2023 Schools for a Master’s Highly Focused on Political Science Major in District of Columbia

When it comes to choosing a college, students have a lot of options - but not all of them are good. 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 Political Science Major in District of Columbia” ranking is part of that endeavor.

In 2020-2021, 49,282 people earned their degree in political science and government, making the major the 20th most popular in the United States. In 2019-2020, political science and government graduates who were awarded their degree in 2017-2019, earned an average of $34,387 and had an average of $23,175 in loans still to pay off.

Across District of Columbia, there were 1,378 political science and government graduates with average earnings and debt of $46,616 and $25,842 respectively. At the master’s degree level specifically, there were 251 political science and government graduates with average earnings and debt of $64,645 and $0 respectively.

This year’s “Schools for a Master’s Highly Focused on Political Science Major in District of Columbia” ranking looked at 5 colleges that offer degrees in a bachelor’s in political science and government. This a ranking of the schools where the largest percentage of students has enrolled in political science and government.

Check out our ranking methodology for more information.

One Size Does Not Fit All

The political science 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 “Schools for a Master’s Highly Focused on Political Science Major in District of Columbia”.

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. Test it out by comparing your favorite schools against others you are considering, or bookmark the tool so you can experiment with it later.

Schools for a Master’s Highly Focused on Political Science Major in District of Columbia

The following schools top our list of the Best “Schools for a Master’s Highly Focused on Political Science Major in District of Columbia”.

Top 5 Most Focused Master’s Degree Colleges for Political Science & Government in District of Columbia

1

George Washington University
Washington, District of Columbia

#2 overall quality in District of Columbia

$71,685 Average Early-Career Earnings

You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around if you attend George Washington University. The school came in at #1 for the Schools for a Master’s Highly Focused on Political Science Major in District of Columbia. Located in Washington, District of Columbia, this large private not-for-profit school handed out 173 degrees to qualified masters’s political science students in 2020-2021.

The school has an impressive undergrad student loan default rate. It’s only 1.3%, which is much lower than the national rate of 10.1%. The school has an excellent freshman retention rate of 88%, which means students like the school well enough to return for a second year.

Full GWU Political Science & Government Report

2

Catholic University of America
Washington, District of Columbia

#4 overall quality in District of Columbia

You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around if you attend Catholic University of America. The school came in at #2 for the Schools for a Master’s Highly Focused on Political Science Major in District of Columbia. CUA is a private not-for-profit institution located in Washington, District of Columbia. The school has a medium-sized population, and it awarded 13 masters’s degrees in 2020-2021.

The school has an excellent freshman retention rate of 86%, which means students like the school well enough to return for a second year. The low undergrad student loan default rate of 2.4% is a good sign that students have an easier time paying off their loans than they might at other schools. For comparison, the national default rate is 10.1%.

Read more about Political Science & Government at CUA

3

Georgetown University
Washington, District of Columbia

#1 overall quality in District of Columbia

$58,963 Average Early-Career Earnings

Out of the 5 schools in the Schools for a Master’s Highly Focused on Political Science Major in District of Columbia that were part of this year’s ranking, Georgetown University landed the #3 spot on the list. Georgetown University is a large school located in Washington, District of Columbia that handed out 49 masters’s political science degrees in 2020-2021.

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%. Students who start out at the school are likely to stick around. The freshman retention rate is 94%.

Full Georgetown Political Science & Government Report

4

American University
Washington, District of Columbia

#3 overall quality in District of Columbia

You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around if you attend American University. The school came in at #4 for the Schools for a Master’s Highly Focused on Political Science Major in District of Columbia. American University is a fairly large private not-for-profit school situated in Washington, District of Columbia. It awarded 13 masters’s political science degrees in 2020-2021.

The low undergrad student loan default rate of 1.7% is a good sign that students have an easier time paying off their loans than they might at other schools. For comparison, the national default rate is 10.1%. The school has an excellent freshman retention rate of 85%, which means students like the school well enough to return for a second year.

Read full report on Political Science & Government at The American University

5

Howard University
Washington, District of Columbia

#6 overall quality in District of Columbia

You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around if you attend Howard University. The school came in at #5 for the Schools for a Master’s Highly Focused on Political Science Major in District of Columbia. Washington, District of Columbia is the setting for this fairly large institution of higher learning. The private not-for-profit school handed out masters’s political science degrees to 3 students in 2020-2021.

With a freshman retention rate of 90%, the school does an excellent job of retaining its undergraduate students.

Full Howard Political Science & Government Report

• Most Focused Master’s Degree Colleges for Political Science & Government in the Middle Atlantic Region
• Most Focused Master’s Degree Colleges for Political Science & Government

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 UKWiki at English Wikipedia.