General Social Sciences is of the hottest associate degree programs in the United States, coming in as the #12 most popular major in the country. So, there are lots of possibilities to explore when you're trying to determine where you want to get your degree.
College Factual looked at 4 colleges and universities when compiling its 2025 Best General Social Sciences Associate Degree Schools in the Middle Atlantic Region ranking. When you put them all together, these colleges and universities awarded 669 associate degrees in general social sciences during the 2022-2023 academic year.
Choosing a Great General Social Sciences School for Your Associate Degree
The social sciences associate degree program you select can have a big impact on your future. Important measures of a quality social sciences program can vary widely even among the top schools. 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 associate degree school is important to ensure a quality education, not just how well they do in a particular major. To make it into this list a school must rank well in our overall Best Colleges ranking. This ranking considered factors such as graduation rates, overall graduate earnings and other educational resources to identify great colleges and universities.
Average Early-Career Salaries
To determine the overall quality of a graduate school, one factor we look at is the average early-career salary of those receiving their associate degree from the school. After all, your associate 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
In addition to the above, you should consider some of the following factors:
Major Focus - How many resources a school devotes to general social sciences students as compared to other majors.
Major Demand - The number of general social sciences students who choose to seek a associate degree at the school.
Educational Resources - The amount of money and other resources allocated to students while they are pursuing their degree. These resources include such things as number of students per instructor and education expenditures per student.
Student Debt - How much debt general social sciences students go into to obtain their associate degree and how well they are able to pay back that debt.
Accreditation - Whether a school is regionally accredited and/or accredited by a recognized general social sciences related body.
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 associate degree.
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 General Social Sciences Associate Degree Schools in the Middle Atlantic Region list to help you make the college decision.
Best Schools for Associate Students to Study General Social Sciences in the Middle Atlantic Region
Below you'll see a list of the best colleges and universities for pursuing an associate degree in general social sciences.
Top Middle Atlantic Region Schools for an Associate in Social Sciences
Essex County College is a great choice for students interested in an associate degree in general social sciences. Located in the large city of Newark, Essex is a public college with a moderately-sized student population.
Students who graduate with their associate from the social sciences program state that they receive average early career wages of $22,053.
Brookdale Community College is one of the best schools in the United States for getting an associate degree in general social sciences. Located in the suburb of Lincroft, Brookdale Community College is a public college with a medium-sized student population.
Associate students who receive their degree from the social sciences program earn around $26,231 for their early career.
Any student pursuing a degree in an associate degree in general social sciences needs to check out Frederick Community College. Located in the small city of Frederick, Frederick Community College is a public college with a medium-sized student population.
Associate recipients from the general social sciences major at Frederick Community College earn $5,591 more than the typical college graduate in this field shortly after graduation.
Any student who is interested in an associate degree in general social sciences needs to take a look at Harrisburg Area Community College. HACC is a large public college located in the city of Harrisburg.
After graduation, social sciences associate recipients typically earn an average of $27,600 in their early careers.
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).
The social sciences associate degree program you select can have a big impact on your future. Important measures of a quality social sciences program can vary widely even among the top schools. Below we explain some of the most important factors to consider before making your choice:
