Ranked #12 in popularity, political science & government is one of the most sought-after bachelor's degree programs in the nation. This means there are lots of options to choose from when you decide to get your degree.
College Factual looked at 84 colleges and universities when compiling its 2025 Best Political Science & Government Bachelor's Degree Schools in the Great Lakes Region ranking. Combined, these schools handed out 5,015 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. To make it into this list, a school must excel in the following areas.
A Great Overall School
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.
Early-Career Earnings
One measure we use to determine the quality of a school is to look at the average salary of bachelor's graduates during the early years of their career. That is, everyone wants their bachelor's degree to be worth something, and salaries are one measure of determining that.
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.
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 the Great Lakes Region.
In addition to our rankings, you can take two colleges and compare them based on the criteria that matters most to you in our unique tool, College Combat.
Test it out when you get a chance! You may also want to bookmark the link and share it with others who are trying to make the college decision.
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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 Great Lakes Region
Below you'll see a list of 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.
16 Top Great Lakes Region Schools for a Bachelor's in Political Science
University of Chicago is one of the finest schools in the country for getting a bachelor's degree in political science & government. 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 earn $20,354 more than the average political science grad.
University of Notre Dame is one of the best schools in the country for getting a bachelor's degree in political science & government. Located in the suburb of Notre Dame, Notre Dame is a private not-for-profit university with a large student population.
Bachelor's recipients from the political science & government program at University of Notre Dame get $19,648 more than the standard graduate with the same degree shortly after graduation.
Every student pursuing a degree in a bachelor's degree in political science & government has to check out Northwestern University. Northwestern is a very large private not-for-profit university located in the city of Evanston.
Those political science & government students who get their bachelor's degree from Northwestern University earn $19,069 more than the standard political science graduate.
University of Wisconsin - Madison is one of the finest schools in the country for getting a bachelor's degree in political science & government. Located in the large city of Madison, UW - Madison is a public university with a fairly large student population.
Bachelor's recipients from the political science & government program at University of Wisconsin - Madison earn $6,395 above the typical college graduate with the same degree shortly after graduation.
U-M is a very large public university located in the medium-sized city of Ann Arbor.
Political Science & Government bachelor's degree recipients from University of Michigan - Ann Arbor get an earnings boost of around $4,034 over the typical income of political science & government graduates.
Located in the city of East Lansing, Michigan State is a public university with a fairly large student population.
Those political science & government students who get their bachelor's degree from Michigan State University receive $3,846 more than the typical political science grad.
Purdue is a very large public university located in the city of West Lafayette.
Those political science & government students who get their bachelor's degree from Purdue University - Main Campus make $4,040 more than the average political science student.
Miami University - Oxford is a large public university located in the fringe town of Oxford.
Political Science & Government bachelor's degree recipients from Miami University - Oxford receive an earnings boost of approximately $10,760 over the typical income of political science & government majors.
Located in the large city of Milwaukee, Marquette 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 Marquette University make $2,557 more than the typical political science grad.
Xavier is a medium-sized private not-for-profit university located in the city of Cincinnati.
Political Science & Government bachelor's degree recipients from Xavier University get an earnings boost of about $6,042 above the typical earnings of political science & government majors.
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Additional Noteworthy Schools
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 in the Great Lakes Region 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. To make it into this list, a school must excel in the following areas.
