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Best Colleges for Political Science

50 Political Science programs ranked by real graduate earnings, debt, and completion — from the College Scorecard Field-of-Study data.

⚡Quick answer

For Political Science, Vanderbilt University (Tennessee) ranks #1 by our outcome score, with median graduate earnings of $102,789. Rankings reflect earnings, debt, and completion — not reputation or cost — across 50 programs with published outcome data.

#	School	Credential	Median earnings	Median debt	Completers	Score
1	Vanderbilt University Nashville, TN	Bachelor's Degree	$102,789	$14,000	104	96.5
2	Cornell University Ithaca, NY	Bachelor's Degree	$95,391	$14,400	132	96.1
3	Dartmouth College Hanover, NH	Bachelor's Degree	$106,153	$17,500	153	95.7
4	University of Pennsylvania Philadelphia, PA	Bachelor's Degree	$93,033	$14,250	120	95.4
5	Yale University New Haven, CT	Bachelor's Degree	$90,764	$14,749	137	95.1
6	Duke University Durham, NC	Bachelor's Degree	$88,459	$14,016	91	94
7	Brigham Young University Provo, UT	Bachelor's Degree	$83,209	$10,646	115	94
8	Williams College Williamstown, MA	Bachelor's Degree	$88,339	$10,750	63	93.9
9	Lafayette College Easton, PA	Bachelor's Degree	$87,904	$13,640	84	93.6
10	University of Notre Dame Notre Dame, IN	Bachelor's Degree	$94,297	$19,000	177	93
11	Emory University Atlanta, GA	Bachelor's Degree	$94,001	$17,500	75	92.6
12	Georgetown University Washington, DC	Bachelor's Degree	$79,502	$15,384	270	92
13	Hamilton College Clinton, NY	Bachelor's Degree	$88,019	$12,500	40	92
14	Boston College Chestnut Hill, MA	Bachelor's Degree	$86,537	$18,000	142	91.7
15	Brown University Providence, RI	Bachelor's Degree	$85,388	$14,481	58	91.5
16	Washington University in St Louis Saint Louis, MO	Bachelor's Degree	$90,778	$18,500	82	91.2
17	Colgate University Hamilton, NY	Bachelor's Degree	$83,188	$16,250	87	91.1
18	Bates College Lewiston, ME	Bachelor's Degree	$80,714	$11,532	57	91
19	University of California-Berkeley Berkeley, CA	Bachelor's Degree	$75,128	$13,000	464	90.7
20	University of Chicago Chicago, IL	Bachelor's Degree	$87,869	$18,500	109	90.7
21	University of Virginia-Main Campus Charlottesville, VA	Bachelor's Degree	$78,310	$16,049	118	90.3
22	California Polytechnic State University-San Luis Obispo San Luis Obispo, CA	Bachelor's Degree	$81,843	$17,831	95	89.9
23	University of Southern California Los Angeles, CA	Bachelor's Degree	$75,090	$12,000	139	89.7
24	University of Michigan-Ann Arbor Ann Arbor, MI	Bachelor's Degree	$77,480	$17,965	239	89.5
25	Bowdoin College Brunswick, ME	Bachelor's Degree	$89,253	$19,634	83	89
26	Columbia University in the City of New York New York, NY	Bachelor's Degree	$100,245	$21,500	225	88.8
27	University of California-Los Angeles Los Angeles, CA	Bachelor's Degree	$74,202	$15,000	675	88.5
28	Davidson College Davidson, NC	Undergraduate Certificate or Diploma	$101,438	$19,500	—	88.1
29	Tufts University Medford, MA	Bachelor's Degree	$78,180	$17,850	71	87.7
30	Santa Clara University Santa Clara, CA	Bachelor's Degree	$93,518	$20,500	72	87.5
31	Harvard University Cambridge, MA	Bachelor's Degree	$95,838	—	121	87.4
32	Elon University Elon, NC	Bachelor's Degree	$89,685	$20,500	89	87.4
33	University of Washington-Seattle Campus Seattle, WA	Bachelor's Degree	$72,487	$13,290	399	87.2
34	University of Maryland Global Campus Adelphi, MD	Bachelor's Degree	$82,263	$19,910	102	87.1
35	Barnard College New York, NY	Bachelor's Degree	$77,805	$18,250	70	87
36	University of Maryland-College Park College Park, MD	Bachelor's Degree	$74,437	$18,442	329	86.5
37	Southern Methodist University Dallas, TX	Bachelor's Degree	$84,753	$19,500	49	86.2
38	Johns Hopkins University Baltimore, MD	Bachelor's Degree	$121,729	—	44	86.1
39	New York University New York, NY	Bachelor's Degree	$80,957	$20,500	191	86.1
40	The University of Texas at Austin Austin, TX	Bachelor's Degree	$75,988	$19,500	316	86
41	Washington and Lee University Lexington, VA	Bachelor's Degree	$95,190	—	69	85.9
42	Stanford University Stanford, CA	Bachelor's Degree	$73,221	$11,705	78	85.9
43	Middlebury College Middlebury, VT	Bachelor's Degree	$77,444	$18,297	46	85.6
44	University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Chapel Hill, NC	Bachelor's Degree	$72,001	$14,569	326	85.3
45	Lehigh University Bethlehem, PA	Bachelor's Degree	$90,302	$21,150	51	85.2
46	Northwestern University Evanston, IL	Bachelor's Degree	$73,231	$16,834	110	84.7
47	University of Washington-Bothell Campus Bothell, WA	Bachelor's Degree	$72,487	$13,290	68	84.6
48	Wellesley College Wellesley, MA	Bachelor's Degree	$72,830	$11,820	42	84
49	George Washington University Washington, DC	Bachelor's Degree	$79,692	$21,723	310	83.9
50	Wake Forest University Winston-Salem, NC	Bachelor's Degree	$85,668	$22,500	133	83.7

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How we ranked this

Programs are scored 0–100 within the Political Science field (CIP 45.10) using three College Scorecard figures: median graduate earnings (weighted 70%), median federal-loan debt (20%, inverted so lower debt scores higher), and completer count (10%, log-scaled). Each input is percentile-ranked against the other Political Science programs, so the score is robust to outliers and comparable across schools. Programs with no published earnings are excluded — never given a fabricated number. This is the same engine that powers our interactive Major Rankings. Minimum 5 scorable programs required to publish.

Frequently asked questions

Which college has the best Political Science program?+

By our outcome score, Vanderbilt University (Tennessee) ranks #1 for Political Science, with median graduate earnings of $102,789.

How are these Political Science programs ranked?+

Each program gets a 0–100 outcome score from three real College Scorecard figures: median graduate earnings (70%), median federal-loan debt (20%, lower is better), and completer count (10%). Programs are compared within the major so the score reflects the best schools for this field specifically.

Where does the earnings and debt data come from?+

The U.S. Department of Education College Scorecard Field-of-Study file, which publishes median earnings and median debt by institution and major (4-digit CIP). Figures are post-graduation medians; programs without published earnings are not scored and are omitted from this ranking.

Can I filter Political Science programs by state or degree level?+

Yes. This page shows the national top programs; use the interactive Major Rankings tool to filter the same data by state, and by credential level (bachelor’s, master’s, doctoral).

Keep exploring

🔍 Political Science rankings (filterable)🎓 All major rankings 🏫 Browse colleges 🆓 Tuition-free colleges ⭐ All Best-Of guides

Data sources: U.S. Dept. of Education College Scorecard (Field of Study) · IPEDS Completions. Figures are the most recent values published in each federal dataset; cells with no published value are shown as “—” and never estimated. CertiHomes Education does not sell rankings or accept placement fees.