2023 Most Focused Doctor’s Degree Colleges for Area Studies in District of Columbia

With all of the options students have for higher education today, it can be tough to choose which direction to take. One of our goals at College Factual is to give you as much information as we can - such as our “Schools for a Doctorate Highly Focused on Area Studies Major in District of Columbia” ranking - to help you make that decision.

Area Studies is the 115th most popular major in the country with 6,257 degrees awarded in 2021-2022. In , area studies graduates who were awarded their degree in , earned an average of $33,127 and had an average of $22,500 in loans still to pay off.

Across District of Columbia, there were 186 area studies graduates with average earnings and debt of $55,019 and $41,735 respectively. At the doctor’s degree level specifically, there were 7 area studies graduates with average earnings and debt of $81,283 and $158,260 respectively.

This year’s “Schools for a Doctorate Highly Focused on Area Studies Major in District of Columbia” ranking looked at 3 colleges that offer degrees in a bachelor’s in area studies. That schools that top this list have a program in area studies in which the largest percentage of students at the school are enrolled.

For more information, check out our ranking methodology.

More Ways to Rank Area Studies Schools

Since picking the right college can be one of the most important decisions of your life, we’ve developed the “Schools for a Doctorate Highly Focused on Area Studies Major in District of Columbia” ranking, along with many other major-related rankings, to help you make that decision.

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.

Schools for a Doctorate Highly Focused on Area Studies Major in District of Columbia

The following schools top our list of the Best “Schools for a Doctorate Highly Focused on Area Studies Major in District of Columbia”.

Top 3 Most Focused Doctor’s Degree Colleges for Area Studies in District of Columbia

1

Howard University
Washington, District of Columbia

#6 overall quality in District of Columbia

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend Howard University. It ranked #1 on our 2023 Schools for a Doctorate Highly Focused on Area Studies Major in District of Columbia list. Howard is a private not-for-profit institution located in Washington, District of Columbia. The school has a fairly large population, and it awarded 3 doctorate’s degrees in 2021-2022.

The low undergrad student loan default rate of 2.7% is a good sign that students have an easier time paying off their loans than they might at other schools. For comparison, the national default rate is 10.1%. The school has an excellent freshman retention rate of 91%, which means students like the school well enough to return for a second year.

Read full report on Area Studies at Howard University

2

Georgetown University
Washington, District of Columbia

#1 overall quality in District of Columbia

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend Georgetown University. It ranked #2 on our 2023 Schools for a Doctorate Highly Focused on Area Studies Major in District of Columbia list. Georgetown University is a private not-for-profit institution located in Washington, District of Columbia. The school has a large population, and it awarded 1 doctorate’s degrees in 2021-2022.

With a freshman retention rate of 98%, the school does an excellent job of retaining its undergraduate students. The low undergrad student loan default rate of 0.2% is a good sign that students have an easier time paying off their loans than they might at other schools. For comparison, the national default rate is 10.1%.

Read full report on Area Studies at Georgetown

3

George Washington University
Washington, District of Columbia

#2 overall quality in District of Columbia

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend George Washington University. It ranked #3 on our 2023 Schools for a Doctorate Highly Focused on Area Studies Major in District of Columbia list. Washington, District of Columbia is the setting for this large institution of higher learning. The private not-for-profit school handed out doctorate’s area studies degrees to 3 students in 2021-2022.

The undergrad student loan default rate at the school is 0.4%, which is quite low when compared to the national default rate of 10.1%. With a freshman retention rate of 91%, the school does an excellent job of retaining its undergraduate students.

Full GWU Area Studies Report

Notes and References

References

• 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 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).
• Information about the national average student loan default rate is from the U.S. Department of Education and refers to data about the 2016 borrower cohort tracking period for which the cohort default rate (CDR) was 10.1%.

Read more about our data sources and methodologies

Footnotes

• *Avg Salary and Avg 4-Year Grad Rate are for the top schools only.
• Some schools otherwise deserving of recognition may have been removed from this ranking in the event that new data identified post-publication warranted it, or at the request of the school.

Credits

• Credit for the banner image above goes to Karl Udo Gerth.