2024 Best Social Sciences Schools in the Great Lakes Region
91Colleges in the Great Lakes Region
22,158Social Sciences Degrees Awarded
$35,460Avg Early-Career Salary
A degree in social sciences is more popular than many other degrees. In fact, it ranks #5 out of 38 on popularity of all such degrees in the nation. So, you have a fair amount of options to choose from when looking for a school.
College Factual reviewed 91 schools in the Great Lakes Region to determine which ones were the best for degree seekers in the field of social sciences. When you put them all together, these colleges and universities awarded 22,158 degrees in social sciences during the 2020-2021 academic year.
Your choice of social sciences school matters, so we have put together these rankings to help you make your decision. For our Best Overall Social Sciences School rankings, we roll up the results of our degree-level rankings, weighted by the number of degrees awarded at that level.
You may want to choose one of the degree levels below to find the schools of most interest to you.
Since the program you select can have a significant impact on your future, we've developed a number of rankings, including this Best Social Sciences Schools in the Great Lakes Region list, to help you choose the best school for you.
More interested in schools in a specific area of the country? Filter this list by region or state.
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.
Go ahead and give it a try, or bookmark the link so you can check it out later.
Best Schools for Social Sciences in the Great Lakes Region
If you aren't interested in a particular degree level and want to know which schools are the overall best at delivering an education for the social sciences degrees they offer, see the list below. Only those schools that rank in the top 15% of all the schools we analyze get awarded with a place on this list.
13 Top Great Lakes Region Schools in Social Sciences
University of Chicago is a good decision for students pursuing a degree in social sciences. 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 #2 out of 2,217 schools nationwide means UChicago is a great university overall.
There were about 1278 social sciences students who graduated with this degree at UChicago in the most recent data year. Social Sciences degree recipients from University of Chicago receive an earnings boost of around $15,957 over the typical earnings of social sciences graduates.
It is hard to beat Northwestern University if you wish to pursue a degree in social sciences. Northwestern is a fairly large private not-for-profit university located in the city of Evanston. A Best Colleges rank of #5 out of 2,217 schools nationwide means Northwestern is a great university overall.
There were about 663 social sciences students who graduated with this degree at Northwestern in the most recent data year. Degree recipients from the social sciences major at Northwestern University make $15,798 more than the average college graduate in this field when they enter the workforce.
Any student who is interested in social sciences needs to take a look at University of Notre Dame. Located in the suburb of Notre Dame, Notre Dame is a private not-for-profit university with a large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #20 out of 2,217 colleges nationwide means Notre Dame is a great university overall.
There were about 552 social sciences students who graduated with this degree at Notre Dame in the most recent data year. Social Sciences degree recipients from University of Notre Dame earn a boost of approximately $11,558 over the average income of social sciences majors.
Any student who is interested in social sciences needs to look into University of Wisconsin - Madison. Located in the large city of Madison, UW - Madison is a public university with a fairly large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #30 out of 2,217 schools nationwide means UW - Madison is a great university overall.
There were approximately 1846 social sciences students who graduated with this degree at UW - Madison in the most recent year we have data available. Soon after graduating, social sciences degree recipients generally make around $35,296 at the beginning of their careers.
U-M is a very large public university located in the medium-sized city of Ann Arbor. A Best Colleges rank of #29 out of 2,217 schools nationwide means U-M is a great university overall.
There were roughly 1247 social sciences students who graduated with this degree at U-M in the most recent data year. Those social sciences students who get their degree from University of Michigan - Ann Arbor earn $3,018 more than the typical social sciences graduate.
Located in the city of Champaign, UIUC is a public university with a very large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #34 out of 2,217 schools nationwide means UIUC is a great university overall.
There were roughly 973 social sciences students who graduated with this degree at UIUC in the most recent data year. Students who graduate with their degree from the social sciences program state that they receive average early career earnings of $36,891.
Ohio State is a fairly large public university located in the large city of Columbus. A Best Colleges rank of #69 out of 2,217 schools nationwide means Ohio State is a great university overall.
There were about 1219 social sciences students who graduated with this degree at Ohio State in the most recent year we have data available. Students who graduate with their degree from the social sciences program state that they receive average early career earnings of $34,488.
Purdue is a very large public university located in the city of West Lafayette. A Best Colleges rank of #40 out of 2,217 colleges nationwide means Purdue is a great university overall.
There were roughly 491 social sciences students who graduated with this degree at Purdue in the most recent year we have data available. Soon after graduation, social sciences degree recipients typically earn an average of $35,445 at the beginning of their careers.
Located in the city of East Lansing, Michigan State is a public university with a fairly large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #74 out of 2,217 schools nationwide means Michigan State is a great university overall.
There were about 965 social sciences students who graduated with this degree at Michigan State in the most recent data year. After graduating, social sciences degree recipients typically earn about $37,246 in their early careers.
Case Western is a fairly large private not-for-profit university located in the large city of Cleveland. A Best Colleges rank of #63 out of 2,217 colleges nationwide means Case Western is a great university overall.
There were roughly 152 social sciences students who graduated with this degree at Case Western in the most recent year we have data available. Degree recipients from the social sciences major at Case Western Reserve University earn $7,807 above the typical college graduate in this field when they enter the workforce.
Denison is a small private not-for-profit university located in the small suburb of Granville. This university ranks 4th out of 96 colleges for overall quality in the state of Ohio.
There were roughly 146 social sciences students who graduated with this degree at Denison in the most recent data year. Degree recipients from the social sciences degree program at Denison University make $5,555 more than the typical college grad with the same degree when they enter the workforce.
IU Bloomington is a very large public university located in the small city of Bloomington. A Best Colleges rank of #55 out of 2,217 colleges nationwide means IU Bloomington is a great university overall.
There were approximately 532 social sciences students who graduated with this degree at IU Bloomington in the most recent data year. Students who graduate with their degree from the social sciences program state that they receive average early career earnings of $35,604.
Miami University - Oxford is a fairly large public university located in the town of Oxford. A Best Colleges rank of #116 out of 2,217 schools nationwide means Miami University - Oxford is a great university overall.
There were approximately 572 social sciences students who graduated with this degree at Miami University - Oxford in the most recent year we have data available. Social Sciences degree recipients from Miami University - Oxford receive an earnings boost of approximately $4,414 above the average income of social sciences graduates.
These are some additional schools worth mentioning that are also great but just didn't quite make the cut to earn our top Best Social Sciences Schools in the Great Lakes Region award.
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).
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Your choice of social sciences school matters, so we have put together these rankings to help you make your decision. For our Best Overall Social Sciences School rankings, we roll up the results of our degree-level rankings, weighted by the number of degrees awarded at that level.
