Ranked by graduate earnings

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	WC 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

Filter Political Science by state & degree level →

Hidden Gems for Political Science

Lower-profile schools with a genuinely strong outcome score for Political Science - the famous brand names and mega-flagships are deliberately filtered out.

#	School	Median earnings	Admit rate	Score
1	Elon University Elon, NC Strong Political Science outcome score, accessible admissions, lower-profile than the field’s famous names	$89,685	66%	87.4
2	Southern Methodist University Dallas, TX Strong Political Science outcome score, accessible admissions, lower-profile than the field’s famous names	$84,753	63%	86.2
3	University of Washington-Bothell Campus Bothell, WA Strong Political Science outcome score, accessible admissions, lower-profile than the field’s famous names	$72,487	91%	84.6
4	American University Washington, DC Strong Political Science outcome score, accessible admissions, lower-profile than the field’s famous names	$98,567	62%	81.8
5	California State University-East Bay Hayward, CA Strong Political Science outcome score, accessible admissions, lower-profile than the field’s famous names	$71,022	97%	78.2
6	Marquette University Milwaukee, WI Strong Political Science outcome score, accessible admissions, lower-profile than the field’s famous names	$74,008	81%	77.9
7	GU Gonzaga University Spokane, WA Strong Political Science outcome score, accessible admissions, lower-profile than the field’s famous names	$74,303	82%	77.4
8	University of Washington-Tacoma Campus Tacoma, WA Strong Political Science outcome score, accessible admissions, smaller, lower-profile campus	$72,487	83%	77.4
9	Fordham University Bronx, NY Strong Political Science outcome score, lower-profile than the field’s famous names	$74,419	59%	77.3
10	Pepperdine University Malibu, CA Strong Political Science outcome score, accessible admissions, smaller, lower-profile campus	$75,954	63%	74.5
11	CUNY Queens College Queens, NY Strong Political Science outcome score, accessible admissions, lower-profile than the field’s famous names	$65,213	64%	73.7
12	Bryant University Smithfield, RI Strong Political Science outcome score, accessible admissions, smaller, lower-profile campus	$78,579	65%	73.4

Hidden Gems use the same College Scorecard outcome score, then drop the pool’s most-selective brands (bottom-quartile admit rate) and largest campuses (top-quartile enrollment). Schools that don’t report admit rate or enrollment are not dropped by that guard.

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. GetInto.College does not sell rankings or accept placement fees.