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2025 Best General Social Sciences Bachelor's Degree Schools

76 Colleges in the United States
5,486 Bachelor's Degrees
$38,509 Avg Early-Career Salary
a bachelor's degree in general social sciences is more popular than many other degrees. In fact, it ranks #67 out of 363 on popularity of all such degrees in the nation. So, you have a fair amount of options to choose from when looking for a school.

In 2025, College Factual analyzed 76 schools in order to identify the top ones for its Best General Social Sciences Bachelor's Degree Schools ranking. Combined, these schools handed out 5,486 bachelor's degrees in general social sciences to qualified students.

What's on this page: * Our Methodology

Choosing a Great General Social Sciences School for Your Bachelor's Degree

Best General Social Sciences Bachelor's Degree Schools Your choice of general social sciences for getting your bachelor's degree school matters. This section explores some of the factors we include in our ranking and how much they vary depending on the school you select. Below we explain some of the most important factors to consider before making your choice:

Overall Quality Is a Must

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

Average Early-Career Salaries

Average early-career salary of those graduating with their bachelor's degree is one indicator we use in our analysis to find the schools that offer the highest-quality education. After all, your bachelor's degree won't mean much if it doesn't help you find a job that will help you earn a living.

Other Factors We Consider

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

Our full ranking methodology documents in more detail how we consider these factors to identify the best colleges for general social sciences students working on their bachelor's degree.

More Ways to Rank General Social Sciences Schools

Rankings by Location Check Out Other Locales
More Social Sciences Rankings Other Ranking Categories

Since picking the right college can be one of the most important decisions of your life, we've developed the Best General Social Sciences Bachelor's Degree Schools 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.

Best Schools for Bachelor’s Students to Study General Social Sciences in the United States

Explore the top ranked colleges and universities for general social sciences students seeking a a bachelor's degree. Only those schools that rank in the top 20% of all the schools we analyze get awarded with a place on this list.

15 Top Schools for a Bachelor's in Social Sciences

1
Vanderbilt crest
Vanderbilt University
Nashville, TN
245 Annual Graduates
$61,389 Median Starting Salary
$48,717 Median Student Debt

Every student pursuing a degree in a bachelor's degree in general social sciences needs to take a look at Vanderbilt University. Located in the city of Nashville, Vanderbilt is a private not-for-profit university with a fairly large student population.

Those general social sciences students who get their bachelor's degree from Vanderbilt University make $22,880 more than the standard social sciences graduate.

More information about a bachelor’s in general social sciences from Vanderbilt University

2
UPenn crest
University of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, PA

University of Pennsylvania is one of the best schools in the United States for getting a bachelor's degree in general social sciences. UPenn is a very large private not-for-profit university located in the city of Philadelphia.More information about a bachelor’s in general social sciences from University of Pennsylvania

3
Brown crest
Brown University
Providence, RI

It's hard to beat Brown University if you want to pursue a bachelor's degree in general social sciences. Brown is a fairly large private not-for-profit university located in the city of Providence.More information about a bachelor’s in general social sciences from Brown University

4
Georgetown crest
Georgetown University
Washington, DC

Georgetown University is one of the best schools in the United States for getting a bachelor's degree in general social sciences. Georgetown is a very large private not-for-profit university located in the city of Washington.More information about a bachelor’s in general social sciences from Georgetown University

5
Harvard crest
Harvard University
Cambridge, MA

Located in the medium-sized city of Cambridge, Harvard is a private not-for-profit university with a fairly large student population.

General Social Sciences bachelor's degree recipients from Harvard University get an earnings boost of approximately $18,031 over the typical income of general social sciences majors.

More information about a bachelor’s in general social sciences from Harvard University

6
1 Annual Graduates

Located in the small city of Evanston, Northwestern is a private not-for-profit university with a very large student population.More information about a bachelor’s in general social sciences from Northwestern University

7
Michigan State crest
Michigan State University
East Lansing, MI
96 Annual Graduates
$46,206 Median Starting Salary
$27,616 Median Student Debt

Michigan State is a fairly large public university located in the city of East Lansing.

General Social Sciences bachelor's degree recipients from Michigan State University earn a boost of around $7,697 over the typical income of general social sciences majors.

More information about a bachelor’s in general social sciences from Michigan State University

8
NYU crest
New York University
New York, NY
61 Annual Graduates
$49,016 Median Starting Salary
$63,507 Median Student Debt

NYU is a fairly large private not-for-profit university located in the city of New York.

General Social Sciences bachelor's degree recipients from New York University earn a boost of about $10,507 over the typical income of general social sciences majors.

More information about a bachelor’s in general social sciences from New York University

9

Located in the city of Los Angeles, USC is a private not-for-profit university with a very large student population.

Students who graduate with their bachelor's from the social sciences program report average early career wages of $33,789.

More information about a bachelor’s in general social sciences from University of Southern California

10
182 Annual Graduates
$28,844 Median Starting Salary
$19,407 Median Student Debt

University at Buffalo is a very large public university located in the suburb of Buffalo.

After graduating, social sciences bachelor's recipients usually make about $28,844 in their early careers.

More information about a bachelor’s in general social sciences from University at Buffalo

11
Florida State crest
Florida State University
Tallahassee, FL
278 Annual Graduates
$33,235 Median Starting Salary
$23,344 Median Student Debt

Florida State is a fairly large public university located in the midsize city of Tallahassee.

Students who graduate with their bachelor's from the social sciences program report average early career wages of $33,235.

More information about a bachelor’s in general social sciences from Florida State University

12
236 Annual Graduates
$38,147 Median Starting Salary
$48,905 Median Student Debt

Located in the midsize city of Eugene, UO is a public university with a very large student population.

Bachelor's graduates who receive their degree from the social sciences program make an average of $38,147 in their early career salary.

More information about a bachelor’s in general social sciences from University of Oregon

13
28 Annual Graduates

Located in the city of Columbus, Ohio State is a public university with a fairly large student population.More information about a bachelor’s in general social sciences from Ohio State University - Main Campus

14

UW Seattle is a fairly large public university located in the large city of Seattle.

General Social Sciences bachelor's degree recipients from University of Washington - Seattle Campus earn a boost of approximately $19,029 above the average earnings of general social sciences majors.

More information about a bachelor’s in general social sciences from University of Washington - Seattle Campus

15
Providence crest
Providence College
Providence, RI
6 Annual Graduates

Providence is a small private not-for-profit college located in the midsize city of Providence.More information about a bachelor’s in general social sciences from Providence College

Rest of the Top Best General Social Sciences Bachelor's Degree Schools

Honorable Mentions

These are some additional schools worth mentioning that are also great but just didn't quite make the cut to earn our top Best General Social Sciences Bachelor's Degree Schools award.

Rank College Location
16 Kansas State University Manhattan, KS
17 Portland State University Portland, OR
18 Washington State University Pullman, WA
19 Bard College Annandale-On-Hudson, NY

General Social Sciences by Region

View the Best General Social Sciences Bachelor's Degree Schools for a specific region near you.

Region
Southeast
New England
Rocky Mountains
Plains States
Middle Atlantic
Far Western US
Southwest
Other U.S. Territories
Great Lakes

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General Social Sciences is one of 13 different types of Social Sciences programs to choose from.

Social Sciences Concentrations

Major Annual Graduates
General Social Sciences 5,483
Research Methodology & Quantitative Methods 3

Related Major Annual Graduates
Political Science & Government 42,363
Economics 37,777
Sociology 27,751
International Relations & National Security 8,561
Anthropology 8,434
Geography & Cartography 4,014
Other Social Sciences 1,491
Urban Studies 984
Sociology & Anthropology 519
Archeology 186

Notes and References

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