Study Liberal Arts in Mississippi

Mississippi is known for a lot of things, from cotton to Elvis’ birthplace to magnolia trees. The state is also well known for blues music, barbeque, and the Mississippi River. Of course, as a Deep South state, you can expect a lot of Southern charm and hospitality in the Magnolia State.

But all these things aside, Mississippi has a robust higher education system. Well-known large schools like Ole Miss and Mississippi State are joined by a network of smaller colleges and universities that have improved access to higher education. Additionally, many of the state’s institutions of higher learning offer bachelor’s degree programs in liberal arts and related fields.

Below are some of the popular options worth considering if you want to get your degree in Mississippi.

Best Accredited Liberal Arts Bachelor's Programs and Colleges in Mississippi Online

Liberal Arts Bachelor’s Programs in Mississippi

Listed below are some of the popular schools offering liberal arts bachelor’s programs in Mississippi:

  • Mississippi State University
  • University of Southern Mississippi
  • University of Mississippi
  • Mississippi University for Women
  • Mississippi College
  • Jackson State University
  • Millsaps College
  • Tougaloo College
  • Mississippi Valley State University

Mississippi State University

Bachelor of Science in Interdisciplinary Studies

Mississippi State’s Bachelor of Science in Interdisciplinary Studies is a 122-credit program that can be completed entirely online. As a full-time student, you can finish the program in about four years. As a part-time student, you’ll likely need around five or more years to complete the degree requirements.

This program is especially good if you have already started a degree but never finished it. You can transfer up to 61 credits from an accredited community college and up to 86 credits from an accredited four-year university. This frees you up to work on upper-division coursework for your degree.

Mississippi State requires you to take 36 credits of upper-division courses. You can do so while choosing up to three concentrations from the Colleges of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Arts and Sciences, Business, and Education. Within these four divisions, there are numerous fields you can choose from, including, but not limited to:

  • Health Promotion
  • Criminology
  • Geosciences
  • General Business
  • Educational Psychology
  • General Technology

You can pick and choose your concentration areas as you see fit. For example, you can select areas that complement one another, like psychology, educational psychology, and counselor education. Or, if your interests are in agriculture and business, you might choose General Business and Animal and Dairy Sciences. You can also choose fields that aren’t as closely related, like Criminology, Communications, and Kinesiology. Whatever you decide, you must complete 18 credits in two areas or 12 credits in three areas.

In addition to 36 credits of concentration courses, you must also take Introduction to Interdisciplinary Studies during your second semester in the program and an Interdisciplinary Studies Professional Seminar during the final semester of the program. These courses focus on helping you develop the necessary tools and skills to be successful in interdisciplinary studies while also preparing you to exit the program and join the workforce or go to graduate school.

The final component of this program is 86 hours of core curriculum or general education coursework. As noted above, you can transfer all of these credits from another university. However, if you haven’t completed that many credits, you can finish this requirement by taking relevant courses at Mississippi State while you work on the major-area requirements.

You can apply for undergraduate admission to Mississippi State online. To do so, you must complete the following steps:

  • Fill out an undergraduate admission application.
  • Pay the $40 application fee.
  • Send official high school transcripts to Mississippi State.
  • Submit official transcripts from every college or university you have attended.
  • Submit official ACT or SAT scores.

The University of Southern Mississippi

Bachelor of Liberal Studies

At the University of Southern Mississippi, you can earn a Bachelor of Liberal Studies degree at the Gulf Park or Hattiesburg campuses. This degree is also available online for added flexibility.

This is a design-your-own program. Working with an academic advisor, you can develop your own curriculum, take courses that interest you, and prepare yourself for the next step in your journey, be that graduate school or seeking employment after finishing your bachelor’s degree.

You can create your program by choosing among nearly 90 available concentrations in six broad fields (you must take courses in three of these six areas:

  • Arts and Media
  • Business and Economic Development
  • Health and Education
  • Humanities and Communication
  • Social Science and Interdisciplinary Studies
  • Science and Engineering

Then, within each field, you can choose more specific subjects to study. For example, if you are interested in arts and media, you can study art history, dance, or theater, to name a few. If you prefer social science, you can concentrate on anthropology, human rights, or German, again, to name a few options.

All told, you must complete 18 credits in one concentration plus another 18 credits within the same field. So, you might take 18 credits in art history and another 18 credits in arts and media courses. If you choose social science, you might take 18 credits in German and another 18 credits in social science classes.

No matter the field and concentration you choose, you must complete a capstone experience. The purpose of the capstone is to help you reflect on your studies throughout the program and apply what you have learned in a unique research project or experiential learning project. The end result of the capstone is that you emerge with a professional portfolio of work related to your desired career field.

This program takes anywhere from two to four years to complete. You will need four years if you are entering as a first-time student; if you already have an associate’s degree or an equal number of credits, you likely need just two years of full-time coursework to graduate.

The admissions requirements are as follows:

  • Submit an application for undergraduate admission.
  • Pay the $45 application fee.
  • Submit official high school transcripts.
  • Submit official transcripts from every college or university you have attended.
  • Submit official ACT or SAT scores (for first-year applicants only).

The University of Mississippi

Bachelor of Arts in Interdisciplinary Studies

The Bachelor of Arts in Interdisciplinary Studies at Ole Miss allows you to study multiple areas rather than concentrating on a single, specific major. This program is beneficial if you have already started a degree but have not yet finished it. It’s also a good option if you have academic interests that span multiple fields of inquiry.

The program is 120 credits, which usually takes around four years of full-time coursework to complete. However, taking summer classes, intersession classes, or extra courses each fall and spring can condense that timeline by a semester or even a year.

There are two options for completing this degree: Option A and Option B.

Option A is a 42-credit plan spanning two or more distinct disciplines. The disciplines you choose must be unified somehow, such as by a theme or a common problem. You must complete no more than 21 credits in each discipline.

Option B is also a 42-credit plan of study, however, you choose two minors and complementary courses that are unified by a common problem or theme. One of the minors must be from the College of Liberal Arts, and 12 or more credits of upper-division courses are required for each minor.

Regardless of which option you choose, you must also take two Interdisciplinary Studies courses: Introduction to Interdisciplinary Studies and Interdisciplinary Studies Capstone.

As is common for these courses, the first helps you acquire the necessary skills for studying interdisciplinary fields, while the second serves as a reflective summary project in which you synthesize your learning and complete a research project. Alternatively, you can substitute the capstone experience with experiential learning, like an approved internship.

The remaining program credits are general education courses. The same breakdown of courses is required for both degree options:

  • 12 credits of writing and literature
  • 6 credits of the same foreign language
  • 6 credits of history
  • 3 credits of humanities
  • 6 credits of social sciences
  • 3 credits of fine arts
  • 3 credits of math
  • 9-12 credits of science, including two lab sciences

The Ole Miss application for undergraduate admission is online. You must complete the following steps to apply as a first-year student:

  • Submit an application for admission.
  • Pay the application fee.
  • Demonstrate that you have completed a College Preparatory Curriculum in high school, including the following:
    • 4 units of English
    • 4 units of math
    • 3 units of science
    • 3 units of social studies
    • 1 unit of art
    • 2 units of advanced electives
    • 1 unit of technology or computer science
  • Submit a six-semester high school transcript showing coursework from freshman, sophomore, and junior years.
  • Submit your senior course schedule.
  • Submit ACT or SAT scores.

The Mississippi University for Women

Interdisciplinary Studies Major

The Interdisciplinary Studies major at the Mississippi University for Women is a comprehensive four-year degree that combines the studies of two or three academic fields into one broad degree program. You can study closely related areas or disparate fields if you so choose. Your options include popular areas of study such as:

  • Art
  • English
  • History
  • Legal Studies
  • Psychology

Other available options include Business, Biological Sciences, Culinary Arts, and Legal Studies.

The format of this degree is simple. If you choose the Bachelor of Arts option, you will complete general education coursework in areas like communications, natural sciences, social sciences, and other fields. These courses comprise 38-39 credits. You must also take six credits of the same foreign language.

Second, you must complete at least 36 credits within the interdisciplinary studies major. You need at least 12 credits in each of the concentrations you choose. So, let’s assume you choose art and history as your concentration areas and that you complete 12 credits in art. This means you’d need to take 24 credits in history to meet the 36-credit threshold.

Third, you are required to take a three-credit Interdisciplinary Studies Capstone course. You will take this class during your senior year and you will be supervised by a faculty member as you work on a research project of your design. You must give an oral presentation on your project to successfully complete the course.

Lastly, you will take a variety of electives to round out the 124 credits needed to graduate. These electives, which must exceed 28 total credits, can be in any field or discipline of your choosing.

If you choose the Bachelor of Science option, the requirements are a little different. For example, there is no foreign language requirement. Instead, you will take 8 credits of lab sciences and three credits of Math 113 or higher. An additional 9 credits of science, math, or computer applications or programming are also required. The only other difference is that you need 36 general elective courses rather than the 28 required for the Bachelor of Arts.

You can apply to the Mississippi University for Women online at any time. The requirements for first-year admission are as follows:

  • Submit an application for admission.
  • Pay the $50 application fee.
  • Demonstrate that you’ve completed a College Preparatory Curriculum in high school, including the following:
    • 4 units of English
    • 3 units of math
    • 3 units of science
    • 3 units of social studies
    • 1 unit of art
    • 2 units of advanced electives
    • 1/2 unit of technology or computer science
  • Submit high school transcripts.

You are guaranteed full admission if you complete the College Preparatory Curriculum with a 3.2 GPA or above. Alternatively, you might be accepted if you have a good enough combination of GPA, class rank, and ACT/SAT scores.

Is Mississippi State a Liberal Arts College?

Mississippi State University (MSU) is not classified as a liberal arts college. It is a comprehensive public research university that offers a wide range of undergraduate, graduate, and professional degree programs across various fields of study, including engineering, business, education, agriculture, and the sciences, among others.

While MSU does have a College of Arts and Sciences that offers liberal arts education and degrees in humanities, social sciences, and natural sciences, the university as a whole encompasses much more than just liberal arts disciplines. It is known for its strong research programs, extension services, and emphasis on science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields, in addition to liberal arts and humanities.

What are the Liberal Arts Career Opportunities in Mississippi?

With a liberal arts degree in hand, there is virtually no end to the career possibilities you can pursue in Mississippi. A great option for the Magnolia State is to work in its booming tourism industry. For example, you might concentrate your studies on business and use those experiences to start a tourist-related business of your own, like a bed and breakfast, a tour company, or a travel agency.

But, let’s assume that you are more interested in helping people in need in Mississippi. With a liberal arts degree focusing on a field like human services or psychology, you might find employment with a social service agency or non-profit organization that helps people find food, shelter, employment, and other necessities.

In fact, you might parlay your liberal arts education into a career as a career counselor, job development coordinator, or advocate, all of which require critical thinking skills, excellent communication skills, and a commitment to ethical practice, all of which you can learn in a liberal arts-related program.

Public relations is another field you might explore with a liberal arts degree. Businesses and organizations of all sizes and types in Mississippi employ public relations specialists to help build brand awareness and customer loyalty. Related to that, you might concentrate your studies in business or marketing and work in the advertising field. Either way, you can help promote Mississippi businesses to people near and far.

If politics is of interest to you, Mississippi might prove to be fruitful for starting your career. A liberal arts degree focusing on political science, for example, could prepare you for running for office at the local or state level. If you are not one to be in the limelight, though, you could use your liberal arts degree to help political candidates reach out to voters, manage campaign finances, or write engaging political speeches. You might even consider working as a lobbyist in Jackson, the capital of Mississippi, on behalf of businesses, industries, or organizations in the state.

Yet another option to think about is working in the finance sector. Banks and other financial institutions need college-educated workers to fill positions like bank teller, loan officer, and branch manager. In this capacity, you could help Mississippians manage their funds, secure money to buy a home, and otherwise improve their financial futures.

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