If you pursue a bachelor's degree in political science & government, you won't be alone. The field of study is the #12 most popular program in the country. So, there are lots of possibilities to explore when you're trying to determine where you want to get your degree.
In 2025, College Factual analyzed 32 schools in order to identify the top ones for its Best Political Science & Government Bachelor's Degree Schools in Pennsylvania ranking. Combined, these schools handed out 1,831 bachelor's degrees in political science & government to qualified students.
Gain a solid understanding of American political history, the current political landscape, and the major political parties with this online bachelor's from Southern New Hampshire University.
Choosing a Great Political Science & Government School for Your Bachelor's Degree
The political science bachelor'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. Below we explain some of the most important factors to consider before making your choice:
Overall Quality Is a Must
The overall quality of a bachelor's degree school is important to ensure a quality education, not just how well they do in a particular major. To take this into account we include a school's overall Best Colleges ranking which itself looks at a combination of different factors like degree completion, educational resources, student body caliber and post-graduation earnings for the school as a whole.
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
The metrics below are just some of the other metrics that we use to determine our rankings.
Major Focus - How much a school focuses on political science & government students vs. other majors.
Major Demand - The number of political science & government students who choose to seek a bachelor's degree at the school.
Educational Resources - How many resources are allocated to students. These resources may include educational expenditures per student, number of students per instructor, and graduation rate among other things.
Student Debt - How easy is it for political science & government 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 political science & government related body.
Our full ranking methodology documents in more detail how we consider these factors to identify the best schools for political science & government students working on their bachelor's degree.
More Ways to Rank Political Science & Government Schools
The political science 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 Political Science & Government Bachelor's Degree Schools in Pennsylvania.
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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Gain a solid understanding of American political history, the current political landscape, and the major political parties with this online bachelor's from Southern New Hampshire University.
It is hard to beat University of Pennsylvania if you wish to pursue a bachelor's degree in political science & government. UPenn is a fairly large private not-for-profit university located in the large city of Philadelphia.
Bachelor's recipients from the political science & government degree program at University of Pennsylvania earn $26,668 more than the standard college grad in this field shortly after graduation.
It's hard to beat Villanova University if you want to pursue a bachelor's degree in political science & government. Villanova is a large private not-for-profit university located in the large suburb of Villanova.
Political Science & Government bachelor's degree recipients from Villanova University earn a boost of around $7,744 over the typical earnings of political science & government graduates.
Bucknell University is one of the best schools in the country for getting a bachelor's degree in political science & government. Bucknell is a small private not-for-profit university located in the town of Lewisburg.
Bachelor's recipients from the political science & government major at Bucknell University make $14,207 more than the average college grad in this field shortly after graduation.
Swarthmore College is a great option for students pursuing a bachelor's degree in political science & government. Located in the large suburb of Swarthmore, Swarthmore is a private not-for-profit college with a small student population.
Soon after graduation, political science bachelor's recipients usually make around $40,449 in the first five years of their career.
Located in the suburb of Easton, Lafayette is a private not-for-profit college with a small student population.
Those political science & government students who get their bachelor's degree from Lafayette College make $9,307 more than the typical political science graduate.
Lehigh is a medium-sized private not-for-profit university located in the small city of Bethlehem.
Bachelor's recipients from the political science & government degree program at Lehigh University earn $14,827 more than the average college grad in this field when they enter the workforce.
Located in the fringe town of Gettysburg, Gettysburg is a private not-for-profit college with a small student population.
Bachelor's recipients from the political science & government degree program at Gettysburg College make $4,517 more than the typical college grad with the same degree 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.
Some other college data, including much of the graduate earnings data, comes from the U.S. Department of Education’s (College Scorecard).
The political science bachelor'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. Below we explain some of the most important factors to consider before making your choice:
