Philosophy is above average in terms of popularity with it being the #61 most popular bachelor's degree program in the country. So, you have a fair amount of options to choose from when looking for a school.
In 2025, College Factual analyzed 101 schools in order to identify the top ones for its Best Philosophy Bachelor's Degree Schools ranking. Combined, these schools handed out 7,543 bachelor's degrees in philosophy to qualified students.
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Choosing a Great Philosophy School for Your Bachelor's Degree
Your choice of philosophy for getting your bachelor's degree school matters. This section explores some of the factors we include in our ranking and how much they vary depending on the school you select. Below we explain some of the most important factors to consider before making your choice:
Overall Quality Is a Must
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 Early-Career Salaries
Average early-career salary of those graduating with their bachelor's degree is one indicator we use in our analysis to find the schools that offer the highest-quality education. After all, your bachelor's degree won't mean much if it doesn't help you find a job that will help you earn a living.
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 philosophy students vs. other majors.
Major Demand - How many other philosophy 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 philosophy 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 philosophy related body.
Our full ranking methodology documents in more detail how we consider these factors to identify the best schools for philosophy students working on their bachelor's degree.
Since the program you select can have a significant impact on your future, we've developed a number of rankings, including this Best Philosophy Bachelor's Degree Schools list, to help you choose the best school for you.
To further help you make the college decision, we've developed a unique tool called College Combat that allows you to compare schools based on the factors that matter the most to you.
Go ahead and give it a try, or bookmark the link so you can check it out later.
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ADBLOCK #171
Best Schools for Bachelor’s Students to Study Philosophy in the United States
Below you'll see a list of the best colleges and universities for pursuing a bachelor's degree in philosophy. Only those schools that rank in the top 20% of all the schools we analyze get awarded with a place on this list.
Every student pursuing a degree in a bachelor's degree in philosophy has to take a look at University of Pennsylvania. Located in the large city of Philadelphia, UPenn is a private not-for-profit university with a very large student population.
Philosophy bachelor's degree recipients from University of Pennsylvania receive an earnings boost of approximately $40,940 above the average earnings of philosophy graduates.
University of Southern California is a great decision for individuals pursuing a bachelor's degree in philosophy. USC is a fairly large private not-for-profit university located in the large city of Los Angeles.
Philosophy bachelor's degree recipients from University of Southern California earn a boost of about $6,267 over the typical income of philosophy majors.
Boston College is a wonderful decision for individuals pursuing a bachelor's degree in philosophy. Boston College is a fairly large private not-for-profit college located in the small city of Chestnut Hill.
Those philosophy students who get their bachelor's degree from Boston College receive $15,232 more than the average philosophy grad.
Located in the city of Seattle, UW Seattle is a public university with a fairly large student population.
Bachelor's recipients from the philosophy program at University of Washington - Seattle Campus make $9,959 above the typical college graduate with the same degree shortly after graduation.
Located in the city of New York, Columbia is a private not-for-profit university with a very large student population.
Bachelor's recipients from the philosophy degree program at Columbia University in the City of New York make $20,555 more than the standard college grad with the same degree shortly after graduation.
UMCP is a very large public university located in the suburb of College Park.
Those philosophy students who get their bachelor's degree from University of Maryland - College Park make $3,495 more than the standard philosophy student.
Located in the large city of New York, NYU is a private not-for-profit university with a very large student population.
Bachelor's recipients from the philosophy degree program at New York University earn $8,246 more than the average college graduate with the same degree shortly after graduation.
UC Berkeley is a fairly large public university located in the city of Berkeley.
Philosophy bachelor's degree recipients from University of California - Berkeley receive an earnings boost of approximately $4,242 above the average earnings of philosophy graduates.
Located in the large city of Madison, UW - Madison is a public university with a fairly large student population.
Bachelor's recipients from the philosophy program at University of Wisconsin - Madison make $3,862 above the standard college grad with the same degree when they enter the workforce.
UNC Chapel Hill is a very large public university located in the small city of Chapel Hill.
Philosophy bachelor's degree recipients from University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill get an earnings boost of around $2,171 above the average income of philosophy majors.
U-M is a very large public university located in the medium-sized city of Ann Arbor.
Bachelor's recipients from the philosophy program at University of Michigan - Ann Arbor get $5,772 more than the typical college grad in this field when they enter the workforce.
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.
Your choice of philosophy for getting your bachelor's degree school matters. This section explores some of the factors we include in our ranking and how much they vary depending on the school you select. Below we explain some of the most important factors to consider before making your choice:
