If you plan on getting your bachelor's degree in area studies, you won't be alone since the degree program is ranked #85 in the country in terms of popularity. This means you won't have too much trouble finding schools that offer the degree.
College Factual reviewed 67 schools in the United States to determine which ones were the best for bachelor's degree seekers in the field of area studies. When you put them all together, these colleges and universities awarded 3,649 bachelor's degrees in area studies during the <nil> academic year.
Explore societal similarities and differences as seen through cultural, biological, archaeological and linguistic lenses when you earn one of your degrees in anthropology from Southern New Hampshire University.
Choosing a Great Area Studies School for Your Bachelor's Degree
The area studies bachelor's degree program you select can have a big impact on your future. Important measures of a quality area studies program can vary widely even among the top schools. When choosing a school we recommend considering some of the following factors:
Quality Overall Is Important
A school that excels in educating for a particular major and degree level must be a great school overall as well. To make it into this list a school must rank well in our overall Best Colleges ranking. This ranking considered factors such as graduation rates, overall graduate earnings and other educational resources to identify great colleges and universities.
Average Earnings
To determine the overall quality of a graduate school, one factor we look at is the average early-career salary of those receiving their bachelor's degree from the school. This is because one of the main reasons people pursue their bachelor's degree is to enable themselves to find better-paying positions.
Other Factors We Consider
In addition to the above, you should consider some of the following factors:
Major Focus - How much a school focuses on area studies students vs. other majors.
Major Demand - How many other area studies students want to attend this school to pursue a bachelor's degree.
Educational Resources - The amount of money and other resources allocated to students while they are pursuing their degree. These resources include such things as number of students per instructor and education expenditures per student.
Student Debt - How easy is it for area 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 area studies related body.
Our full ranking methodology documents in more detail how we consider these factors to identify the best colleges for area studies students working on their bachelor's degree.
Since picking the right college can be one of the most important decisions of your life, we've developed the Best Area Studies Bachelor's Degree Schools ranking, along with many other major-related rankings, to help you make that decision.
In addition to College Factual's rankings, you may want to take a look at College Combat, our unique tool that lets you pit your favorite schools head-to-head and compare how they rate on factors that most interest you.
When you have some time, check it out - you may want to bookmark the link so you don't forget it.
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Explore societal similarities and differences as seen through cultural, biological, archaeological and linguistic lenses when you earn one of your degrees in anthropology from Southern New Hampshire University.
Best Schools for Bachelor’s Students to Study Area Studies in the United States
The following list ranks the best colleges and universities for pursuing a bachelor's degree in area studies. Only those schools that rank in the top 20% of all the schools we analyze get awarded with a place on this list.
Dartmouth College is a good choice for students interested in a bachelor's degree in area studies. Dartmouth is a moderately-sized private not-for-profit college located in the remote town of Hanover.
Those area studies students who get their bachelor's degree from Dartmouth College receive $12,887 more than the average area studies grad.
Columbia University in the City of New York is a good choice for students interested in a bachelor's degree in area studies. Located in the city of New York, Columbia is a private not-for-profit university with a fairly large student population.
Those area studies students who get their bachelor's degree from Columbia University in the City of New York make $5,801 more than the standard area studies graduate.
Brown University is a good choice for individuals pursuing a bachelor's degree in area studies. Located in the midsize city of Providence, Brown is a private not-for-profit university with a large student population.
Area Studies bachelor's degree recipients from Brown University get an earnings boost of approximately $3,487 over the typical income of area studies graduates.
University of California - Berkeley is one of the finest schools in the country for getting a bachelor's degree in area studies. UC Berkeley is a fairly large public university located in the medium-sized city of Berkeley.
Area Studies bachelor's degree recipients from University of California - Berkeley get an earnings boost of approximately $15,050 above the average earnings of area studies majors.
Located in the medium-sized city of New Haven, Yale is a private not-for-profit university with a large student population.
Bachelor's recipients from the area studies degree program at Yale University earn $19,940 above the typical graduate in this field shortly after graduation.
Located in the large city of Seattle, UW Seattle is a public university with a fairly large student population.
Those area studies students who get their bachelor's degree from University of Washington - Seattle Campus make $7,990 more than the standard area studies graduate.
Located in the city of Waltham, Brandeis is a private not-for-profit university with a medium-sized student population.
Bachelor's recipients from the area studies major at Brandeis University get $8,070 above the average college graduate in this field shortly after graduation.
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Additional Noteworthy Schools
These are some additional schools worth mentioning that are also great but just didn't quite make the cut to earn our top Best Area Studies Bachelor's Degree Schools award.
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).