2024 Best International Relations & National Security Bachelor's Degree Schools in the Middle Atlantic Region

a bachelor's degree in international relations & national security is more popular than many other degrees. In fact, it ranks #58 out of 363 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.

In 2024, College Factual analyzed 47 schools in order to identify the top ones for its Best International Relations & National Security Bachelor's Degree Schools in the Middle Atlantic Region ranking. Combined, these schools handed out 2,787 bachelor's degrees in international relations & national security to qualified students.

What's on this page: * Our Methodology

• Best Bachelor’s Degree Schools List

Choosing a Great International Relations & National Security School for Your Bachelor's Degree

Your choice of international relations & national security for getting your bachelor's degree school matters. This section explores some of the factors we include in our ranking and how much they vary depending on the school you select. 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 collection of different 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 many resources a school devotes to international relations & national security students as compared to other majors.
• Major Demand - The number of international relations & national security 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 relations & national security 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 relations & national security related body.

Our complete ranking methodology documents in more detail how we consider these factors to identify the best schools for international relations & national security students working on their bachelor's degree.

One Size Does Not Fit All

The international relations 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 International Relations & National Security Bachelor's Degree Schools in the Middle Atlantic Region.

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 Relations & National Security in the Middle Atlantic Region

Explore the top ranked colleges and universities for international relations & national security students seeking a a bachelor's degree.

10 Top Middle Atlantic Region Schools for a Bachelor's in International Relations

1

Johns Hopkins University
Baltimore, MD

104 Annual Graduates

$57,526 Median Starting Salary

$12,000 Median Student Debt

Every student pursuing a degree in a bachelor's degree in international relations & national security needs to take a look at Johns Hopkins University. Located in the large city of Baltimore, Johns Hopkins is a private not-for-profit university with a very large student population.

International Relations & National Security bachelor's degree recipients from Johns Hopkins University receive an earnings boost of around $19,952 over the average earnings of international relations & national security majors.

More information about a bachelor’s in international relations & national security from Johns Hopkins University

2

Georgetown University
Washington, DC

289 Annual Graduates

$44,920 Median Starting Salary

$17,500 Median Student Debt

Georgetown University is one of the best schools in the country for getting a bachelor's degree in international relations & national security. Georgetown is a very large private not-for-profit university located in the city of Washington.

Bachelor's recipients from the international relations & national security degree program at Georgetown University earn $7,346 more than the standard college grad in this field shortly after graduation.

More information about a bachelor’s in international relations & national security from Georgetown University

3

University of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, PA

44 Annual Graduates

$10,470 Median Student Debt

It is difficult to beat University of Pennsylvania if you want to pursue a bachelor's degree in international relations & national security. UPenn is a very large private not-for-profit university located in the large city of Philadelphia.More information about a bachelor’s in international relations & national security from University of Pennsylvania

4

George Washington University
Washington, DC

563 Annual Graduates

$45,627 Median Starting Salary

$22,000 Median Student Debt

It is hard to beat George Washington University if you wish to pursue a bachelor's degree in international relations & national security. Located in the large city of Washington, GWU is a private not-for-profit university with a very large student population.

Bachelor's recipients from the international relations & national security program at George Washington University get $8,053 more than the average college graduate in this field shortly after graduation.

More information about a bachelor’s in international relations & national security from George Washington University

5

Carnegie Mellon University
Pittsburgh, PA

20 Annual Graduates

Carnegie Mellon is a large private not-for-profit university located in the city of Pittsburgh.More information about a bachelor’s in international relations & national security from Carnegie Mellon University

6

American University
Washington, DC

415 Annual Graduates

$41,948 Median Starting Salary

$23,250 Median Student Debt

Located in the large city of Washington, The American University is a private not-for-profit university with a fairly large student population.

International Relations & National Security bachelor's degree recipients from American University get an earnings boost of approximately $4,374 above the typical earnings of international relations & national security graduates.

More information about a bachelor’s in international relations & national security from American University

7

New York University
New York, NY

49 Annual Graduates

NYU is a fairly large private not-for-profit university located in the city of New York.More information about a bachelor’s in international relations & national security from New York University

8

Colgate University
Hamilton, NY

37 Annual Graduates

Located in the distant town of Hamilton, Colgate is a private not-for-profit university with a small student population.More information about a bachelor’s in international relations & national security from Colgate University

9

Lafayette College
Easton, PA

41 Annual Graduates

$47,229 Median Starting Salary

$16,620 Median Student Debt

Located in the suburb of Easton, Lafayette is a private not-for-profit college with a small student population.

International Relations & National Security bachelor's degree recipients from Lafayette College receive an earnings boost of about $9,655 over the typical income of international relations & national security graduates.

More information about a bachelor’s in international relations & national security from Lafayette College

10

Fordham University
Bronx, NY

93 Annual Graduates

$40,642 Median Starting Salary

$25,843 Median Student Debt

Fordham U is a fairly large private not-for-profit university located in the large city of Bronx.

Bachelor's recipients from the international relations & national security program at Fordham University get $3,068 more than the typical college grad with the same degree when they enter the workforce.

More information about a bachelor’s in international relations & national security from Fordham University

Best International Relations & National Security Colleges by State

Explore the best international relations & national security colleges for a specific state in the Middle Atlantic Region .

State	Colleges	Degrees Awarded
New York	275	700
Pennsylvania	274	474
Maryland	207	170
New Jersey	193	118
Delaware	130	55
District of Columbia	126	1,270

View All Rankings >

Rankings in Majors Related to International Relations

International Relations & National Security is one of 13 different types of Social Sciences programs to choose from.

International Relations Focus Areas

Major	Annual Graduates
International Relations	2,737
International Security	50

Most Popular Majors Related to International Relations

Related Major	Annual Graduates
Economics	9,364
Political Science & Government	8,410
Sociology	4,593
General Social Sciences	1,714
Anthropology	1,247
Other Social Sciences	722
Geography & Cartography	642
Urban Studies	304
Sociology & Anthropology	159
Archeology	59

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 RepubFan12. More about our data sources and methodologies.