a master's degree in international studies is more popular than many other degrees. In fact, it ranks #125 out of 343 on popularity of all such degrees in the nation. This means you won't have too much trouble finding schools that offer the degree.
In 2025, College Factual analyzed 14 schools in order to identify the top ones for its Best International Studies Master's Degree Schools ranking. Combined, these schools handed out 938 master's degrees in international studies to qualified students.
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Choosing a Great International Studies School for Your Master's Degree
The international studies master's degree program you select can have a big impact on your future. This section explores some of the factors we include in our ranking and how much they vary depending on the school you select. 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 for a Master's Degree 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 master's degree from the school. This is because one of the main reasons people pursue their master'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 many resources a school devotes to international studies students as compared to other majors.
Major Demand - The number of international 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 international 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 international studies related body.
Our full ranking methodology documents in more detail how we consider these factors to identify the best schools for international 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 International Studies Master's Degree Schools ranking, along with many other major-related rankings, to help you make that decision.
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Every student who is interested in a master's degree in international studies has to take a look at University of Pennsylvania. Located in the city of Philadelphia, UPenn is a private not-for-profit university with a fairly large student population.
Those international studies students who get their master's degree from University of Pennsylvania make $139,614 more than the average international studies graduate.
It is hard to beat University of Oklahoma Norman Campus if you wish to pursue a master's degree in international studies. Located in the medium-sized suburb of Norman, University of Oklahoma is a public university with a fairly large student population.
Those international studies students who get their master's degree from University of Oklahoma Norman Campus make $16,974 more than the standard international studies graduate.
Every student who is interested in a master's degree in international studies needs to look into American Public University System. Located in the town of Charles Town, American Military University is a private for-profit university with a fairly large student population.
International Studies master's degree recipients from American Public University System get an earnings boost of around $19,213 over the typical earnings of international studies graduates.
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).
The international studies master's degree program you select can have a big impact on your future. This section explores some of the factors we include in our ranking and how much they vary depending on the school you select. When choosing a school we recommend considering some of the following factors:
