SUMMARY
Choosing to study Social Sciences is not only a valuable choice, but usually a needed first step for scholars endeavoring to begin a career as a social services specialist, a policy advisor, or a digital court reporter. In fact, social sciences is of average popularity coming in at the 68th most popular area of study. In the last year, there were 6,806 social sciences diplomas received. In-state tuition for social sciences at private colleges is, on average, 3.9 times more spendy than their public equivalents.
There are 343 colleges which offer social sciences. This number of institutions is on par with other majors offered in the United States. If you're hoping to surround yourself with other social sciences students, consider schools in New York which have more undergraduates admitted to social sciences than any other state. More generally, the best region to study social sciences is in the Far West region with University of Oregon, Portland State University, and Washington State University best representing the region. Interestingly, our pick for the best conference to study social sciences is the Pacific-12 Conference with University of Oregon, University of Utah, and Washington State University representing the conference. Based on our list on the best colleges, our belief is that the best college for social sciences is Harvard University.
The overall 'best' school is not necessarily the best school for you. There can be many more perspectives to consider when choosing ​university. Features like campus amenities, transportation services, and food might definitely change your feelings on which college to attend. At Authority, we've weighed the pros and cons for you. If, as an example, you are interested in which social sciences school is home to the top college campus, the winner is Harvard University. If, for example, you are mostly interested in which college boasts the finest campus, we have a whole page dedicated to that. We have carefully pored through government databases, professor reviews, student reviews, and more so we can compare all U.S. majors in an unbiased and informative way. Here you can find our well researched list for the schools with the best student life and from that list, our pick for the school with the best student life for social sciences is University of Michigan-Ann Arbor. Are you curious why? Continue scrolling to learn more about Authority's top choices. Some of our picks might shock you.
If cost is a primary influence in your choice of where you attend university, you might consider avoiding University of Southern California. University of Southern California is the most expensive university for social sciences, at least regarding out of state attendance. We do have an entire page for the most expensive colleges that could put the price tag of University of Southern California into perspective. You may also be interested to know that social sciences is the 226th most expensive major in the United States, with an average cost of $29,000. On a broader scale, the most costly state for social sciences in the nation is Louisiana demonstrated by a tuition of $52,760 at the main school in Louisiana Tulane University of Louisiana. Even more broadly, the most expensive region for social sciences is the New England region which is best demonstrated with University of Bridgeport with a cost of $31,920, Harvard University with a cost of $47,730, and Providence College with a cost of $51,490.
Our cheapest region for social sciences is the Plains region which is represented by Bellevue University with a cost of $7,176, Dickinson State University with a cost of $9,782, and Oglala Lakota College with a cost of $2,016. More optimistically, the most affordable college for social sciences is University of South Florida-Sarasota-Manatee. Authority's full list of the most affordable colleges can be explored here.
In-state students can anticipate paying about $9,100 for a degree in social sciences. The cost inflates intensely to an average of $20,200 for an out-of-state public-school student. On that note, our selection for the college representing the best value for social sciences: Harvard University. Through this link you can find our comprehensive list for the colleges we see as being the best value in general. That being said, this idea is based on out-of-state tuition costs. The value proposition changes when in-state tuition is considered, but we do not know in which states any one student has residency.
Earnings for social sciences majors vary a lot, but within two years graduation graduates will typically make around $41,100. There can be much variation in salary; top positions can enjoy pay up to $68,100. Even right out of university, the lowest end positions within the social sciences space earn $24,100, which isn't that bad. The highest earning grads from social sciences graduated from Harvard University and if you want to find the colleges with all of the highest earning graduates, Authority has that too.
The overall diversity of social sciences ranks decent, falling in the 73rd percentile of all majors. The school with the most composite diversity for social sciences is New York University and here you can find our general list of the schools which have the most diversity. The overall financial diversity of Social Sciences is only within the 42nd percentile compared to all other majors. Racial diversity is actually above financial diversity, ranking in the 71st percentile. White students compose the largest share, 55%, of students majoring in social sciences. Additionally, 66% of students pursuing a social sciences major are women.
The median score of social sciences professors is 4.1 stars, a score that is 2% higher than the median for all majors; which is a good score. If you are interested in the most popular social sciences professor in the nation, consider looking up Norma Schropshire from Wayne State University. It might come as a surprise, but the best ranked instructors for social sciences by student come from University of Southern California. If we including data beyond simply rankings it becomes clear that the university with comprehensively the best instructors for social sciences is Harvard University. You can find more detail on our evolving ranking methodology for the best overall professors here, as well as some of the finest instructors nationwide.
Finally, the hardest school to get into for social sciences is Harvard University. While we think of this list more as a novelty, we have a general list of the hardest colleges to get into. That being said, we do hope you understand that considering the education process from examples primarily shaped by superlatives could be said to be the root of many of higher education's fundamental issues. We hope you explore our other pages on different schools and read some of Authority's helpful background articles on beneficial things to think about as your college search continues.