2025 Best Area, Ethnic, Culture, & Gender Studies Master's Degree Schools in the Southwest Region

You'll be studying one of the lesser sought-after majors if you pursue a Master's Degree in area, ethnic, culture, & gender studies. It is ranked #30 out of 37 major degree programs in terms of popularity. This may make is a little harder to find a school that is a good fit for you.

In 2025, College Factual analyzed 3 schools in order to identify the top ones for its Best Area, Ethnic, Culture, & Gender Studies Master's Degree Schools in the Southwest Region ranking. When you put them all together, these colleges and universities awarded 552 master's degrees in area, ethnic, culture, & gender studies during the 2022-2023 academic year.

What's on this page: * Our Methodology

• Best Master’s Degree Schools List

Choosing a Great Area, Ethnic, Culture, & Gender Studies School for Your Master's Degree

The area, ethnic, culture, & gender studies master's degree program you select can have a big impact on your future. Important measures of a quality area, ethnic, culture, & gender studies program can vary widely even among the top schools. To make it into this list, a school must excel in the following areas.

A Great Overall School

The overall quality of a master's degree school is important to ensure a quality education, not just how well they do in a particular major. To take this into account we include a college's overall Best Colleges for a Master's Degree ranking which itself looks at a collection of different factors like degree completion, educational resources, student body caliber and post-graduation earnings for the school as a whole.

Early-Career Earnings

One measure we use to determine the quality of a school is to look at the average salary of master's graduates during the early years of their career. That is, everyone wants their master's degree to be worth something, and salaries are one measure of determining that.

Other Factors We Consider

The metrics below are just some of the other metrics that we use to determine our rankings.

• Major Focus - How much a school focuses on area, ethnic, culture, & gender studies students vs. other majors.
• Major Demand - How many other area, ethnic, culture, & gender studies students want to attend this school to pursue a master's degree.
• Educational Resources - How many resources are allocated to students. These resources may include educational expenditures per student, number of students per instructor, and graduation rate among other things.
• Student Debt - How easy is it for area, ethnic, culture, & gender studies 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 area, ethnic, culture, & gender studies related body.

Our full ranking methodology documents in more detail how we consider these factors to identify the best schools for area, ethnic, culture, & gender studies students working on their master's degree.

More Ways to Rank Area, Ethnic, Culture, & Gender Studies Schools

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, Ethnic, Culture, & Gender Studies Master's Degree Schools in the Southwest Region list to help you make the college decision.

Best Schools for Master’s Students to Study Area, Ethnic, Culture, & Gender Studies in the Southwest Region

Learn about the top ranked colleges and universities for area, ethnic, culture, & gender studies students seeking a a master's degree.

Top Southwest Region Schools for a Master's in Area, Ethnic, Culture, & Gender Studies

1

The University of Texas at Austin
Austin, TX

Doctor's Degree Highest Degree Type

35 Annual Graduates

The University of Texas at Austin is one of the best schools in the United States for getting a master's degree in area, ethnic, culture, & gender studies. UT Austin is a very large public university located in the large city of Austin.More information about a master’s in area, ethnic, culture, & gender studies from The University of Texas at Austin

2

University of Arizona
Tucson, AZ

Doctor's Degree Highest Degree Type

12 Annual Graduates

Any student pursuing a degree in a master's degree in area, ethnic, culture, & gender studies has to look into University of Arizona. University of Arizona is a very large public university located in the city of Tucson.More information about a master’s in area, ethnic, culture, & gender studies from University of Arizona

3

University of New Mexico - Main Campus
Albuquerque, NM

Doctor's Degree Highest Degree Type

26 Annual Graduates

University of New Mexico - Main Campus is a great choice for individuals pursuing a master's degree in area, ethnic, culture, & gender studies. Located in the large city of Albuquerque, UNM is a public university with a fairly large student population.More information about a master’s in area, ethnic, culture, & gender studies from University of New Mexico - Main Campus

Best Area, Ethnic, Culture, & Gender Studies Colleges by State

Explore the best area, ethnic, culture, & gender studies colleges for a specific state in the Southwest Region .

State	Colleges	Degrees Awarded
Arizona	32	26
Texas	32	56
Oklahoma	32	40
New Mexico	31	20

View All Rankings >

Area, Ethnic, Culture, & Gender Studies Majors to Study

Major	Annual Graduates
Area Studies	479
Ethnic Studies	73

Majors Similar to Area, Ethnic, Culture, & Gender Studies

Related Major	Annual Graduates
Social Sciences	1,738
Theology & Religious Vocations	1,505
Communication & Journalism	1,357
English Language & Literature	739
Family, Consumer & Human Sciences	689
History	437
Liberal Arts / Sciences & Humanities	318
Foreign Languages & Linguistics	295
Philosophy & Religious Studies	146

Notes and References

• 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 G. Mützel. More about our data sources and methodologies.