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2024 Best Public Policy Schools in the Middle Atlantic Region

18 Colleges in the Middle Atlantic Region
1,536 Public Policy Degrees Awarded
$58,681 Avg Early-Career Salary
If you plan on majoring in public policy, you won't be alone since the degree program is ranked #113 in the country in terms of popularity. As a result, there are many college that offer the degree, making your choice of school a hard one.

For its 2024 ranking, College Factual looked at 18 schools in the Middle Atlantic Region to determine which ones were the best for public policy students pursuing a degree. When you put them all together, these colleges and universities awarded 1,536 degrees in public policy during the 2021-2022 academic year.

What's on this page: * Degree-Level Rankings

Choosing a Great Public Policy School

Best Public Policy Schools in the Middle Atlantic Region Your choice of public policy school matters, so we have put together these rankings to help you make your decision. We derive our Best Overall Public Policy School rankings by rolling up our degree-level rankings after weighting them by the number of degrees awarded at each school.

In order to find the schools that are the best fit for you, you may want to filter to one of the degree levels below.

Pick Your Public Policy Degree Level

Bachelor's Degrees in Public Policy
Master's Degrees in Public Policy
Doctor's Degrees in Public Policy

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 Public Policy Schools in the Middle Atlantic Region list to help you make the college decision. If you'd like to restrict your choices to just one part of the country, you can filter this list by location.

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.

If you want to learn more about how we derive our rankings, see College Factual's Methodology.

Best Schools for Public Policy in the Middle Atlantic Region

Although we recommend filtering by degree level first, you can view the list below to see which schools give the educational experience for the public policy degree levels they offer.

10 Top Middle Atlantic Region Schools in Public Policy

1
Doctor's Degree Highest Degree Type
210 Public Policy Degrees Awarded
$62,820 Median Starting Salary

It is difficult to beat Princeton University if you wish to pursue a degree in public policy. Located in the city of Princeton, Princeton is a private not-for-profit university with a moderately-sized student population. A Best Colleges rank of #10 out of 2,217 schools nationwide means Princeton is a great university overall.

There were approximately 210 public policy students who graduated with this degree at Princeton in the most recent data year. Public Policy degree recipients from Princeton University get an earnings boost of about $4,139 over the average earnings of public policy majors.

More information about a degree in public policy from Princeton University

2
Bachelor's Degree Highest Degree Type
67 Public Policy Degrees Awarded
$65,965 Median Starting Salary

Cornell University is one of the best schools in the United States for getting a degree in public policy. Located in the city of Ithaca, Cornell is a private not-for-profit university with a fairly large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #22 out of 2,217 colleges nationwide means Cornell is a great university overall.

There were approximately 67 public policy students who graduated with this degree at Cornell in the most recent data year. Degree recipients from the public policy degree program at Cornell University make $7,284 above the average college graduate in this field shortly after graduation.

More information about a degree in public policy from Cornell University

3
Doctor's Degree Highest Degree Type
105 Public Policy Degrees Awarded
28.6% Growth in Graduates

Carnegie Mellon University is one of the best schools in the country for getting a degree in public policy. Carnegie Mellon is a fairly large private not-for-profit university located in the large city of Pittsburgh. A Best Colleges rank of #9 out of 2,217 colleges nationwide means Carnegie Mellon is a great university overall.

There were approximately 105 public policy students who graduated with this degree at Carnegie Mellon in the most recent year we have data available. Public Policy degree recipients from Carnegie Mellon University earn a boost of approximately $6,035 over the typical income of public policy graduates.

More information about a degree in public policy from Carnegie Mellon University

4
Graduate Certificate Highest Degree Type
5th Most Popular In PA
31 Public Policy Degrees Awarded

University of Pennsylvania is a wonderful decision for students pursuing a degree in public policy. UPenn is a very large private not-for-profit university located in the city of Philadelphia. A Best Colleges rank of #4 out of 2,217 colleges nationwide means UPenn is a great university overall.

There were approximately 31 public policy students who graduated with this degree at UPenn in the most recent year we have data available.

More information about a degree in public policy from University of Pennsylvania

5
Doctor's Degree Highest Degree Type
81 Public Policy Degrees Awarded
14.8% Growth in Graduates

Located in the city of Washington, GWU is a private not-for-profit university with a fairly large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #49 out of 2,217 colleges nationwide means GWU is a great university overall.

There were approximately 81 public policy students who graduated with this degree at GWU in the most recent year we have data available. Degree recipients from the public policy program at George Washington University earn $12,495 more than the typical college graduate with the same degree shortly after graduation.

More information about a degree in public policy from George Washington University

6
Doctor's Degree Highest Degree Type
262 Public Policy Degrees Awarded
10.3% Growth in Graduates

Located in the large suburb of College Park, UMCP is a public university with a very large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #42 out of 2,217 schools nationwide means UMCP is a great university overall.

There were roughly 262 public policy students who graduated with this degree at UMCP in the most recent year we have data available. Public Policy degree recipients from University of Maryland - College Park get an earnings boost of around $2,554 above the typical income of public policy graduates.

More information about a degree in public policy from University of Maryland - College Park

7
Georgetown crest
Georgetown University
Washington, DC
Master's Degree Highest Degree Type
59 Public Policy Degrees Awarded
$70,745 Median Starting Salary

Georgetown is a very large private not-for-profit university located in the large city of Washington. A Best Colleges rank of #15 out of 2,217 schools nationwide means Georgetown is a great university overall.

There were about 59 public policy students who graduated with this degree at Georgetown in the most recent data year. Those public policy students who get their degree from Georgetown University earn $12,064 more than the average public policy student.

More information about a degree in public policy from Georgetown University

8
The American University crest
American University
Washington, DC
Master's Degree Highest Degree Type
64 Public Policy Degrees Awarded
21.9% Growth in Graduates

Located in the city of Washington, The American University is a private not-for-profit university with a large student population. This university ranks 3rd out of 8 schools for overall quality in the state of District of Columbia.

There were about 64 public policy students who graduated with this degree at The American University in the most recent data year. Students who graduate with their degree from the public policy program report average early career wages of $59,308.

More information about a degree in public policy from American University

9
Master's Degree Highest Degree Type
3rd Most Popular In PA
33 Public Policy Degrees Awarded

Pitt is a very large public university located in the city of Pittsburgh. A Best Colleges rank of #79 out of 2,217 schools nationwide means Pitt is a great university overall.

There were roughly 33 public policy students who graduated with this degree at Pitt in the most recent data year.

More information about a degree in public policy from University of Pittsburgh - Pittsburgh Campus

10
Temple crest
Temple University
Philadelphia, PA
Doctor's Degree Highest Degree Type
2nd Most Popular In PA
50 Public Policy Degrees Awarded

Temple is a very large public university located in the city of Philadelphia. This university ranks 11th out of 109 schools for overall quality in the state of Pennsylvania.

There were about 50 public policy students who graduated with this degree at Temple in the most recent data year.

More information about a degree in public policy from Temple University

Best Public Policy Colleges by State

Explore the best public policy colleges for a specific state in the Middle Atlantic Region .

StateCollegesDegrees Awarded
Pennsylvania334317
New York333369
Maryland279223
New Jersey273284
District of Columbia188317
Delaware17546

View All Rankings >

Public Policy is one of 4 different types of Public Administration & Social Service programs to choose from.

Public Policy Concentrations

MajorAnnual Graduates
General Public Policy Analysis1,332
Other Public Policy Analysis65
Health Policy Analysis53
International Policy Analysis52
Education Policy Analysis34

View All Public Policy Concentrations >

Related MajorAnnual Graduates
Public Administration3,063
Human Services2,540
Community Organization & Advocacy743
Other Public Administration247

View All Public Policy Related Majors >

Notes and References

More about our data sources and methodologies.

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