2023 Most Focused Master’s Degree Colleges for International Relations & National Security in Pennsylvania

Students have lots of options to chooose from today when trying to decide which college to attend. College Factual was founded, in part, to help students make the decision as to what would be the best school for them. Our “Schools for a Master’s Highly Focused on International Relations Major in Pennsylvania” ranking is part of that endeavor.

In 2020-2021, 14,306 people earned their degree in international relations and national security, making the major the 67th most popular in the United States. In 2019-2020, international relations and national security graduates who were awarded their degree in 2017-2019, earned an average of $41,288 and had an average of $21,455 in loans still to pay off.

Across Pennsylvania, there were 535 international relations and national security graduates with average earnings and debt of $39,480 and $22,552 respectively. At the master’s degree level specifically, there were 54 international relations and national security graduates with average earnings and debt of $64,136 and $0 respectively.

This year’s “Schools for a Master’s Highly Focused on International Relations Major in Pennsylvania” ranking analyzed 2 colleges that offered a degree in international relations and national security. The colleges and universities that top this list are recognized because their international relations and national security program is one of the largest majors offered at the school.

For more information, check out our ranking methodology.

One Size Does Not Fit All

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 “Schools for a Master’s Highly Focused on International Relations Major in Pennsylvania” list to help you make the college decision.

To further help you make the college decision, we’ve developed a unique tool called College Combat that allows you to compare schools based on the factors that matter the most to you. If you’re torn between two schools, you can use it to help you see how they stack up against one another. Bookmark it so you can compare any new schools that might interest you.

Schools for a Master’s Highly Focused on International Relations Major in Pennsylvania

The colleges and universities below are the best for pennsylvania master’s degree international relations students.

Top 2 Most Focused Master’s Degree Colleges for International Relations & National Security in Pennsylvania

1

University of Pittsburgh - Pittsburgh Campus
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

#9 overall quality in Pennsylvania

You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around if you attend University of Pittsburgh - Pittsburgh Campus. The school came in at #1 for the Schools for a Master’s Highly Focused on International Relations Major in Pennsylvania. Pitt is a public institution located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The school has a large population, and it awarded 50 masters’s degrees in 2020-2021.

The undergrad student loan default rate at the school is 2.9%, which is quite low when compared to the national default rate of 10.1%. Students who start out at the school are likely to stick around. The freshman retention rate is 93%.

Read full report on International Relations & National Security at Pitt

2

Carnegie Mellon University
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

#2 overall quality in Pennsylvania

Out of the 2 schools in the Schools for a Master’s Highly Focused on International Relations Major in Pennsylvania that were part of this year’s ranking, Carnegie Mellon University landed the #2 spot on the list. Carnegie Mellon University is a fairly large private not-for-profit school situated in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It awarded 4 masters’s international relations degrees in 2020-2021.

The impressive undergraduate student-to-faculty ratio of 5 to 1 means that students may have more opportunities to work more closely with their professors than they would at other schools. The school has an impressive undergrad student loan default rate. It’s only 0.7%, which is much lower than the national rate of 10.1%. With a freshman retention rate of 96%, the school does an excellent job of retaining its undergraduate students.

Read more about International Relations & National Security at Carnegie Mellon

• Most Focused Master’s Degree Colleges for International Relations & National Security in the Middle Atlantic Region
• Most Focused Master’s Degree Colleges for International Relations & National Security

Notes and References

References

• 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 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).
• Information about the national average student loan default rate is from the U.S. Department of Education and refers to data about the 2016 borrower cohort tracking period for which the cohort default rate (CDR) was 10.1%.

Read more about our data sources and methodologies

Footnotes

• *Avg Salary and Avg 4-Year Grad Rate are for the top schools only.
• Some schools otherwise deserving of recognition may have been removed from this ranking in the event that new data identified post-publication warranted it, or at the request of the school.

Credits

• Credit for the banner image above goes to RepubFan12.