2024 Best International Studies Bachelor's Degree Schools in the Plains States Region

International Studies is above average in terms of popularity with it being the #69 most popular bachelor's degree program in the country. As a result, there are many college that offer the degree, making your choice of school a hard one.

College Factual looked at 15 colleges and universities when compiling its 2024 Best International Studies Bachelor's Degree Schools in the Plains States Region ranking. When you put them all together, these colleges and universities awarded 418 bachelor's degrees in international studies during the 2020-2021 academic year.

What's on this page: * Our Methodology

• Best Bachelor’s Degree Schools List

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. To make it into this list, a school must excel in the following areas.

A Great Overall School

The overall quality of a bachelor's degree school is important to ensure a quality education, not just how well they do in a particular major. To account for this we consider a college's overall Best Colleges ranking which itself looks at a combination of various factors like degree completion, educational resources, student body caliber and post-graduation earnings for the school as a whole.

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

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 full ranking methodology documents in more detail how we consider these factors to identify the best schools for international studies students working on their bachelor's degree.

More Ways to Rank International Studies Schools

Since the program you select can have a significant impact on your future, we've developed a number of rankings, including this Best International Studies Bachelor's Degree Schools in the Plains States Region list, to help you choose the best school for you.

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 International Studies in the Plains States Region

The following list ranks the best colleges and universities for pursuing a bachelor's degree in international studies.

10 Top Plains States Region Schools for a Bachelor's in International Studies

1

Washington University in St Louis
Saint Louis, MO

64 Annual Graduates

$36,903 Median Starting Salary

$20,250 Median Student Debt

It is difficult to beat Washington University in St Louis if you want to pursue a bachelor's degree in international studies. WUSTL is a large private not-for-profit university located in the large suburb of Saint Louis.

Bachelor's recipients from the international studies program at Washington University in St Louis get $11,994 more than the typical college grad in this field shortly after graduation.

More information about a bachelor’s in international studies from Washington University in St Louis

2

University of Kansas
Lawrence, KS

33 Annual Graduates

$30,362 Median Starting Salary

It's difficult to beat University of Kansas if you wish to pursue a bachelor's degree in international studies. Located in the small city of Lawrence, KU is a public university with a very large student population.

International Studies bachelor's degree recipients from University of Kansas earn a boost of approximately $5,453 over the average earnings of international studies graduates.

More information about a bachelor’s in international studies from University of Kansas

3

University of Northern Iowa
Cedar Falls, IA

4 Annual Graduates

University of Northern Iowa is one of the finest schools in the country for getting a bachelor's degree in international studies. UNI is a moderately-sized public university located in the city of Cedar Falls.More information about a bachelor’s in international studies from University of Northern Iowa

4

Macalester College
Saint Paul, MN

28 Annual Graduates

$22,368 Median Starting Salary

$23,324 Median Student Debt

It's difficult to beat Macalester College if you wish to pursue a bachelor's degree in international studies. Located in the city of Saint Paul, Macalester is a private not-for-profit college with a small student population.

Bachelor's students who receive their degree from the international studies program earn about $22,368 in the first couple years of working.

More information about a bachelor’s in international studies from Macalester College

5

Kansas State University
Manhattan, KS

28 Annual Graduates

Located in the city of Manhattan, K -State is a public university with a large student population.More information about a bachelor’s in international studies from Kansas State University

6

University of Iowa
Iowa City, IA

25 Annual Graduates

$21,136 Median Starting Salary

$25,242 Median Student Debt

Located in the small city of Iowa City, Iowa is a public university with a very large student population.

Bachelor's students who receive their degree from the international studies program make an average of $21,136 for their early career.

More information about a bachelor’s in international studies from University of Iowa

7

University of Nebraska at Omaha
Omaha, NE

48 Annual Graduates

$27,164 Median Starting Salary

$20,527 Median Student Debt

UNOMAHA is a large public university located in the large city of Omaha.

Those international studies students who get their bachelor's degree from University of Nebraska at Omaha make $2,255 more than the average international studies graduate.

More information about a bachelor’s in international studies from University of Nebraska at Omaha

8

University of Nebraska - Lincoln
Lincoln, NE

39 Annual Graduates

$28,606 Median Starting Salary

$20,500 Median Student Debt

Located in the city of Lincoln, UNL is a public university with a fairly large student population.

International Studies bachelor's degree recipients from University of Nebraska - Lincoln receive an earnings boost of around $3,697 above the typical earnings of international studies majors.

More information about a bachelor’s in international studies from University of Nebraska - Lincoln

9

North Dakota State University - Main Campus
Fargo, ND

5 Annual Graduates

Located in the medium-sized city of Fargo, North Dakota State University is a public university with a fairly large student population.More information about a bachelor’s in international studies from North Dakota State University - Main Campus

10

Hamline University
Saint Paul, MN

8 Annual Graduates

Hamline is a small private not-for-profit university located in the large city of Saint Paul.More information about a bachelor’s in international studies from Hamline University

Best International Studies Colleges by State

Explore the best international studies colleges for a specific state in the Plains States Region .

State	Colleges	Degrees Awarded
Missouri	228	122
Minnesota	215	75
Iowa	197	39
Kansas	184	67
Nebraska	180	91
North Dakota	149	11
South Dakota	148	13

View All Rankings >

Rankings in Majors Related to International Studies

International Studies is one of 51 different types of Multi / Interdisciplinary Studies programs to choose from.

International Studies Focus Areas

Major	Annual Graduates
International/Globalization Studies	418

Most Popular Related Majors

Related Major	Annual Graduates
Other Multi/Interdisciplinary Studies	1,805
Nutrition Science	244
Natural Sciences	145
Behavioral Science	118
Human Biology	115
Interdisciplinary Studies	107
Biological & Physical Science	87
Data Analytics	87
Gerontology	79
Cognitive Science	69

Notes and References

• 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).
• Credit for the banner image above goes to Yerpo. More about our data sources and methodologies.