Does anyone ever go to grad school for one of the liberal arts after having studied business as an undergrad? From what I can tell, this seems to be pretty rare. Has anyone ever encountered someone with this kind of educational background? Were they trying to change careers? Did it work? For example, a bachelors in management followed by a masters in history; or a bachelors in business administration followed by a masters in political science, etc. Thanks.
Why are you asking?
Is this something you are considering?
It’s something that I’ve considered for a while, but never pursued. I have an undergraduate degree in a fairly generic business discipline, but I also have a personal interest in philosophy, history, poli sci, sociology, etc. It just occurs to me that I’ve never met or heard of anyone who received a graduate degree in any of the liberal arts after receiving a bachelors in business (and this naturally discouraged me from going back to school). Does anyone have any thoughts?
Sorry, I should have hit “Reply” first…
@aug5732 I know lots of people with undergrad STEM or business degrees who’ve taken many courses tangential to their grad degrees while pursuing grad degrees in their fields. I also know many who’ve already completed their STEM or business grad degrees (most are tenured faculty) who frequently audit classes outside their fields.
Those I know who’ve gone back to school for masters or PhD in liberal arts after completing an undergrad STEM or business degree have done so due to:
a) desire to change fields and/or a masters in education to take up teaching
or
b) regret that they missed something that is important to them as a result of focusing to much on a career enhancing major.
Whether or not you can do this depends on the coursework you took in college. Social sciences and humanities fields in the liberal arts are academic disciplines, and you need foundational knowledge in the field before you can get a graduate degree in it. So for example, if you wanted a master’s in political science, most programs would expect that you had at least some coursework - like the equivalent of a minor, if not a little more - in political science.
There are interdisciplinary MA programs in the liberal arts that you might find it a little easier to gain admission to without much background. For example, at Columbia, there are programs in American studies, global thought, human rights studies.