Is a research university right for me?–

Research universities are colleges and universities whose faculty are active in research and publishing. Research universities offer a wide array of doctoral programs, especially in the sciences. They tend to be big, with tens of thousands of students. Do you prefer a larger university setting, such as largest public university in your state? Research universities are typically big, offering degrees in many different disciplines. Is a big high-powered research environment the thing for you? If not, you should think about a liberal arts college. In deciding on an undergraduate institution, ask yourself what sort of environment will best help you to be happy and excel. Consider whether you are self motivated enough to be a face in the crowd for some classes and largely unknown on campus at a large university. Of course you can find clubs and friends at a large university, but often liberal arts colleges have a more personal quality to them. If you want the community feel, a research university may not fit you well. Are you interested in STEM fields? Research universities have that name for a reason – real research is happening there. This can create an exciting atmosphere for students interested in STEM. Attending a research university can give you a better chance of getting into better programs for graduate degrees, although a lot of that depends on your performance.

Is an online college right for me?–

Online colleges are typically the same colleges and universities you could attend in-person, but for certain degree programs the college or unviersity has made the degree programs available to be completed online. For over 5 million students, online degree programs allow students to earn their degrees in the most flexible format available. Online degrees are as respected as the on-campus degrees you could earn from the same schools. There’s usually no distinction between the two degrees, and your degree and transcript will not say that the degree was earned online. Online degree programs are offered by a vast majority of colleges and universities, and the number of offering continues to grow. Whether you are searching for an associate, bachelor’s, master’s, or doctorate, there’s a good chance you can earn your degree online from a respectable online college. Are you a self-driven student? Perhaps the hardest aspect of obtaining an online degree is whether you will be disciplined enough to manage your time and course demands. Many online students report that online college made them more disciplined in all areas of their lives, but the flexible, self-paced learning that makes online colleges attractive can often be the same qualities that make it difficult. If you tend to be a procrastinator, you need to be honest with yourself. You can change your habits and propensities, or you can throw money down the drain. Do you need the flexibility of an online degree program? Most online students study online because of time demands of balancing work and life, or because the online college affords them the chance to attend a better school without moving. If you are serious about earning your degree for career advancement, online colleges make it possible. The most flexible options among online degrees are those that are asynchronous, meaning you don’t have scheduled times to meet with your class online. However, many students seek synchronous online degree programs so that they have some structure – set meeting times, scheduled exams, etc. The good news is that attending an online college doesn’t mean you will miss out on getting to know your professors and classmates. In fact, many online students who have experienced both online and on-campus courses report having easier access to their professors. Since most communication with your professor is expected to be in text – via email or your class learning management system – it makes asking your questions easier. The same students also report that they got to better know the thoughts of their classmates. While in-person course conversations can be dominated by a few extroverts, online courses that require online discussions make it so that you see all of your classmates’ thoughts and questions. If you’re interested in an online bachelor’s degree, check out what the best online colleges offer, or search our online degrees for the exact program that interests you. In either case, you will find well respected colleges and universities that offer online degrees.

Best Research Universities for Political Science Degrees

Q: Is a liberal arts college right for me?–

Often referred to as “teaching colleges” liberal arts colleges put a premium on undergraduate studies and offers a broad range of subjects for students to study. A college of liberal arts typically provides smaller class sizes, more direct engagement with professors, and, most importantly, the opportunity to sample a wide range of subject areas on the way to a bachelor’s degree. Do you want your professors to know you? Liberal arts colleges strive to cultivate campus cultures that encourage tight bonds between professors and students. Professors at these schools will typically conduct original research. Yet the best of these schools offer their faculty reduced teaching loads so that they can both be productive researchers and still have plenty of time for students (both in and outside the classroom). Do you want to feel like you know everybody? One of the most enticing features of a liberal arts college is that in very little time, you can feel like you know who’s who, which can create strong friendships and make walks across campus more fun. While your sports teams may never be on ESPN, it’s more likely that you’ll know the athletes as your peers. Beyond student and faculty relationships, it’s not unusual for the school president and other administrators to learn who you are. When faced with problems with your student account or the need to switch classes, this can be comforting during a stressful moment.

Badge for BEST FOR POLITICAL SCIENCE RESEARCH UNIVERSITIES

By Dr. Jed Macosko and Dr. James Barham
Reviewed By Jenn Finley

Updated: Nov 11, 2024

Key Takeaways

The top research universities for political science degrees offer the opportunity to study subjects such as civics, theories of governance, and race relations.
The best schools for political science are those which are regionally accredited, which offer a full array of political science concentrations, and which give you the chance to work with the best and most influential professors and classmates.
The leading programs in political science emphasize internships and fieldwork, giving students valuable industry insights and a strong professional network to support their career growth in political science.

Table of Contents

Top 10 Research Universities Political Science Programs in 2025

Harvard University
University of California, Berkeley
+5
Columbia University
–1
Stanford University
University of Chicago
+1
Yale University
–3
Princeton University
–2
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
+1
University of Michigan
+3
New York University
+5

2025 Ranking Update

Our Influence Ranking Engine™ leverages machine learning to track the real-world influence of colleges and universities over time. Below you’ll see which schools gained or lost ground for the 2025 school year.

Harvard University remains in the top spot in our 2025 ranking of the best research universities for a political science degree, while UC Berkeley gains 5 position to move up to the number 2 position.

UC Berkeley’s Political Science Department has expanded its course selection to include specialized topics such as “Topics in Comparative Politics: Democracy,” led by Professor Andrew Little, which delves into the evolution of global democracy and its contemporary challenges.

Additionally, the department has updated its application requirements for the Fall 2025 admissions cycle, now mandating GRE scores to ensure a comprehensive assessment of prospective students’ capabilities.

The University of Chicago has launched the Institute for Climate and Sustainable Growth on October 30, 2024, which plans to hire 20 new faculty members over the next five years, including positions in political science.

Additionally, the Department of Political Science and the Harris School of Public Policy have established a joint Ph.D. program in Political Economy, offering students interdisciplinary research opportunities.

A bachelor’s degree in political science is an excellent starting point for a career in law, social activism, public service, and a host of other important fields. As a political science major, you’ll study subjects such as civics, theories of governance, and race relations. Your political science degree will also incorporate foundational courses in both American and world politics as well as relevant courses in the history, philosophy, and sociology disciplines. The best schools for political science are those which are regionally accredited, which offer a full array of political science concentrations, and which give you the chance to work with the best and most influential professors and classmates.

If you think a liberal arts college may be a better fit for you, see our ranking of the best liberal arts colleges for a bachelor’s in political science.

How do we determine the best political science research universities?

Methodology

The people affiliated with a school are ultimately what make it great. This is why we rank the best colleges and universities based on what we call “Influence”.

The influence of a college or university is based on the schools’s top academic influencers related to the discipline in this ranking. We track the influence of faculty and alumni affiliate with these school counting not only the publications and citations of the school’s affiliated people, but we also consider the overall web presence of the faculty and alumni. The greater the citations, authority of web links, web searches, and page views, the greater the individuals’s influence. Those combined make up the departments’s influence in the field of study. We believe tracking the academic influence of the people affiliated with a school is the best indicator of academic excellence.

If you are serious about finding the best colleges and universities, you should be asking where the most influential professors are teaching, and whether their graduates themselves are advancing the school’s reputation for academic excellence. Most ranking sites rely on an opaque combination of reputation surveys and misused performance metrics. Influence, as measured by our InfluenceRanking engine, provides a ranking that is more insulated from manipulation, and more reflective of real-world educational outcomes.

Featured Programs

Ranking: Best Research Universities for Political Science Bachelor’s Degree Programs

Career Outlook for Students with Political Science Degree

Go to Degree Finder tool

Political Science And Government

Degree Level: Bachelor's

Location: The U.S. (Private Schools)
Avg. Cost of Degree*: $11,462
Avg. Expenses*: $17,641
Avg. Starting Salary*: $34,484
Avg. Salary after 4 Years*: $50,306
Avg. Cost Recoup Time**: 11 years
Job Growth: 2.89%
Number of Jobs: 2,419,300
* denotes ‘annually’
** denotes ‘at 15% of annual salary’

Career Salaries

Career	Job Growth	Avg. Salary
Managers, All Other	5.75%	$133,560
Political Scientists	1.61%	$132,350
Economists	5.14%	$115,730
Economics Teachers, Postsecondary	3.23%	$115,300
Political Science Teachers, Postsecondary	3.23%	$93,810
Secondary School Teachers, Except Special and Career/Technical Education	-0.64%	$65,220
Social Science Research Assistants	6.40%	$56,400

Top Industries

Industry	Avg. Salary
Managers, All Other	$133,560
Political Scientists	$132,350
Economists	$115,730
Economics Teachers, Postsecondary	$115,300
Political Science Teachers, Postsecondary	$93,810
Secondary School Teachers, Except Special and Career/Technical Education	$65,220
Social Science Research Assistants	$56,400

Data from The Bureau of Labor Statistics, The Department of Education College Scorecard, The Department of Education NCES, and The Council for Community and Economic Research.

Go to all Research Universities for Political Science programs

Frequently Asked Questions About Political Science Bachelor’s Degrees

Earning a bachelor’s degree in political science can open numerous professionals doors. For instance, as a political science major, you’ll learn how local, state, and federal governments intersect, how electoral politics work, and how legislation is created. This knowledge could provide you with the tools to take part in policy development, run for elected office, or engage in social activism.

But a political science major can also be an excellent starting point on the way to a Law School degree or a way to enter into public service in a wide range of fields including healthcare, environmental conservation, city planning, and much more. Today, top influencers in Political Science are breaking new ground in countless critical areas, including the relationship between public opinion and political behavior, U.S. foreign policy, the fight against corruption in state building and much more.

Political science is an excellent interdisciplinary major, touching on history, philosophy, and sociology, as well as incorporating practical subjects such as public survey, demographic analysis, epidemiology, and more. This means you could parlay your degree in political science into a wide range of rewarding careers. There are countless ways to apply your degree through local, state, and federal governance, including public health, technology, commerce, planning, and much more.

It is noteworthy that many of the top-paying professions connected to the political science discipline will require you to earn a master’s degree. For instance, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), those who continue into an advanced degree program can become historians, who earned a median of $63,680 in 2019, urban planners, who made a median of $74,350, and political scientists, who earned a robust median of $122,220 that year.

Once you’ve declared your major in political science, you will likely be required to complete a set of core courses in a number of related subject areas. While your concentration will give you a chance to choose from a wide range of highly-specialized political science electives, there are several courses that most political science majors will be required to take, including:

Introduction to Political Theory
U.S. Government and Civics
Law, Politics and Justice
Modern Political Thought
Religion, Politics and Society
Race Relations and Politics
Democracy and the State
World Politics
Political Activism and Protest Movements

Majoring in political science is a great starting point for a number of different career paths. Governance touches on everything in our lives, from economics, education, and environment to security, history and health. Your degree in political science could give you a chance to contribute to the public well-being in any of these areas. Top jobs for political science majors include the following:

The Best Political Science Schools in Your State

Learn More About Political Science

If you want to know more about political science, then check out our related content:

Learn how to major in political science
Think about your next step and what you can do with a master’s degree in political science
Learn more about political science from our interviews with influential political scientists
Find out who are the most influential political scientists today

Frequently Asked Questions About Research Universities, Liberal Arts Colleges, Online Colleges

In pursuing a bachelor’s degree, you will need to choose between three kinds of schools: research universities, liberal arts colleges, and online colleges.

Research universities are colleges and universities whose faculty are active in research and publishing. Research universities offer a wide array of doctoral programs, especially in the sciences. They tend to be big, with tens of thousands of students.

Do you prefer a larger university setting, such as largest public university in your state? Research universities are typically big, offering degrees in many different disciplines.

Is a big high-powered research environment the thing for you? If not, you should think about a liberal arts college. In deciding on an undergraduate institution, ask yourself what sort of environment will best help you to be happy and excel.

Consider whether you are self motivated enough to be a face in the crowd for some classes and largely unknown on campus at a large university. Of course you can find clubs and friends at a large university, but often liberal arts colleges have a more personal quality to them. If you want the community feel, a research university may not fit you well.
Are you interested in STEM fields? Research universities have that name for a reason – real research is happening there. This can create an exciting atmosphere for students interested in STEM. Attending a research university can give you a better chance of getting into better programs for graduate degrees, although a lot of that depends on your performance.

Learn more about research universities by reading about the best research universities in the US.

Often referred to as “teaching colleges” liberal arts colleges put a premium on undergraduate studies and offers a broad range of subjects for students to study. A college of liberal arts typically provides smaller class sizes, more direct engagement with professors, and, most importantly, the opportunity to sample a wide range of subject areas on the way to a bachelor’s degree.

Do you want your professors to know you? Liberal arts colleges strive to cultivate campus cultures that encourage tight bonds between professors and students.

Professors at these schools will typically conduct original research. Yet the best of these schools offer their faculty reduced teaching loads so that they can both be productive researchers and still have plenty of time for students (both in and outside the classroom).

Do you want to feel like you know everybody? One of the most enticing features of a liberal arts college is that in very little time, you can feel like you know who’s who, which can create strong friendships and make walks across campus more fun. While your sports teams may never be on ESPN, it’s more likely that you’ll know the athletes as your peers.

Beyond student and faculty relationships, it’s not unusual for the school president and other administrators to learn who you are. When faced with problems with your student account or the need to switch classes, this can be comforting during a stressful moment.

Learn more about liberal arts colleges by reading about the best liberal arts colleges in the US.

If you think a liberal arts college may be a better fit for you, see our ranking of the best liberal arts colleges for a bachelor’s in mathematics.

Online colleges are typically the same colleges and universities you could attend in-person, but for certain degree programs the college or unviersity has made the degree programs available to be completed online. For over 5 million students, online degree programs allow students to earn their degrees in the most flexible format available.

Online degrees are as respected as the on-campus degrees you could earn from the same schools. There’s usually no distinction between the two degrees, and your degree and transcript will not say that the degree was earned online.

Online degree programs are offered by a vast majority of colleges and universities, and the number of offering continues to grow. Whether you are searching for an associate, bachelor’s, master’s, or doctorate, there’s a good chance you can earn your degree online from a respectable online college.

Are you a self-driven student? Perhaps the hardest aspect of obtaining an online degree is whether you will be disciplined enough to manage your time and course demands.

Many online students report that online college made them more disciplined in all areas of their lives, but the flexible, self-paced learning that makes online colleges attractive can often be the same qualities that make it difficult. If you tend to be a procrastinator, you need to be honest with yourself. You can change your habits and propensities, or you can throw money down the drain.

Do you need the flexibility of an online degree program? Most online students study online because of time demands of balancing work and life, or because the online college affords them the chance to attend a better school without moving.

If you are serious about earning your degree for career advancement, online colleges make it possible. The most flexible options among online degrees are those that are asynchronous, meaning you don’t have scheduled times to meet with your class online. However, many students seek synchronous online degree programs so that they have some structure – set meeting times, scheduled exams, etc.

The good news is that attending an online college doesn’t mean you will miss out on getting to know your professors and classmates. In fact, many online students who have experienced both online and on-campus courses report having easier access to their professors.

Since most communication with your professor is expected to be in text – via email or your class learning management system – it makes asking your questions easier. The same students also report that they got to better know the thoughts of their classmates. While in-person course conversations can be dominated by a few extroverts, online courses that require online discussions make it so that you see all of your classmates’ thoughts and questions.

If you’re interested in an online bachelor’s degree, check out what the best online colleges offer, or search our online degrees for the exact program that interests you. In either case, you will find well respected colleges and universities that offer online degrees.

Do you have a question about this topic? Ask it here

Best Research Universities for Political Science Degrees

Key Takeaways

Top 10 Research Universities Political Science Programs in 2025

2025 Ranking Update

Featured Programs

Ranking: Best Research Universities for Political Science Bachelor’s Degree Programs

Last Year’s Ranking:

Career Outlook for Political Science degree at Harvard University

Most Influential Alumni

Harvard University Political Science Major Concentrations

Career Outlook for Political Science degree at University of California, Berkeley

Most Influential Alumni

University of California, Berkeley Political Science Major

Career Outlook for Political Science degree at Columbia University

Most Influential Alumni

Columbia University Political Science Majors

Career Outlook for Political Science degree at Stanford University

Most Influential Alumni

Stanford University Political Science Major Tracks

Career Outlook for Political Science degree at University of Chicago

Most Influential Alumni

University of Chicago Political Science Major

Career Outlook for Political Science degree at Yale University

Most Influential Alumni

Yale University Political Science Major

Career Outlook for Political Science degree at Princeton University

Most Influential Alumni

Princeton University Political Science Major Concentrations

Career Outlook for Political Science degree at Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Most Influential Alumni

Massachusetts Institute of Technology Political Science Majors

Career Outlook for Political Science degree at University of Michigan

Most Influential Alumni

University of Michigan Political Science Major Fields of Study

Career Outlook for Political Science degree at New York University

Most Influential Alumni

New York University Political Science Majors

Career Outlook for Political Science degree at Cornell University

Most Influential Alumni

Cornell University Political Science Major Concentrations

Career Outlook for Political Science degree at University of Pennsylvania

Most Influential Alumni

University of Pennsylvania Political Science Major Concentrations

Career Outlook for Political Science degree at University of California, Los Angeles

Most Influential Alumni

University of California, Los Angeles Political Science Major Fields

Career Outlook for Political Science degree at Johns Hopkins University

Most Influential Alumni

Johns Hopkins University Political Science Major Concentrations

Career Outlook for Political Science degree at Duke University

Most Influential Alumni

Duke University Political Science Major Fields of Study

Career Outlook for Political Science degree at University of Southern California

Most Influential Alumni

University of Southern California Political Science Majors

Career Outlook for Political Science degree at Northwestern University

Most Influential Alumni

Northwestern University Political Science Major Concentrations

Career Outlook for Political Science degree at Carnegie Mellon University

Most Influential Alumni

Carnegie Mellon University Political Science Majors

Career Outlook for Political Science degree at Brown University

Most Influential Alumni

Brown University Political Science Major Tracks

Career Outlook for Political Science degree at Georgetown University

Most Influential Alumni

Georgetown University Political Science Majors

Career Outlook for Political Science degree at University of Virginia

Most Influential Alumni

University of Virginia Political Science Majors

Career Outlook for Political Science degree at Washington University in St. Louis

Most Influential Alumni

Washington University in St. Louis Political Science Majors

Washington University in St. Louis’s Online Degrees

Degree Concentrations

Career Outlook for Political Science degree at Dartmouth College

Most Influential Alumni

Dartmouth College Political Science Major Concentrations

Career Outlook for Political Science degree at University of Notre Dame

Most Influential Alumni