When it comes to popularity, a master's degree in ethnic studies sits in the middle of the road, ranking #149 out of 343 majors in the country. So, it might take a little more work to find colleges and universities that offer the degree program.
For its 2025 ranking, College Factual looked at 2 schools in the Middle Atlantic Region to determine which ones were the best for ethnic studies students pursuing a master's degree. When you put them all together, these colleges and universities awarded 115 master's degrees in ethnic studies during the 2022-2023 academic year.
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One measure we use to determine the quality of a school is to look at the average salary of master's graduates during the early years of their career. That is, everyone wants their master's degree to be worth something, and salaries are one measure of determining that.
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 ethnic studies students vs. other majors.
Major Demand - The number of ethnic studies students who choose to seek a master's degree at the school.
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 ethnic studies to pay back their student loans after receiving their master's degree.
Accreditation - Whether a school is regionally accredited and/or accredited by a recognized ethnic studies related body.
Our full ranking methodology documents in more detail how we consider these factors to identify the best colleges for ethnic studies students working on their master's degree.
Since picking the right college can be one of the most important decisions of your life, we've developed the Best Ethnic Studies Master's Degree Schools in the Middle Atlantic Region ranking, along with many other major-related rankings, to help you make that decision.
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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).
by our College Data Analytics Team
