If you plan on getting your master's degree in international relations & national security, you won't be alone since the degree program is ranked #43 in the country in terms of popularity. This means you won't have too much trouble finding schools that offer the degree.
College Factual looked at 8 colleges and universities when compiling its 2025 Best International Relations & National Security Master's Degree Schools in New York ranking. Combined, these schools handed out 662 master's degrees in international relations & national security to qualified students.
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Choosing a Great International Relations & National Security School for Your Master's Degree
The international relations master'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 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 much a school focuses on international relations & national security students vs. other majors.
Major Demand - The number of international relations & national security 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 much debt international relations & national security students go into to obtain their master's degree and how well they are able to pay back that debt.
Accreditation - Whether a school is regionally accredited and/or accredited by a recognized international relations & national security related body.
Our full ranking methodology documents in more detail how we consider these factors to identify the best schools for international relations & national security students working on their master's degree.
More Ways to Rank International Relations & National Security Schools
When choosing the right school for you, it's important to arm yourself with all the facts you can. To that end, we've created a number of major-specific rankings, including this Best International Relations & National Security Master's Degree Schools in New York list to help you make the college decision.
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Every student who is interested in a master's degree in international relations & national security needs to check out Columbia University in the City of New York. Located in the city of New York, Columbia is a private not-for-profit university with a very large student population.
Those international relations & national security students who get their master's degree from Columbia University in the City of New York earn $17,648 more than the standard international relations student.
New York University is one of the finest schools in the United States for getting a master's degree in international relations & national security. Located in the large city of New York, NYU is a private not-for-profit university with a very large student population.
After graduating, international relations master's recipients usually earn an average of $59,814 at the beginning of their careers.
Fordham University is one of the finest schools in the United States for getting a master's degree in international relations & national security. Located in the city of Bronx, Fordham U is a private not-for-profit university with a fairly large student population.
Students who graduate with their master's from the international relations program report average early career earnings of $60,709.
It's hard to beat Syracuse University if you want to pursue a master's degree in international relations & national security. Syracuse is a very large private not-for-profit university located in the medium-sized city of Syracuse.
Students who graduate with their master's from the international relations program state that they receive average early career earnings of $60,384.
Located in the large city of New York, Baruch is a public college with a fairly large student population.
Those international relations & national security students who get their master's degree from Baruch College make $4,788 more than the typical international relations grad.
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 relations master'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:
