If you plan on getting your bachelor's degree in public policy, you won't be alone since the degree program is ranked #126 in the country in terms of popularity. As a result, there are many colleges that offer the degree, making your choice of school a hard one.
College Factual reviewed 97 schools in the United States to determine which ones were the most popular for bachelor's degree seekers in the field of public policy. Combined, these schools handed out 2,524 bachelor's degrees in public policy to qualified students.
Choosing a Great Public Policy School for Your Bachelor's Degree
Your choice of school for getting your bachelor's degree in public policy matters.
We created our Most Popular Bachelor's Degree Colleges for Public Policy ranking to make it a little easier to choose the right one for you.
Being popular does not always equate to overall quality, but a school with a large number of public policy students usually has them for a reason. This may be due to it being a great value, it offering a stellar educational experience, or the subject is a major focus of the school.
This is not our only ranking, nor the only degree level we have ranked.
In addition to this ranking, you may want to take at the rankings for different degree levels as called out above.
You can also narrow your search by location by filtering for a certain area of the country.
Plus, you can view our other rankings for public policy.
In addition to College Factual's rankings, you may want to take a look at College Combat, our unique tool that lets you pit your favorite schools head-to-head and compare how they rate on factors that most interest you.
When you have some time, check it out - you may want to bookmark the link so you don't forget it.
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Featured Public Policy Programs
Learn about start dates, transferring credits, availability of financial aid, and more by contacting the universities below.
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Most Popular Schools for Bachelor’s Students to Study Public Policy in the United States
The following list ranks the most popular colleges and universities for pursuing a bachelor's degree in public policy. Only those schools that rank in the top 15% of all the schools we analyze get awarded with a place on this list.
14 Most Well Attended Schools for Public Policy Students Working on Their Bachelor's
You'll be surrounded by many like-minded peers at Duke University if you want to pursue a bachelor's degree in public policy. Duke is a fairly large private not-for-profit university located in the city of Durham. Potential students might also be interested to know that the school ranks #1 in quality for bachelor's degrees in public policy in North Carolina.
There were about 233 public policy individuals who graduated with this degree at Duke in the most recent year we have data available.
Those public policy students who get their bachelor's degree from Duke University earn $18,056 more than the average public policy graduate.
Every student who is interested in a bachelor's degree in public policy needs to check out University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Located in the small city of Chapel Hill, UNC Chapel Hill is a public university with a very large student population. This isn't the only ranking where the school placed. It's also #2 in quality for bachelor's degrees in public policy in North Carolina.
There were approximately 168 public policy students who graduated with this degree at UNC Chapel Hill in the most recent data year.
Soon after graduating, public policy bachelor's recipients generally make about $38,500 in the first five years of their career.
University of Chicago is one of the most popular schools in the United States for getting a bachelor's degree in public policy. UChicago is a fairly large private not-for-profit university located in the city of Chicago. This isn't the only ranking where the school placed. It's also #1 in quality for bachelor's degrees in public policy in Illinois.
There were roughly 129 public policy individuals who graduated with this degree at UChicago in the most recent year we have data available.
Bachelor's recipients from the public policy degree program at University of Chicago get $10,556 above the standard college graduate in this field when they enter the workforce.
Princeton University is one of the most popular schools in the country for getting a bachelor's degree in public policy. Located in the city of Princeton, Princeton is a private not-for-profit university with a moderately-sized student population. You also may be intersted to know that the school ranks #1 in quality for bachelor's degrees in public policy in New Jersey.
There were approximately 108 public policy students who graduated with this degree at Princeton in the most recent data year.
Public Policy bachelor's degree recipients from Princeton University earn a boost of approximately $21,856 above the typical earnings of public policy graduates.
Located in the suburb of Charlottesville, University of Virginia is a public university with a fairly large student population. Potential students might also be interested to know that the school ranks #1 in quality for bachelor's degrees in public policy in Virginia.
There were approximately 82 public policy individuals who graduated with this degree at University of Virginia in the most recent data year.
Located in the medium-sized city of Ann Arbor, U-M is a public university with a very large student population. Potential students might also be interested to know that the school ranks #1 in quality for bachelor's degrees in public policy in Michigan.
There were approximately 77 public policy students who graduated with this degree at U-M in the most recent data year.
Those public policy students who get their bachelor's degree from University of Michigan - Ann Arbor earn $8,856 more than the typical public policy student.
Located in the large suburb of College Park, UMCP is a public university with a fairly large student population. This isn't the only ranking where the school placed. It's also #1 in quality for bachelor's degrees in public policy in Maryland.
There were roughly 68 public policy students who graduated with this degree at UMCP in the most recent year we have data available.
Located in the small city of Evanston, Northwestern is a private not-for-profit university with a very large student population. You also may be intersted to know that the school ranks #2 in quality for bachelor's degrees in public policy in Illinois.
There were approximately 66 public policy students who graduated with this degree at Northwestern in the most recent year we have data available.
Bachelor's graduates who receive their degree from the public policy program make about $35,100 in the first couple years of working.
Located in the small city of Ithaca, Cornell is a private not-for-profit university with a fairly large student population. Potential students might also be interested to know that the school ranks #1 in quality for bachelor's degrees in public policy in New York.
There were about 58 public policy students who graduated with this degree at Cornell in the most recent data year.
Bachelor's recipients from the public policy major at Cornell University get $14,256 more than the average graduate with the same degree when they enter the workforce.
These are some additional schools worth mentioning that are also great but just didn't quite make the cut to earn our top Most Popular Bachelor's Degree Colleges for Public Policy award.
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).