Profile of the Program
On this page:
Student profile
- Total candidates: Between 500 and 525, on average
- Age range: 22 to 70, the median age is 35
- Gender: 51 percent male, 49 percent female
- Geographical range: Over 30 states and 10 foreign countries are currently represented
- Top 5 largest fields of concentration: Government, psychology, English, history, and biology
Thesis topics
Students in the ALM program have a chance to explore myriad topics with experts from a diverse range of academic specialties. Below are a few examples of the theses students have done to complete their degrees.
Anthropology and archaeology
- Stealing Clothes, Inciting Murder: Rwandan Women and Their Fatal Alliances during the 1994 Genocide
- Leader of Serpents, the Fall of the Eagle: The Map of Cuauhtinchan No. 2 as the Script of a Play
Biological sciences
- Effects of Global Warming and Local Habitat Change on the Winter Distribution of Birds in Western/Central Massachusetts
- Determining the Role of Pancreatic Progenitor Cell Number on Final Pancreas Size
Dramatic arts
- Subversion and (Un)containment: Homoeroticism in Twelfth Night, The Merchant of Venice, and The Two Gentlemen of Verona
English and American literature
- Henry James and the French Aristocracy Under the Napoleonic Code: Madame de Vionnet and a Contextual Reading of The Ambassadors
- A Post-Modern Autobiographical Mode: Alice Munro’s First-Person Short Stories
Foreign literature, language, and culture
- That Vertiginous Feeling: A Brief Survey of the Uncanny-Marvelous or the Marvelous-Uncanny in “Fantastic” Literature
- De-Exoticizing Haruki Murakami’s Global Grand Slam
Government
- The Endogenous Constituents within the Socialist Party that Fomented the September 1973 Chilean Coup
- US Immigration Policy: Implications for US Competitiveness in Attracting and Retaining Foreign Talent
History
- Albert Cameron Burrage: An Allegiance to Boston’s Elite through a Lifetime of Political, Business, and Social Reform, 1859–1931
- Grand Inquests and Great Offences: An Inquiry into the Meaning of “High Crimes and Misdemeanors” in Presidential Impeachment
Psychology
- Attention and Concept Formation in Socially Impaired Children
- Gender Differences in the Long-Term Psychological Impact of Industrial Struggle
Religion
- Character Education in America’s Public and Private Schools: A Case Study
- Breaking Bread: The Gospels and the End of Poverty
Visual arts
- Interiority and Alienation in Childe Hassam’s “Window Paintings” (History of Art and Architecture
- “Exploring the Border Between Form and Chaos”: Photojournalism’s Intersection with Latin American Magic Realist Literature in Alex Webb’s Vision of the Tropics (Studio Arts and Film)
- Apotropaism and Influence: The Symbolic Power of the Dwarf in Ancient Roman Art (Classical Civilizations)
After the ALM degree
After graduating from the Master of Liberal Arts program, students are prepared to pursue new professions, advance their careers, go on to other graduate programs, or publish works in their fields. The following is an illustration of the existing careers of candidates and the graduate programs to which alumni have gone.
Careers
| Accountant | Art director |
| Art gallery owner | Attorney |
| Bookstore owner | Cancer researcher |
| Chemist | Development officer |
| Editor | Engineer |
| FBI agent | Graphic designer |
| Human resources assistant | Insurance claims examiner |
| Interpreter | Investment banker |
| Journalist | Paralegal |
| Photographer | Physician |
| Research technician | Sales manager |
| Scientist | Software consultant |
| Foreign service officer | Teacher |
| Technical writer | US Air Force officer |
| US Marine | Vice president of operations |
| Web developer | Yoga instructor |
Graduate schools
ALM alumni have also gone on to a number of doctoral programs or other advanced degree programs. See the list.