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by our College Data Analytics Team
When it comes to choosing a college, students have a lot of options - but not all of them are good. 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 Bachelor’s Highly Focused on Public Policy Major in California” ranking is part of that endeavor.
Public Policy is the 113th most popular major in the country with 6,484 degrees awarded in 2021-2022. In , public policy graduates who were awarded their degree in , earned an average of $49,451 and had an average of $32,327 in loans still to pay off.
Across California, there were 853 public policy graduates with average earnings and debt of $52,313 and $45,815 respectively. At the bachelor’s degree level specifically, there were 320 public policy graduates with average earnings and debt of $39,904 and $19,503 respectively.
This year’s “Schools for a Bachelor’s Highly Focused on Public Policy Major in California” ranking analyzed 12 colleges that offered a degree in public policy. This a ranking of the schools where the largest percentage of students has enrolled in public policy.
For more information, check out our ranking methodology.
The public policy school you choose to invest your time and money in matters. To help you make the decision that is right for you, we’ve developed a number of major-specific rankings, including this list of “Schools for a Bachelor’s Highly Focused on Public Policy Major in California”.
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. We encourage you to try it out and pit your favorite colleges and universities head to head! If you don’t have time right now, you can bookmark it for later.
The following schools top our list of the Best “Schools for a Bachelor’s Highly Focused on Public Policy Major in California”.
You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend Pomona College. It ranked #2 on our 2023 Schools for a Bachelor’s Highly Focused on Public Policy Major in California list. Pomona is a small private not-for-profit school situated in Claremont, California. It awarded 12 bachelors’s public policy degrees in 2021-2022.
Since the school has a undergrad student-to-faculty ratio of 7 to 1, those pursuing a degree will have more opportunities to interact with their professors. The school has an excellent freshman retention rate of 96%, which means students like the school well enough to return for a second year.
You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend University of California - Riverside. It ranked #3 on our 2023 Schools for a Bachelor’s Highly Focused on Public Policy Major in California list. UCR is a public institution located in Riverside, California. The school has a large population, and it awarded 91 bachelors’s degrees in 2021-2022.
Students who start out at the school are likely to stick around. The freshman retention rate is 88%. The undergrad student loan default rate at the school is 0.8%, which is quite low when compared to the national default rate of 10.1%.
Read full report on Public Policy at University of California - Riverside
You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around if you attend University of Redlands. The school came in at #4 for the Schools for a Bachelor’s Highly Focused on Public Policy Major in California. Located in Redlands, California, this small private not-for-profit school awarded 21 degrees to qualified bachelors’s public policy students in 2021-2022.
The school has an impressive undergrad student loan default rate. It’s only 0.6%, which is much lower than the national rate of 10.1%.
Out of the 12 schools in the Schools for a Bachelor’s Highly Focused on Public Policy Major in California that were part of this year’s ranking, Claremont McKenna College landed the #5 spot on the list. Claremont, California is the setting for this small institution of higher learning. The private not-for-profit school handed out bachelors’s public policy degrees to 11 students in 2021-2022.
The impressive undergraduate student-to-faculty ratio of 8 to 1 means that students may have more opportunities to work more closely with their professors than they would at other schools. With a freshman retention rate of 98%, the school does an excellent job of retaining its undergraduate students.
University of California - Los Angeles came in at #6 in this year’s edition of the Schools for a Bachelor’s Highly Focused on Public Policy Major in California ranking. Located in Los Angeles, California, this large public school awarded 106 degrees to qualified bachelors’s public policy students in 2021-2022.
Students who start out at the school are likely to stick around. The freshman retention rate is 97%. The school has an impressive undergrad student loan default rate. It’s only 0.7%, which is much lower than the national rate of 10.1%.
Mount Saint Mary’s University ranked #7 on this year’s Schools for a Bachelor’s Highly Focused on Public Policy Major in California list. Mount Saint Mary’s University is a private not-for-profit institution located in Los Angeles, California. The school has a small population, and it awarded 11 bachelors’s degrees in 2021-2022.
The low undergrad student loan default rate of 1.6% 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%.
Stanford University landed the #8 spot on the 2023 Schools for a Bachelor’s Highly Focused on Public Policy Major in California ranking. Stanford University is located in Stanford, California and, has a fairly large student population. In 2021-2022, this school awarded 18 bachelors’s public policy degrees to qualified students.
The undergraduate student-to-faculty ratio of 5 to 1 is a sign that students will have more opportunities to engage with their professors one-on-one. Students who start out at the school are likely to stick around. The freshman retention rate is 98%. The undergrad student loan default rate at the school is 0.2%, which is quite low when compared to the national default rate of 10.1%.
With a ranking of #9, University of Southern California did quite well on the 2023 Schools for a Bachelor’s Highly Focused on Public Policy Major in California list. Located in Los Angeles, California, this large private not-for-profit school awarded 49 diplomas to qualified bachelors’s public policy students in 2021-2022.
The undergrad student loan default rate at the school is 0.5%, which is quite low when compared to the national default rate of 10.1%. The school has an excellent freshman retention rate of 96%, which means students like the school well enough to return for a second year. The impressive undergraduate student-to-faculty ratio of 9 to 1 means that students may have more opportunities to work more closely with their professors than they would at other schools.
Chapman University ranked #10 on this year’s Schools for a Bachelor’s Highly Focused on Public Policy Major in California list. Located in Orange, California, this fairly large private not-for-profit school handed out 0 degrees to qualified bachelors’s public policy students in 2021-2022.
The school has an excellent freshman retention rate of 92%, which means students like the school well enough to return for a second year. The low undergrad student loan default rate of 0.6% 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%.
With a ranking of #11, Scripps College did quite well on the 2023 Schools for a Bachelor’s Highly Focused on Public Policy Major in California list. Scripps College is a small private not-for-profit school situated in Claremont, California. It awarded 1 bachelors’s public policy degrees in 2021-2022.
Since the school has a undergrad student-to-faculty ratio of 10 to 1, those pursuing a degree will have more opportunities to interact with their professors. Students who start out at the school are likely to stick around. The freshman retention rate is 97%.
With a ranking of #11, Pitzer College did quite well on the 2023 Schools for a Bachelor’s Highly Focused on Public Policy Major in California list. Claremont, California is the setting for this small institution of higher learning. The private not-for-profit school handed out bachelors’s public policy degrees to 0 students in 2021-2022.
The school has an impressive undergrad student loan default rate. It’s only 0.8%, which is much lower than the national rate of 10.1%. Students who start out at the school are likely to stick around. The freshman retention rate is 93%.
Read more about our data sources and methodologies
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