International Relations & National Security is above average in terms of popularity with it being the #58 most popular bachelor's degree program in the country. This means you won't have too much trouble finding schools that offer the degree.
In 2025, College Factual analyzed 7 schools in order to identify the top ones for its Best International Relations & National Security Bachelor's Degree Schools in the Plains States Region ranking. Combined, these schools handed out 236 bachelor's degrees in international relations & national security to qualified students.
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Choosing a Great International Relations & National Security School for Your Bachelor's Degree
The international relations bachelor's degree program you select can have a big impact on your future. Important measures of a quality international relations 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 international relations & national security students vs. other majors.
Major Demand - How many other international relations & national security 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 international relations & national security 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 international relations & national security related body.
Our complete ranking methodology documents in more detail how we consider these factors to identify the best colleges for international relations & national security students working on their bachelor's degree.
More Ways to Rank International Relations & National Security Schools
The international relations school you choose to invest your time and money in matters. To help you make the decision that is right for you, we've developed a number of major-specific rankings, including this list of the Best International Relations & National Security Bachelor's Degree Schools in the Plains States Region.
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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University of Minnesota - Twin Cities is a wonderful choice for students pursuing a bachelor's degree in international relations & national security. Located in the large city of Minneapolis, UMN Twin Cities is a public university with a very large student population.
After graduation, international relations bachelor's recipients generally make an average of $28,596 in the first five years of their career.
University of Iowa is one of the finest schools in the United States for getting a bachelor's degree in international relations & national security. Iowa is a fairly large public university located in the small city of Iowa City.
Those international relations & national security students who get their bachelor's degree from University of Iowa make $3,890 more than the typical international relations graduate.
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
The international relations bachelor's degree program you select can have a big impact on your future. Important measures of a quality international relations program can vary widely even among the top schools. When choosing a school we recommend considering some of the following factors:
