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

Students have lots of options to chooose from today when trying to decide which college to attend. College Factual was founded, in part, to help students make the decision as to what would be the best school for them. Our “Schools for a Master’s Highly Focused on Area Studies Major in District of Columbia” ranking is part of that endeavor.

In 2021-2022, 6,257 people earned their degree in area studies, making the major the 115th most popular in the United States. 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 master’s degree level specifically, there were 106 area studies graduates with average earnings and debt of $64,686 and $62,807 respectively.

This year’s “Schools for a Master’s Highly Focused on Area Studies Major in District of Columbia” ranking looked at 4 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.

One Size Does Not Fit All

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 “Schools for a Master’s Highly Focused on Area Studies Major in District of Columbia” list to help you make the college decision.

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. When you have some time, check it out - you may want to bookmark the link so you don’t forget it.

Schools for a Master’s Highly Focused on Area Studies Major in District of Columbia

The colleges and universities below are the best for district of columbia master’s degree area studies students.

Top 4 Most Focused Master’s Degree Colleges for Area Studies in District of Columbia

1

Georgetown University
Washington, District of Columbia

#1 overall quality in District of Columbia

$59,362 Average Early-Career Earnings

$76,142 Average Student Debt

You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around if you attend Georgetown University. The school came in at #1 for the Schools for a Master’s Highly Focused on Area Studies Major in District of Columbia. Georgetown is a private not-for-profit institution located in Washington, District of Columbia. The school has a large population, and it awarded 99 masters’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%.

Full Georgetown University Area Studies Report

2

George Washington University
Washington, District of Columbia

#2 overall quality in District of Columbia

$50,676 Average Early-Career Earnings

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend George Washington University. It ranked #2 on our 2023 Schools for a Master’s Highly Focused on Area Studies Major in District of Columbia list. GWU is a private not-for-profit institution located in Washington, District of Columbia. The school has a large population, and it awarded 7 masters’s degrees in 2021-2022.

The school has an excellent freshman retention rate of 91%, which means students like the school well enough to return for a second year. The low undergrad student loan default rate of 0.4% 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%.

Full George Washington University Area Studies Report

3

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 #3 on our 2023 Schools for a Master’s Highly Focused on Area Studies Major in District of Columbia list. Howard University is located in Washington, District of Columbia and, has a fairly large student population. In 2021-2022, this school awarded 3 masters’s area studies degrees to qualified students.

With a freshman retention rate of 91%, the school does an excellent job of retaining its undergraduate students. The school has an impressive undergrad student loan default rate. It’s only 2.7%, which is much lower than the national rate of 10.1%.

Read full report on Area Studies at Howard

3

American University
Washington, District of Columbia

#3 overall quality in District of Columbia

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend American University. It ranked #3 on our 2023 Schools for a Master’s Highly Focused on Area Studies Major in District of Columbia list. The American University is a fairly large private not-for-profit school situated in Washington, District of Columbia. It awarded 17 masters’s area studies degrees in 2021-2022.

The undergrad student loan default rate at the school is 0.9%, which is quite low when compared to the national default rate of 10.1%. The school has an excellent freshman retention rate of 90%, which means students like the school well enough to return for a second year.

Full American University 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.