If you pursue a bachelor's degree in sociology, you won't be alone. The field of study is the #19 most popular program in the country. So, there are lots of possibilities to explore when you're trying to determine where you want to get your degree.
For its 2024 ranking, College Factual looked at 9 schools in Tennessee to determine which ones were the best for sociology students pursuing a bachelor's degree. Combined, these schools handed out 387 bachelor's degrees in sociology to qualified students.
Choosing a Great Sociology School for Your Bachelor's Degree
The sociology bachelor's degree program you select can have a big impact on your future. Important measures of a quality sociology program can vary widely even among the top schools. Below we explain some of the most important factors to consider before making your choice:
Overall Quality Is a Must
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 school's overall Best Colleges ranking which itself looks at a host of various factors like degree completion, educational resources, student body caliber and post-graduation earnings for the school as a whole.
Average Early-Career Salaries
Average early-career salary of those graduating with their bachelor's degree is one indicator we use in our analysis to find the schools that offer the highest-quality education. After all, your bachelor's degree won't mean much if it doesn't help you find a job that will help you earn a living.
Other Factors We Consider
The metrics below are just some of the other metrics that we use to determine our rankings.
Major Focus - How much a school focuses on sociology students vs. other majors.
Major Demand - How many other sociology students want to attend this school to pursue a bachelor's degree.
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 easy is it for sociology to pay back their student loans after receiving their bachelor's degree.
Accreditation - Whether a school is regionally accredited and/or accredited by a recognized sociology related body.
Our complete ranking methodology documents in more detail how we consider these factors to identify the best schools for sociology students working on their bachelor's degree.
The sociology 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 Sociology Bachelor's Degree Schools in Tennessee.
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 Bachelor’s Students to Study Sociology in Tennessee
Learn about the top ranked colleges and universities for sociology students seeking a a bachelor's degree.
Top Tennessee Schools for a Bachelor's in Sociology
The University of Tennessee - Knoxville is a good decision for students interested in a bachelor's degree in sociology. UT Knoxville is a very large public university located in the city of Knoxville.
Bachelor's recipients from the sociology major at The University of Tennessee - Knoxville get $5,083 more than the typical college grad with the same degree shortly after graduation.
University of Memphis is one of the best schools in the country for getting a bachelor's degree in sociology. Located in the large city of Memphis, UofM is a public university with a fairly large student population.
Students who graduate with their bachelor's from the sociology program report average early career earnings of $28,073.
Middle Tennessee State University is one of the finest schools in the United States for getting a bachelor's degree in sociology. Located in the midsize city of Murfreesboro, Middle Tennessee State University is a public university with a very large student population.
Soon after graduating, sociology bachelor's recipients generally make an average of $25,896 at the beginning of their careers.
Located in the city of Nashville, Tennessee State University is a public university with a medium-sized student population.
Sociology bachelor's degree recipients from Tennessee State University get an earnings boost of about $3,708 over the average earnings of sociology majors.
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).