If you plan on majoring in public policy, you won't be alone since the degree program is ranked #113 in the country in terms of popularity. As a result, there are many college that offer the degree, making your choice of school a hard one.
College Factual looked at 99 colleges and universities when compiling its 2024 Best Public Policy Schools ranking. Combined, these schools handed out 6,484 degrees in public policy to qualified students.
Your choice of public policy school matters, so we have put together these rankings to help you make your decision. We derive our Best Overall Public Policy School rankings by rolling up our degree-level rankings after weighting them by the number of degrees awarded at each school.
In order to find the schools that are the best fit for you, you may want to filter to one of the degree levels below.
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 Public Policy 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 Public Policy 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 public policy 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.
Harvard University is a great decision for students interested in a degree in public policy. Located in the medium-sized city of Cambridge, Harvard is a private not-for-profit university with a very large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #6 out of 2,217 schools nationwide means Harvard is a great university overall.
There were about 304 public policy students who graduated with this degree at Harvard in the most recent year we have data available. Public Policy degree recipients from Harvard University receive an earnings boost of about $27,424 above the typical earnings of public policy majors.
University of Chicago is one of the finest schools in the United States for getting a degree in public policy. UChicago is a large private not-for-profit university located in the large city of Chicago. A Best Colleges rank of #2 out of 2,217 colleges nationwide means UChicago is a great university overall.
There were roughly 363 public policy students who graduated with this degree at UChicago in the most recent data year. Degree recipients from the public policy program at University of Chicago make $11,692 above the average graduate in this field when they enter the workforce.
It is hard to beat Duke University if you want to pursue a degree in public policy. Duke is a fairly large private not-for-profit university located in the large city of Durham. A Best Colleges rank of #7 out of 2,217 schools nationwide means Duke is a great university overall.
There were roughly 288 public policy students who graduated with this degree at Duke in the most recent data year. Those public policy students who get their degree from Duke University earn $10,067 more than the typical public policy student.
It is hard to beat Princeton University if you wish to pursue a degree in public policy. Located in the small city of Princeton, Princeton is a private not-for-profit university with a medium-sized student population. A Best Colleges rank of #10 out of 2,217 colleges nationwide means Princeton is a great university overall.
There were roughly 210 public policy students who graduated with this degree at Princeton in the most recent data year. Those public policy students who get their degree from Princeton University earn $13,369 more than the average public policy graduate.
Located in the city of Ithaca, Cornell is a private not-for-profit university with a fairly large student population. This university ranks 3rd out of 142 colleges for overall quality in the state of New York.
There were roughly 67 public policy students who graduated with this degree at Cornell in the most recent year we have data available. Degree recipients from the public policy program at Cornell University make $16,514 above the average graduate with the same degree shortly after graduation.
Located in the city of Berkeley, UC Berkeley is a public university with a very large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #18 out of 2,217 schools nationwide means UC Berkeley is a great university overall.
There were roughly 119 public policy students who graduated with this degree at UC Berkeley in the most recent year we have data available. Public Policy degree recipients from University of California - Berkeley receive an earnings boost of approximately $28,072 over the typical earnings of public policy majors.
Carnegie Mellon is a fairly large private not-for-profit university located in the city of Pittsburgh. A Best Colleges rank of #9 out of 2,217 schools nationwide means Carnegie Mellon is a great university overall.
There were roughly 105 public policy students who graduated with this degree at Carnegie Mellon in the most recent data year. Degree recipients from the public policy major at Carnegie Mellon University earn $15,265 above the average college graduate in this field when they enter the workforce.
UPenn is a fairly large private not-for-profit university located in the city of Philadelphia. A Best Colleges rank of #4 out of 2,217 schools nationwide means UPenn is a great university overall.
There were approximately 31 public policy students who graduated with this degree at UPenn in the most recent year we have data available.
Located in the large city of Los Angeles, USC is a private not-for-profit university with a very large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #11 out of 2,217 schools nationwide means USC is a great university overall.
There were roughly 199 public policy students who graduated with this degree at USC in the most recent data year. Those public policy students who get their degree from University of Southern California earn $8,597 more than the typical public policy graduate.
Brown is a large private not-for-profit university located in the city of Providence. A Best Colleges rank of #21 out of 2,217 colleges nationwide means Brown is a great university overall.
There were roughly 123 public policy students who graduated with this degree at Brown in the most recent year we have data available. Public Policy degree recipients from Brown University get an earnings boost of approximately $4,967 over the typical income of public policy graduates.
Located in the small city of Evanston, Northwestern is a private not-for-profit university with a fairly large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #5 out of 2,217 schools nationwide means Northwestern is a great university overall.
There were about 47 public policy students who graduated with this degree at Northwestern in the most recent year we have data available. Graduates who receive their degree from the public policy program make about $40,701 in the first couple years of working.
Located in the city of Chapel Hill, UNC Chapel Hill is a public university with a fairly large student population. This university ranks 2nd out of 93 schools for overall quality in the state of North Carolina.
There were about 172 public policy students who graduated with this degree at UNC Chapel Hill in the most recent year we have data available. Students who graduate with their degree from the public policy program state that they receive average early career income of $39,751.
Located in the city of Ann Arbor, U-M is a public university with a very large student population. This university ranks 1st out of 57 schools for overall quality in the state of Michigan.
There were approximately 206 public policy students who graduated with this degree at U-M in the most recent year we have data available. Degree recipients from the public policy degree program at University of Michigan - Ann Arbor make $3,957 above the standard college grad with the same degree shortly after graduation.
Located in the large city of Washington, GWU is a private not-for-profit university with a very large student population. This university ranks 2nd out of 8 schools for overall quality in the state of District of Columbia.
There were about 81 public policy students who graduated with this degree at GWU in the most recent data year. Degree recipients from the public policy program at George Washington University get $21,725 more than the standard college grad with the same degree shortly after graduation.
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).
Your choice of public policy school matters, so we have put together these rankings to help you make your decision. We derive our Best Overall Public Policy School rankings by rolling up our degree-level rankings after weighting them by the number of degrees awarded at each school.
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