Public Administration is of the hottest master's degree programs in the United States, coming in as the #19 most popular major in the country. So, there are lots of possibilities to explore when you're trying to determine where you want to get your degree.
College Factual reviewed 4 schools in Washington to determine which ones were the best for master's degree seekers in the field of public administration. Combined, these schools handed out 278 master's degrees in public administration to qualified students.
Choosing a Great Public Administration School for Your Master's Degree
Your choice of public administration for getting your master's degree school matters. Important measures of a quality public admin 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
A school that excels in educating for a particular major and degree level must be a great school overall as well. To make it into this list a school must rank well in our overall Best Colleges for a Master's Degree ranking. This ranking considered factors such as graduation rates, overall graduate earnings and other educational resources to identify great colleges and universities.
Average Early-Career Salaries
Average early-career salary of those graduating with their master's degree is one indicator we use in our analysis to find the schools that offer the highest-quality education. After all, your master'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
In addition to the above, you should consider some of the following factors:
Major Focus - How many resources a school devotes to public administration students as compared to other majors.
Major Demand - How many other public administration students want to attend this school to pursue a master's degree.
Educational Resources - The amount of money and other resources allocated to students while they are pursuing their degree. These resources include such things as number of students per instructor and education expenditures per student.
Student Debt - How easy is it for public administration to pay back their student loans after receiving their master's degree.
Accreditation - Whether a school is regionally accredited and/or accredited by a recognized public administration related body.
Our full ranking methodology documents in more detail how we consider these factors to identify the best schools for public administration students working on their master's degree.
Since the program you select can have a significant impact on your future, we've developed a number of rankings, including this Best Public Administration Master's Degree Schools in Washington list, to help you choose the best school for you.
Best Schools for Master’s Students to Study Public Administration in Washington
Below you'll see a list of the best colleges and universities for pursuing a master's degree in public administration.
Top Washington Schools for a Master's in Public Admin
It's difficult to beat University of Washington - Seattle Campus if you want to pursue a master's degree in public administration. Located in the large city of Seattle, UW Seattle is a public university with a fairly large student population.
Master's graduates who receive their degree from the public admin program earn around $58,167 in their early career salary.
Seattle University is a wonderful option for students interested in a master's degree in public administration. Seattle U is a moderately-sized private not-for-profit university located in the large city of Seattle.
Those public administration students who get their master's degree from Seattle University receive $5,761 more than the typical public admin graduate.
Every student who is interested in a master's degree in public administration needs to look into Eastern Washington University. Located in the fringe town of Cheney, EWU is a public university with a large student population.
Master's graduates who receive their degree from the public admin program make about $51,175 for their early career.
It's hard to beat The Evergreen State College if you want to pursue a master's degree in public administration. Evergreen is a small public college located in the medium-sized suburb of Olympia.
Soon after graduating, public admin master's recipients typically make an average of $59,678 in their early careers.
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).
college factual
Your choice of public administration for getting your master's degree school matters. Important measures of a quality public admin program can vary widely even among the top schools. Below we explain some of the most important factors to consider before making your choice:
.jpg){kind=link}