If you plan on getting your bachelor's degree in international studies, you won't be alone since the degree program is ranked #69 in the country in terms of popularity. This means you won't have too much trouble finding schools that offer the degree.
In 2024, College Factual analyzed 119 schools in order to identify the top ones for its Best International Studies Bachelor's Degree Schools ranking. When you put them all together, these colleges and universities awarded 6,197 bachelor's degrees in international studies during the 2020-2021 academic year.
Choosing a Great International Studies School for Your Bachelor's Degree
Your choice of international studies for getting your bachelor's degree school matters. Important measures of a quality international studies program can vary widely even among the top schools. When choosing a school we recommend considering some of the following factors:
Quality Overall Is Important
The overall quality of a bachelor's degree school is important to ensure a good education, not just how well they do in a particular major. To take this into account we consider 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 Earnings
To determine the overall quality of a graduate school, one factor we look at is the average early-career salary of those receiving their bachelor's degree from the school. This is because one of the main reasons people pursue their bachelor's degree is to enable themselves to find better-paying positions.
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 international studies students vs. other majors.
Major Demand - The number of international studies 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 much debt international studies 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 international studies related body.
Our complete ranking methodology documents in more detail how we consider these factors to identify the best colleges for international studies 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 International Studies Bachelor's Degree Schools list to help you make the college decision.
In addition to College Factual's rankings, you may want to take a look at College Combat, our unique tool that lets you pit your favorite schools head-to-head and compare how they rate on factors that most interest you.
When you have some time, check it out - you may want to bookmark the link so you don't forget it.
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Featured International Studies Programs
Learn about start dates, transferring credits, availability of financial aid, and more by contacting the universities below.
Earn the degree that can help you drive business beyond borders with a specialized online international business degree from Southern New Hampshire University.
Best Schools for Bachelor’s Students to Study International Studies in the United States
Below you'll see a list of the best colleges and universities for pursuing a bachelor's degree in international studies. Only those schools that rank in the top 15% of all the schools we analyze get awarded with a place on this list.
17 Top Schools for a Bachelor's in International Studies
It's hard to beat Washington University in St Louis if you wish to pursue a bachelor's degree in international studies. WUSTL is a fairly large private not-for-profit university located in the large suburb of Saint Louis.
Those international studies students who get their bachelor's degree from Washington University in St Louis make $6,574 more than the average international studies student.
Located in the city of La Jolla, UCSD is a public university with a very large student population.
Those international studies students who get their bachelor's degree from University of California - San Diego make $11,213 more than the standard international studies student.
UCSB is a fairly large public university located in the midsize suburb of Santa Barbara.
Bachelor's recipients from the international studies program at University of California - Santa Barbara get $4,884 above the standard graduate in this field when they enter the workforce.
Located in the midsize city of Ann Arbor, U-M is a public university with a fairly large student population.
Those international studies students who get their bachelor's degree from University of Michigan - Ann Arbor earn $3,477 more than the typical international studies student.
UT Austin is a fairly large public university located in the city of Austin.
International Studies bachelor's degree recipients from The University of Texas at Austin earn a boost of around $5,089 over the typical earnings of international studies majors.
UCLA is a very large public university located in the city of Los Angeles.
International Studies bachelor's degree recipients from University of California - Los Angeles receive an earnings boost of around $12,900 over the typical earnings of international studies graduates.
Located in the large city of Irvine, UC Irvine is a public university with a very large student population.
Bachelor's recipients from the international studies major at University of California - Irvine get $2,423 above the typical graduate in this field when they enter the workforce.
Brandeis is a medium-sized private not-for-profit university located in the city of Waltham.
Those international studies students who get their bachelor's degree from Brandeis University make $10,055 more than the typical international studies student.
American Military University is a very large private for-profit university located in the town of Charles Town.
Those international studies students who get their bachelor's degree from American Public University System make $26,429 more than the standard international studies graduate.
Colby is a small private not-for-profit college located in the town of Waterville.
Bachelor's recipients from the international studies degree program at Colby College earn $14,021 more than the typical college grad in this field when they enter the workforce.
Located in the city of Chestnut Hill, Boston College is a private not-for-profit college with a fairly large student population.
Those international studies students who get their bachelor's degree from Boston College earn $9,307 more than the average international studies student.
These are some additional schools worth mentioning that are also great but just didn't quite make the cut to earn our top Best International Studies 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).