Area Studies is above average in terms of popularity with it being the #115 most popular degree program in the country. As a result, there are many college that offer the degree, making your choice of school a hard one.
College Factual reviewed 95 schools in the United States to determine which ones were the best for degree seekers in the field of area studies. Combined, these schools handed out 6,257 degrees in area studies to qualified students.
The area studies program you select can have a big impact on your future. That's why we developed our collection of Best Schools for Area Studies rankings. In order to come up with a best overall ranking for area studies schools, we combine our degree-level rankings, weighting them by the number of degrees awarded at each level.
You may want to choose one of the degree levels below to find the schools of most interest to you.
When choosing the right school for you, it's important to arm yourself with all the facts you can. To that end, we've created a number of major-specific rankings, including this Best Area Studies Schools list to help you make the college decision.
If you'd like to restrict your choices to just one part of the country, you can filter this list by location.
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.
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Best Schools for Area Studies in the United States
Although we recommend filtering by degree level first, you can view the list below to see which schools give the educational experience for the area studies degree levels they offer. Only those schools that rank in the top 15% of all the schools we analyze get awarded with a place on this list.
Georgetown University is a wonderful decision for students interested in a degree in area studies. Located in the city of Washington, Georgetown is a private not-for-profit university with a very large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #15 out of 2,217 colleges nationwide means Georgetown is a great university overall.
There were roughly 124 area studies students who graduated with this degree at Georgetown in the most recent data year. Degree recipients from the area studies degree program at Georgetown University earn $26,235 more than the typical college graduate with the same degree when they enter the workforce.
Brown University is one of the best schools in the United States for getting a degree in area studies. Located in the midsize city of Providence, Brown is a private not-for-profit university with a large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #21 out of 2,217 schools nationwide means Brown is a great university overall.
There were approximately 113 area studies students who graduated with this degree at Brown in the most recent year we have data available. Degree recipients from the area studies degree program at Brown University earn $4,344 more than the typical college grad with the same degree shortly after graduation.
It is difficult to beat Dartmouth College if you wish to pursue a degree in area studies. Dartmouth is a moderately-sized private not-for-profit college located in the remote town of Hanover. A Best Colleges rank of #25 out of 2,217 schools nationwide means Dartmouth is a great college overall.
There were approximately 32 area studies students who graduated with this degree at Dartmouth in the most recent data year. Degree recipients from the area studies major at Dartmouth College get $14,175 more than the standard graduate with the same degree shortly after graduation.
It's difficult to beat Columbia University in the City of New York if you want to pursue a degree in area studies. Located in the city of New York, Columbia is a private not-for-profit university with a very large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #14 out of 2,217 colleges nationwide means Columbia is a great university overall.
There were approximately 107 area studies students who graduated with this degree at Columbia in the most recent data year. Area Studies degree recipients from Columbia University in the City of New York receive an earnings boost of approximately $17,084 over the typical income of area studies majors.
Stanford is a large private not-for-profit university located in the large suburb of Stanford. A Best Colleges rank of #3 out of 2,217 colleges nationwide means Stanford is a great university overall.
There were about 62 area studies students who graduated with this degree at Stanford in the most recent year we have data available. Degree recipients from the area studies major at Stanford University earn $14,994 more than the standard college grad with the same degree shortly after graduation.
Located in the large city of Durham, Duke is a private not-for-profit university with a fairly large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #7 out of 2,217 schools nationwide means Duke is a great university overall.
There were about 53 area studies students who graduated with this degree at Duke in the most recent year we have data available. Degree recipients from the area studies program at Duke University get $10,362 above the typical college grad in this field when they enter the workforce.
Bowdoin is a small private not-for-profit college located in the town of Brunswick. This college ranks 1st out of 19 schools for overall quality in the state of Maine.
There were about 47 area studies students who graduated with this degree at Bowdoin in the most recent year we have data available. Those area studies students who get their degree from Bowdoin College receive $13,117 more than the average area studies grad.
Located in the midsize city of New Haven, Yale is a private not-for-profit university with a large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #8 out of 2,217 schools nationwide means Yale is a great university overall.
There were about 88 area studies students who graduated with this degree at Yale in the most recent year we have data available. Students who graduate with their degree from the area studies program report average early career earnings of $27,225.
Located in the city of Atlanta, Emory is a private not-for-profit university with a fairly large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #28 out of 2,217 colleges nationwide means Emory is a great university overall.
There were approximately 34 area studies students who graduated with this degree at Emory in the most recent data year. Students who graduate with their degree from the area studies program report average early career income of $27,258.
Located in the city of New York, Barnard is a private not-for-profit college with a small student population. This college ranks 6th out of 142 schools for overall quality in the state of New York.
There were approximately 28 area studies students who graduated with this degree at Barnard in the most recent year we have data available. Area Studies degree recipients from Barnard College earn a boost of around $9,856 over the typical income of area studies graduates.
Cornell is a very large private not-for-profit university located in the small city of Ithaca. A Best Colleges rank of #22 out of 2,217 colleges nationwide means Cornell is a great university overall.
There were roughly 57 area studies students who graduated with this degree at Cornell in the most recent year we have data available. Students who receive their degree from the area studies program make about $30,086 in their early career salary.
Located in the suburb of Wellesley, Wellesley is a private not-for-profit college with a small student population. This college ranks 12th out of 63 colleges for overall quality in the state of Massachusetts.
There were roughly 28 area studies students who graduated with this degree at Wellesley in the most recent year we have data available. Area Studies degree recipients from Wellesley College earn a boost of around $3,622 over the typical earnings of area studies graduates.
UC Berkeley is a very large public university located in the midsize city of Berkeley. A Best Colleges rank of #18 out of 2,217 schools nationwide means UC Berkeley is a great university overall.
There were roughly 65 area studies students who graduated with this degree at UC Berkeley in the most recent data year. Those area studies students who get their degree from University of California - Berkeley earn $7,246 more than the average area studies graduate.
Located in the small city of Waltham, Brandeis is a private not-for-profit university with a moderately-sized student population. This university ranks 14th out of 63 colleges for overall quality in the state of Massachusetts.
There were approximately 41 area studies students who graduated with this degree at Brandeis in the most recent year we have data available. Those area studies students who get their degree from Brandeis University receive $5,726 more than the standard area studies student.
These are some additional schools worth mentioning that are also great but just didn't quite make the cut to earn our top Best Area Studies Schools 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).
Credit for the banner image above goes to Karl Udo Gerth.
The area studies program you select can have a big impact on your future. That's why we developed our collection of Best Schools for Area Studies rankings. In order to come up with a best overall ranking for area studies schools, we combine our degree-level rankings, weighting them by the number of degrees awarded at each level.
