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.
College Factual reviewed 573 schools in the United States to determine which ones were the best for bachelor's degree seekers in the field of political science & government. Combined, these schools handed out 41,131 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
Your choice of political science & government for getting your bachelor's degree school matters. Important measures of a quality political science program can vary widely even among the top schools. 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 many resources a school devotes to political science & government students as compared to other majors.
Major Demand - How many other political science & government 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 much debt political science & government students go into to obtain their bachelor'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 political science & government related body.
Our complete ranking methodology documents in more detail how we consider these factors to identify the best colleges for political science & government students working on their bachelor's degree.
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 Political Science & Government Bachelor's Degree Schools list to help you make the college decision.
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.
Best Schools for Bachelor’s Students to Study Political Science & Government in the United States
The following list ranks the best colleges and universities for pursuing a bachelor's degree in political science & government. Only those schools that rank in the top 20% of all the schools we analyze get awarded with a place on this list.
25 Top Schools for a Bachelor's in Political Science
Georgetown University is one of the best schools in the United States for getting a bachelor's degree in political science & government. Located in the large city of Washington, Georgetown is a private not-for-profit university with a very large student population.
Those political science & government students who get their bachelor's degree from Georgetown University earn $18,551 more than the standard political science graduate.
Every student who is interested in a bachelor's degree in political science & government 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 fairly large student population.
Bachelor's recipients from the political science & government program at Columbia University in the City of New York make $24,381 more than the average college graduate in this field shortly after graduation.
University of Pennsylvania is one of the best schools in the United States for getting a bachelor's degree in political science & government. Located in the large city of Philadelphia, UPenn is a private not-for-profit university with a fairly large student population.
Those political science & government students who get their bachelor's degree from University of Pennsylvania make $28,777 more than the typical political science graduate.
Duke University is a great decision for students pursuing a bachelor's degree in political science & government. Located in the city of Durham, Duke is a private not-for-profit university with a large student population.
Political Science & Government bachelor's degree recipients from Duke University get an earnings boost of about $18,274 above the typical earnings of political science & government graduates.
Harvard is a very large private not-for-profit university located in the midsize city of Cambridge.
Bachelor's recipients from the political science & government program at Harvard University earn $24,847 above the typical graduate with the same degree shortly after graduation.
Located in the large city of Chicago, UChicago is a private not-for-profit university with a fairly large student population.
Those political science & government students who get their bachelor's degree from University of Chicago make $19,326 more than the standard political science grad.
GWU is a very large private not-for-profit university located in the large city of Washington.
Political Science & Government bachelor's degree recipients from George Washington University earn a boost of about $14,841 over the typical income of political science & government graduates.
Dartmouth is a moderately-sized private not-for-profit college located in the town of Hanover.
Bachelor's recipients from the political science & government major at Dartmouth College get $35,922 above the standard graduate in this field shortly after graduation.
Located in the suburb of Notre Dame, Notre Dame is a private not-for-profit university with a fairly large student population.
Bachelor's recipients from the political science & government degree program at University of Notre Dame make $18,620 above the average college grad in this field when they enter the workforce.
Northwestern is a fairly large private not-for-profit university located in the small city of Evanston.
Bachelor's recipients from the political science & government degree program at Northwestern University earn $18,041 more than the standard college grad with the same degree when they enter the workforce.
UC Berkeley is a fairly large public university located in the medium-sized city of Berkeley.
Political Science & Government bachelor's degree recipients from University of California - Berkeley earn a boost of around $8,722 over the typical income of political science & government graduates.
Located in the city of New Haven, Yale is a private not-for-profit university with a large student population.
Political Science & Government bachelor's degree recipients from Yale University get an earnings boost of around $20,770 above the average earnings of political science & government majors.
Located in the large city of Madison, UW - Madison is a public university with a very large student population.
Bachelor's recipients from the political science & government degree program at University of Wisconsin - Madison earn $5,367 above the typical college graduate with the same degree shortly after graduation.
The American University is a large private not-for-profit university located in the city of Washington.
Political Science & Government bachelor's degree recipients from American University get an earnings boost of approximately $11,338 above the average earnings of political science & government graduates.
Located in the city of New York, NYU is a private not-for-profit university with a very large student population.
Bachelor's recipients from the political science & government major at New York University get $14,087 above the standard graduate in this field shortly after graduation.
Cornell is a very large private not-for-profit university located in the small city of Ithaca.
Political Science & Government bachelor's degree recipients from Cornell University get an earnings boost of approximately $23,596 above the typical earnings of political science & government majors.
U-M is a very large public university located in the medium-sized city of Ann Arbor.
Those political science & government students who get their bachelor's degree from University of Michigan - Ann Arbor earn $3,006 more than the average political science student.
Boston College is a fairly large private not-for-profit college located in the small city of Chestnut Hill.
Bachelor's recipients from the political science & government major at Boston College earn $10,068 above the standard college graduate with the same degree shortly after graduation.
UMCP is a fairly large public university located in the suburb of College Park.
Bachelor's recipients from the political science & government program at University of Maryland - College Park earn $5,992 more than the typical college graduate with the same degree when they enter the workforce.
Vanderbilt is a fairly large private not-for-profit university located in the city of Nashville.
Those political science & government students who get their bachelor's degree from Vanderbilt University receive $10,147 more than the typical political science grad.
Northeastern is a fairly large private not-for-profit university located in the large city of Boston.
Bachelor's recipients from the political science & government program at Northeastern University earn $15,820 above the average college graduate with the same degree shortly after graduation.
UNC Chapel Hill is a very large public university located in the small city of Chapel Hill.
Bachelor's recipients from the political science & government program at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill earn $4,504 above the average graduate with the same degree shortly after graduation.
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Remaining Award Winners
This list shows the rest of the schools awarded a Best Political Science & Government Bachelor's Degree Schools badge.
Showing in this list means the school was ranked in the top 20% of the 573 different United States political science & government schools we analyzed.
These are some additional schools worth mentioning that are also great but just didn't quite make the cut to earn our top Best Political Science & Government Bachelor's Degree Schools award.
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).
Your choice of political science & government for getting your bachelor's degree school matters. Important measures of a quality political science program can vary widely even among the top schools. Below we explain some of the most important factors to consider before making your choice:
