If you pursue a bachelor's degree in history, you won't be alone. The field of study is the #20 most popular program in the country. This means there are lots of options to choose from when you decide to get your degree.
In 2024, College Factual analyzed 4 schools in order to identify the top ones for its Best History Bachelor's Degree Schools in West Virginia ranking. Combined, these schools handed out 252 bachelor's degrees in history to qualified students.
Choosing a Great History School for Your Bachelor's Degree
The history bachelor's degree program you select can have a big impact on your future. Important measures of a quality history 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 much a school focuses on history students vs. other majors.
Major Demand - How many other history 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 easy is it for history to pay back their student loans after receiving their bachelor's degree.
Accreditation - Whether a school is regionally accredited and/or accredited by a recognized history related body.
Our complete ranking methodology documents in more detail how we consider these factors to identify the best schools for history students working on their bachelor's degree.
Since picking the right college can be one of the most important decisions of your life, we've developed the Best History Bachelor's Degree Schools in West Virginia ranking, along with many other major-related rankings, to help you make that decision.
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.
Best Schools for Bachelor’s Students to Study History in West Virginia
The following list ranks the best colleges and universities for pursuing a bachelor's degree in history.
Top West Virginia Schools for a Bachelor's in History
American Public University System is one of the best schools in the country for getting a bachelor's degree in history. Located in the fringe town of Charles Town, American Military University is a private for-profit university with a fairly large student population.
History bachelor's degree recipients from American Public University System get an earnings boost of approximately $18,004 above the typical income of history graduates.
West Virginia University is one of the finest schools in the country for getting a bachelor's degree in history. Located in the small city of Morgantown, WVU is a public university with a fairly large student population.
Soon after graduating, history bachelor's recipients typically earn around $24,029 in their early careers.
Marshall University is one of the best schools in the country for getting a bachelor's degree in history. Located in the small city of Huntington, Marshall University is a public university with a large student population.
Soon after graduating, history bachelor's recipients typically earn about $23,270 in their early careers.
Shepherd University is one of the best schools in the United States for getting a bachelor's degree in history. Shepherd University is a small public university located in the fringe town of Shepherdstown.
Soon after graduation, history bachelor's recipients generally earn around $27,649 in the first five years of their career.
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.
college factual
The history bachelor's degree program you select can have a big impact on your future. Important measures of a quality history program can vary widely even among the top schools. To make it into this list, a school must excel in the following areas.
