2025 Best Liberal Arts General Studies Bachelor's Degree Schools in the Middle Atlantic Region

Ranked #13 in popularity, liberal arts general studies is one of the most sought-after bachelor's degree programs in the nation. This means there are lots of options to choose from when you decide to get your degree.

College Factual reviewed 51 schools in the Middle Atlantic Region to determine which ones were the best for bachelor's degree seekers in the field of liberal arts general studies. Combined, these schools handed out 5,798 bachelor's degrees in liberal arts general studies to qualified students.

What's on this page: * Our Methodology

• Best Bachelor’s Degree Schools List

Choosing a Great Liberal Arts General Studies School for Your Bachelor's Degree

Your choice of liberal arts general studies for getting your bachelor's degree school matters. 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 bachelor's degree school is important to ensure a quality education, not just how well they do in a particular major. To account for this we consider a school's overall Best Colleges ranking which itself looks at a collection of various 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 bachelor's graduates during the early years of their career. That is, everyone wants their bachelor'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 bachelor'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 easy is it for liberal arts general studies to pay back their student loans after receiving their bachelor's degree.
• Accreditation - Whether a school is regionally accredited and/or accredited by a recognized liberal arts general studies related body.

Our full 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 bachelor's degree.

More Ways to Rank Liberal Arts General Studies Schools

Since picking the right college can be one of the most important decisions of your life, we've developed the Best Liberal Arts General Studies Bachelor's Degree Schools in the Middle Atlantic Region ranking, along with many other major-related rankings, to help you make that decision.

In addition to our rankings, you can take two colleges and compare them based on the criteria that matters most to you in our unique tool, College Combat. Test it out when you get a chance! You may also want to bookmark the link and share it with others who are trying to make the college decision.

Best Schools for Bachelor’s Students to Study Liberal Arts General Studies in the Middle Atlantic Region

Explore the top ranked colleges and universities for liberal arts general studies students seeking a a bachelor's degree. Only those schools that rank in the top 20% of all the schools we analyze get awarded with a place on this list.

10 Top Middle Atlantic Region Schools for a Bachelor's in Liberal Arts

1

New York University
New York, NY

538 Annual Graduates

$38,447 Median Starting Salary

$99,560 Median Student Debt

Any student who is interested in a bachelor's degree in liberal arts general studies needs to check out New York University. NYU is a very large private not-for-profit university located in the city of New York.

Bachelor's graduates who receive their degree from the liberal arts program earn an average of $38,447 in their early career salary.

More information about a bachelor’s in liberal arts general studies from New York University

2

Georgetown University
Washington, DC

24 Annual Graduates

$66,719 Median Starting Salary

Every student who is interested in a bachelor's degree in liberal arts general studies needs to take a look at Georgetown University. Georgetown is a fairly large private not-for-profit university located in the city of Washington.

Those liberal arts general studies students who get their bachelor's degree from Georgetown University receive $29,006 more than the standard liberal arts graduate.

More information about a bachelor’s in liberal arts general studies from Georgetown University

3

Villanova University
Villanova, PA

37 Annual Graduates

$25,436 Median Starting Salary

It is difficult to beat Villanova University if you want to pursue a bachelor's degree in liberal arts general studies. Villanova is a large private not-for-profit university located in the suburb of Villanova.

Bachelor's graduates who receive their degree from the liberal arts program earn around $25,436 in the first couple years of their career.

More information about a bachelor’s in liberal arts general studies from Villanova University

4

Drexel University
Philadelphia, PA

52 Annual Graduates

$62,470 Median Starting Salary

Drexel University is a good choice for students pursuing a bachelor's degree in liberal arts general studies. Drexel is a very large private not-for-profit university located in the city of Philadelphia.

Bachelor's recipients from the liberal arts general studies major at Drexel University make $24,757 above the standard college grad with the same degree shortly after graduation.

More information about a bachelor’s in liberal arts general studies from Drexel University

5

Seton Hall University
South Orange, NJ

123 Annual Graduates

$36,993 Median Starting Salary

$56,000 Median Student Debt

Located in the suburb of South Orange, Seton Hall is a private not-for-profit university with a moderately-sized student population.

Bachelor's graduates who receive their degree from the liberal arts program earn an average of $36,993 in their early career salary.

More information about a bachelor’s in liberal arts general studies from Seton Hall University

6

Rochester Institute of Technology
Rochester, NY

109 Annual Graduates

$36,318 Median Starting Salary

$27,112 Median Student Debt

Located in the suburb of Rochester, RIT is a private not-for-profit school with a large student population.

Bachelor's graduates who receive their degree from the liberal arts program make around $36,318 for their early career.

More information about a bachelor’s in liberal arts general studies from Rochester Institute of Technology

7

Fairleigh Dickinson University - Metropolitan Campus
Teaneck, NJ

191 Annual Graduates

$39,071 Median Starting Salary

$16,500 Median Student Debt

FDU is a medium-sized private not-for-profit university located in the suburb of Teaneck.

Students who graduate with their bachelor's from the liberal arts program state that they receive average early career wages of $39,071.

More information about a bachelor’s in liberal arts general studies from Fairleigh Dickinson University - Metropolitan Campus

8

Molloy College
Rockville Centre, NY

24 Annual Graduates

$74,868 Median Starting Salary

Located in the suburb of Rockville Centre, Molloy is a private not-for-profit college with a small student population.

Those liberal arts general studies students who get their bachelor's degree from Molloy College make $37,155 more than the standard liberal arts graduate.

More information about a bachelor’s in liberal arts general studies from Molloy College

9

University of Delaware
Newark, DE

27 Annual Graduates

Located in the suburb of Newark, UD is a public university with a very large student population.More information about a bachelor’s in liberal arts general studies from University of Delaware

10

Carnegie Mellon University
Pittsburgh, PA

22 Annual Graduates

Carnegie Mellon is a large private not-for-profit university located in the city of Pittsburgh.More information about a bachelor’s in liberal arts general studies from Carnegie Mellon University

Honorable Mentions

Here are some additional great schools for Liberal Arts General Studies students in the Middle Atlantic Region that almost earned our Best Liberal Arts General Studies Bachelor's Degree Schools in the Middle Atlantic Region award.

Rank	College	Location
11	Saint Joseph’s University	Philadelphia, PA
12	University of Pittsburgh - Pittsburgh Campus	Pittsburgh, PA
13	St John’s College	Annapolis, MD
14	Union College New York	Schenectady, NY
15	Stockton University	Galloway, NJ
16	Sarah Lawrence College	Bronxville, NY
17	Thomas Edison State University	Trenton, NJ

Best Liberal Arts General Studies Colleges by State

Explore the best liberal arts general studies colleges for a specific state in the Middle Atlantic Region .

State	Colleges	Degrees Awarded
New York	275	3,957
Pennsylvania	274	1,002
Maryland	207	412
New Jersey	193	1,544
Delaware	130	129
District of Columbia	126	52

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	4,572
General Studies	578
Individualized Studies	335
Humanities	313

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.