A degree in general social sciences is more popular than many other degrees. In fact, it ranks #54 out of 395 on popularity of all such degrees in the nation. As a result, there are many college that offer the degree, making your choice of school a hard one.
College Factual looked at 106 colleges and universities when compiling its 2025 Best General Social Sciences Schools ranking. When you put them all together, these colleges and universities awarded 17,338 degrees in general social sciences annually.
Your choice of general social sciences school matters, so we have put together these rankings to help you make your decision. In order to come up with a best overall ranking for general social sciences schools, we combine our degree-level rankings, weighting them by the number of degrees awarded at each level.
You may want to choose one of the degree levels below to find the schools of most interest to you.
The social sciences school you choose to invest your time and money in matters. To help you make the decision that is right for you, we've developed a number of major-specific rankings, including this list of the Best General Social Sciences Schools.
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.
Best Schools for General Social Sciences in the United States
The schools below may not offer all types of social sciences degrees so you may want to filter by degree level first. However, they are great for the degree levels they do offer. Only those schools that rank in the top 20% of all the schools we analyze get awarded with a place on this list.
Vanderbilt University is a good option for students interested in a degree in general social sciences. Vanderbilt is a fairly large private not-for-profit university located in the large city of Nashville. A Best Colleges rank of #18 out of 2,152 colleges nationwide means Vanderbilt is a great university overall.
There were roughly 247 general social sciences students who graduated with this degree at Vanderbilt in the most recent data year. General Social Sciences degree recipients from Vanderbilt University receive an earnings boost of about $23,606 above the average income of general social sciences graduates.
Any student who is interested in general social sciences has to look into University of Chicago. Located in the large city of Chicago, UChicago is a private not-for-profit university with a fairly large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #3 out of 2,152 colleges nationwide means UChicago is a great university overall.
There were about 227 general social sciences students who graduated with this degree at UChicago in the most recent year we have data available. Those general social sciences students who get their degree from University of Chicago make $16,005 more than the average social sciences graduate.
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University of Pennsylvania is a good decision for students pursuing a degree in general social sciences. Located in the city of Philadelphia, UPenn is a private not-for-profit university with a fairly large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #2 out of 2,152 colleges nationwide means UPenn is a great university overall.More information about a degree in general social sciences from University of Pennsylvania
It is difficult to beat Georgetown University if you wish to pursue a degree in general social sciences. Located in the city of Washington, Georgetown is a private not-for-profit university with a fairly large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #11 out of 2,152 schools nationwide means Georgetown is a great university overall.More information about a degree in general social sciences from Georgetown University
Located in the large city of New York, Columbia is a private not-for-profit university with a very large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #15 out of 2,152 schools nationwide means Columbia is a great university overall.
There were about 179 general social sciences students who graduated with this degree at Columbia in the most recent year we have data available.
Johns Hopkins is a fairly large private not-for-profit university located in the city of Baltimore. A Best Colleges rank of #6 out of 2,152 colleges nationwide means Johns Hopkins is a great university overall.
There were approximately 39 general social sciences students who graduated with this degree at Johns Hopkins in the most recent data year. Degree recipients from the general social sciences program at Johns Hopkins University earn $62,750 above the average college graduate with the same degree shortly after graduation.
Harvard is a very large private not-for-profit university located in the city of Cambridge. A Best Colleges rank of #4 out of 2,152 colleges nationwide means Harvard is a great university overall.
There were approximately 195 general social sciences students who graduated with this degree at Harvard in the most recent data year. Degree recipients from the general social sciences degree program at Harvard University get $18,757 more than the average college grad in this field shortly after graduation.
Northwestern is a very large private not-for-profit university located in the city of Evanston. A Best Colleges rank of #5 out of 2,152 schools nationwide means Northwestern is a great university overall.
There were roughly 1 general social sciences students who graduated with this degree at Northwestern in the most recent data year.
Located in the small city of East Lansing, Michigan State is a public university with a fairly large student population. This university ranks 2nd out of 56 colleges for overall quality in the state of Michigan.
There were roughly 96 general social sciences students who graduated with this degree at Michigan State in the most recent data year. Those general social sciences students who get their degree from Michigan State University receive $8,423 more than the typical social sciences grad.
Located in the large city of New York, NYU is a private not-for-profit university with a very large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #16 out of 2,152 colleges nationwide means NYU is a great university overall.
There were about 63 general social sciences students who graduated with this degree at NYU in the most recent data year. Degree recipients from the general social sciences degree program at New York University get $11,233 above the standard college grad in this field when they enter the workforce.
USC is a fairly large private not-for-profit university located in the city of Los Angeles. A Best Colleges rank of #13 out of 2,152 colleges nationwide means USC is a great university overall.
There were roughly 17 general social sciences students who graduated with this degree at USC in the most recent data year. Students who receive their degree from the social sciences program make around $33,789 in their early career salary.
Located in the suburb of Buffalo, University at Buffalo is a public university with a fairly large student population. This university ranks 18th out of 136 colleges for overall quality in the state of New York.
There were roughly 185 general social sciences students who graduated with this degree at University at Buffalo in the most recent year we have data available. Soon after graduation, social sciences degree recipients typically make around $28,844 in the first five years of their career.
Located in the city of Tallahassee, Florida State is a public university with a very large student population. This university ranks 2nd out of 70 colleges for overall quality in the state of Florida.
There were approximately 278 general social sciences students who graduated with this degree at Florida State in the most recent data year. Soon after graduating, social sciences degree recipients generally make an average of $33,235 in their early careers.
UO is a fairly large public university located in the city of Eugene. This university ranks 1st out of 29 schools for overall quality in the state of Oregon.
There were about 236 general social sciences students who graduated with this degree at UO in the most recent year we have data available. Graduates who receive their degree from the social sciences program make an average of $38,147 for their early career.
Ohio State is a very large public university located in the large city of Columbus. This university ranks 1st out of 91 schools for overall quality in the state of Ohio.
There were approximately 28 general social sciences students who graduated with this degree at Ohio State in the most recent year we have data available.
Located in the city of Seattle, UW Seattle is a public university with a very large student population. This university ranks 1st out of 50 colleges for overall quality in the state of Washington.
There were roughly 64 general social sciences students who graduated with this degree at UW Seattle in the most recent year we have data available. General Social Sciences degree recipients from University of Washington - Seattle Campus get an earnings boost of around $19,755 over the average earnings of general social sciences graduates.
Located in the midsize city of Providence, Providence is a private not-for-profit college with a small student population. This college ranks 3rd out of 9 colleges for overall quality in the state of Rhode Island.
There were roughly 6 general social sciences students who graduated with this degree at Providence in the most recent year we have data available.
K -State is a fairly large public university located in the small city of Manhattan. This university ranks 2nd out of 44 colleges for overall quality in the state of Kansas.
There were about 51 general social sciences students who graduated with this degree at K -State in the most recent year we have data available. Degree recipients from the general social sciences program at Kansas State University earn $3,010 above the standard graduate with the same degree shortly after graduation.
Portland State University is a very large public university located in the city of Portland. This university ranks 5th out of 29 schools for overall quality in the state of Oregon.
There were roughly 247 general social sciences students who graduated with this degree at Portland State University in the most recent year we have data available. Soon after graduating, social sciences degree recipients usually earn about $35,093 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.
Some other college data, including much of the graduate earnings data, comes from the U.S. Department of Education’s (College Scorecard).
Your choice of general social sciences school matters, so we have put together these rankings to help you make your decision. In order to come up with a best overall ranking for general social sciences schools, we combine our degree-level rankings, weighting them by the number of degrees awarded at each level.
