology offers a unique opportunity to understand the hidden forces that shape human behavior and social groups, from families to entire nations. It helps you explore how social environments—like family, schools, and communities—affect individuals’ lives. By studying sociology at Penn State, which is ranked seventh in the world, you’ll learn to view complex social situations through a fresh, critical lens, making the invisible workings of society visible and empowering you to think deeply about the world around you. This major opens doors to careers in research, policy, education, and more, where understanding people and society is key.
Sociology Major
Sociology Major
Program Spotlight

Post-Graduation Opportunities

  • Continuing Education:
    • Medical school
    • Law school
    • Graduate school to study public health, counseling, education, social work, or human resources
  • Alumni Industries
    • Legal defense, aid, and alternative justice
    • Public service
    • Security/intelligence
    • Government and politics
    • Law enforcement
Post-Graduation Opportunities
Post-Graduation Opportunities
Alumni Spotlight

Jamie Nguyen

Jamie, a 2024 Paterno Fellow, Schreyer Scholar, and Chaiken Scholar alumna, was a first-generation college student who majored in Sociology and Film Production and hopes to create social commentary films about the Asian American diaspora.
Jamie Nguyen
Jamie Nguyen
Program Spotlight

Out-of-Classroom Opportunities

  • Internships:
    • Office of Attorney General
    • Pennsylvania Department of Corrections
    • State College Police Department
    • Big Brothers Big Sisters of America
    • Penn State Justice and Safety Institute
    • Walt Disney Corporation
    • The Public Defender Service for the District of Columbia
    • Northeastern Law School Civil Rights and Restorative Justice Project
    • U.S. Department of Justice
    • Google
    • Teach for America
    • Dauphin County DA
    • Education Abroad
  • Destinations:
    • Netherlands
    • Curaçao
    • Ireland
    • Austria
    • Spain
Out of Classroom-Opportunities Julia in Curacao
Out of Classroom-Opportunities Julia in Curacao
Alumni Spotlight

Lenneya Murray

Lenneya’s interest in true crime—her love for the law and her interest in people and their stories—has helped the Paterno Fellow and Schreyer Scholar define her undergraduate path in criminology and sociology.
Lenneya Murray
Lenneya Murray
Program Spotlight

Sociology Student Organizations

There are two student organizations specific to students majoring in Sociology. Sociology Club focuses on community service projects and career development events for sociology students. Students can also apply to join Alpha Kappa Delta International Honor Society of Sociology.
Sociology Student Organizations
Sociology Student Organizations
Alumni Spotlight

Azziyah LaRue

Azziyah interned with the Miami Dolphins at Hard Rock Stadium and said her sociology courses helped her work well with the other interns. Azziyah double majored in Sociology and Security and Risk Analysis and minored in Information Sciences and Technology.
Azziyah LaRue
Azziyah LaRue
Program Spotlight

Post-Graduation Opportunities

  • Continuing Education
    • Law school
    • Graduate school to study homeland security, forensic psychology, library and information science, and social work
  • Alumni Industries
    • Communications
    • Consulting
    • Management
    • Non-Profit
    • Risk Analysis
    • Social Service
WGSS-Post-Grad-Opportunities
WGSS-Post-Grad-Opportunities
Out-of-Classroom Experiences Spotlight

Education Abroad

This past summer, ten Liberal Arts students met with many reproductive justice organizations and conducted research for the South African Women’s Legal Center in Cape Town through a faculty-led program that explored the history and contemporary politics of reproductive justice in South Africa.
Cape-Town
Cape-Town
Out-of-Classroom Experiences Spotlight

Triota Honor Society

Iota Iota Iota, known as Triota, is an honor society that encourages and supports scholarship, excellence, and activism in the field of women’s, gender, and sexuality studies.
Triota
Triota
Program Spotlight

Transferable Skills

  • Communication and Presentation Skills
  • Critical Thinking and Problem-Solving Skills
  • Data Collection and Analysis
  • Research and Organization
  • Leadership
WGSS-Majors-and-Minors-Night-2024
WGSS-Majors-and-Minors-Night-2024
Out-of-Classroom Experiences Spotlight

Internships

  • Students in this major have interned with companies and organizations such as:
    • American Cancer Society
    • U.S. Department of State
    • The Borgen Project
    • Minnesota Women’s Press
    • Super Purposes, LLC
WGSS-Awards-Ceremony-2024
WGSS-Awards-Ceremony-2024
Student Spotlight

Alex Herrera

Graduate student Alex Herrera received the Fulbright-Hays Doctoral Dissertation Research Abroad fellowship to conduct her dissertation research for six months in Guatemala. Her research examines how transnational networks of doctors, public health officials, politicians, police, and sex workers shaped prostitution regulations and medical knowledge about sexually transmitted infections, particularly syphilis, in Guatemala City from 1890 to 1940.
Alex-Herrera
Alex-Herrera
Program Spotlight

Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Major

This major examines identity, social power, and privilege, focusing on how societies construct inequality and bias. It critically analyzes all aspects of life, considering socio-political inequalities and lived experiences of women and their families.
WGSS-Conference-2024
WGSS-Conference-2024
Alumni Spotlight

Caroline Fitzgerald

Caroline is the CEO and founder of GOALS—a women’s sports marketing consultancy and media platform based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Caroline launched GOALS in 2020 after recognizing that there was an opportunity to help brands, networks, and fans see the social and economic value that can come from investing in women’s sports. Caroline graduated from Penn State with bachelor’s degrees in Women’s Studies and Marketing in 2012.
Caroline-Fitzgerald
Caroline-Fitzgerald

Student Services

The College of the Liberal Arts is a community of people with a genuine interest in developing long-standing interpersonal relationships that help students succeed before and after they graduate. With this goal in mind, Liberal Arts Student Services connect students with the resources and opportunities they need to be successful. Our Student Services offices are all centrally located on the first floor of Sparks Building.

  • Academic Advising 
  • Academic Scholarships 
  • Career Enrichment Network 
  • Chaiken Center for Student Success 
  • Office of Equity, Inclusion, and Diversity 
  • Paterno Fellows Program 
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Patty Klug, director of the Chaiken Center for Student Success, meets in her office with student Nia Smith.

Beyond the Classroom

Learning outside the classroom is an important part of a Penn State Liberal Arts education. Participating in out-of-classroom experiences like internships, education abroad, and research can play an integral role in personal, academic, and career development, offering students the opportunity to set themselves apart.  

Our Career Enrichment Network offers a variety of professional development opportunities for students, including our Alumni Mentor Program, a Living Learning Community, and Liberal Arts Career Week. 

I think interning somewhere helps you understand what you like and what you don't like in a company. What I learned from [my experience at Amazon] was culture is big to me. I want a company that has a really healthy culture, really healthy work environment and is very team-oriented.
Sarah Stein, who will graduate from Penn State in 2025, poses for a headshot in front of an ivory wall.
Sarah Stein
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Alumna Imani Murray at the Marriott Mena House Cairo in Giza, Egypt, in April 2021.

Admissions

Have you already applied or been admitted to the College of the Liberal Arts? There are some next steps you should take, including applying for financial aid and academic scholarships and preparing for New Student Orientation. You can also read through our FAQs. 

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A student meets with Greg Nolan, director of Academic Advising.
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Andrew Peck, senior director of academic integrity, meets with a prospective student and her parents at a table in the HUB-Robeson Center.

Parents and Families

Our college prepares students for life beyond the classroom and for whatever career paths they may choose—even if they haven’t chosen a specific path just yet. We also want to make it easy for you to get the information you need. 

You can also read and watch our student stories on social media: 

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