Best universities for social sciences degrees in the US 2023

Explore the best universities in the US for social sciences degrees, using data from the Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2023

Best universities in

January 16 2023

Best universities in the US for social sciences degrees

Top 10 universities in the US for social science degrees 2023

US Social Sciences Rank 2023	WUR Social Sciences Rank 2023	University	State
1	1	Massachusetts Institute of Technology	Massachusetts
2	2	Stanford University	California
3	4	Harvard University	Massachusetts
4	5	University of California, Berkeley	California
5	6	Princeton University	New Jersey
6	9	University of Michigan-Ann Arbor	Michigan
7	10	Yale University	Connecticut
8	11	University of California, Los Angeles	California
=9	=12	The University of Chicago	Illinois
=9	=12	University of Pennsylvania	Pennsylvania

As the home to some of the top universities in the world, the US is a great place to study for a social science degree.

Undergraduate programmes in the US are typically four years long and include the opportunity to study multiple subjects in the first two years, before specialising in the second half of your degree.

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Subjects you study alongside your specialisation are known as minors, and your specialisation is your major, or special concentration. This format allows for a level of flexibility and allows students to get a grounding across the social sciences.

There are also a huge range of postgraduate options at US universities for students interested in pursuing further research in the social sciences.

Below are the top universities for social sciences in the US, according to the Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2023.

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5. Princeton University

Princeton University offers four main areas of study: humanities, engineering and applied science, natural sciences and social sciences. A key feature of a Princeton education is independent research, whether that is carried out by undergraduate seniors writing their thesis or graduate students completing their dissertation.

There are both undergraduate and graduate degree programmes available in the social sciences at the university. Students can choose to study courses from a range of disciplines such as American studies, economics, European cultural studies, gender and sexuality studies, and health policy.

Princeton has a number of institutes, centres and schools that facilitate research into society and politics, including the Princeton School of Public and International Affairs and the Kahneman-Treisman Center for Behavioral Science and Public Policy.

4. University of California, Berkeley

The social sciences division at the University of California, Berkeley is the university’s largest division and is home to around 25 per cent of student enrolments and 20 per cent of faculty.

Social science programmes at Berkeley encourage students to consider real-world issues such as how refugees, population displacement and inequality affect human society or the impacts of technology on cognition and how citizens can become more informed and responsible.

There are 15 departments within the social sciences division, ranging from African American studies to cognitive science, economics to global studies. Courses are available at both the undergraduate and graduate level.

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3. Harvard University

Social sciences courses at Harvard University are largely interdisciplinary. Students are encouraged to study a broad range of subjects at the undergraduate level before specialising in their chosen major, or concentration as it’s known at Harvard.

Common fields of study for Harvard undergraduates include economics, government, sociology, gender studies and psychology. For all these subjects, both undergraduates and graduates are expected to conduct empirical research and analyse data. Senior thesis projects can involve qualitative or quantitative research methods, or both.

One initiative central to the division of social science at Harvard University is the Donald T. Regan Fund. This was established to support programmes that bring diverse speakers to the university to lecture to undergraduates. Speakers discuss economics, government and social problems both nationally and internationally and provide students with new ways of thinking about and seeing the world.

2. Stanford University

The School of Humanities and Sciences at Stanford University offers social sciences courses in anthropology, communication, economics, political science, psychology and sociology.

In political science classes, undergraduates study US politics and international political systems in relation to conflict, social activism, ideology and race issues. The department of anthropology is known for an innovative approach where the subject must be studied in relation to contemporary affairs.

A range of interdisciplinary degree programmes join together traditionally disparate subjects in the humanities and sciences; these include African studies, biophysics, comparative studies in race and ethnicity, international relations and more.

Stanford is also home to globally renowned centres and institutes that facilitate social sciences research. These include the Center for Computational, Evolutionary and Human Genomics, the Institute for Research in the Social Sciences, and the Michelle R. Clayman Institute for Gender Research.

1. Massachusetts Institute of Technology

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) has five academic schools, including the School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences.

The School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences offers a range of courses at both undergraduate and graduate level. Fields include anthropology, economics, global languages, history and philosophy. All undergraduate students at MIT take classes in the arts and social sciences and many end up taking joint degrees between the sciences and the social sciences.

There are also a number of PhD programmes available.

Research is carried out in areas including human health, the health of the planet and social innovation. There are four Nobel laureates, seven MacArthur fellows and five Pulitzer prize-winners who are current faculty members.

Top universities in the US for social sciences degrees 2023

Click each institution to view its full World University Rankings 2023 results.

US Social Sciences Rank 2023	WUR Social Sciences Rank 2023	University	State
1	1	Massachusetts Institute of Technology	Massachusetts
2	2	Stanford University	California
3	4	Harvard University	Massachusetts
4	5	University of California, Berkeley	California
5	6	Princeton University	New Jersey
6	9	University of Michigan-Ann Arbor	Michigan
7	10	Yale University	Connecticut
8	11	University of California, Los Angeles	California
=9	=12	The University of Chicago	Illinois
=9	=12	University of Pennsylvania	Pennsylvania
11	15	Columbia University	New York
12	18	University of Washington	Washington
13	20	Cornell University	New York
=14	=23	Duke University	North Carolina
=14	=23	Johns Hopkins University	Maryland
16	25	New York University	New York
17	28	Northwestern University	Illinois
18	29	University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill	North Carolina
19	30	University of Wisconsin-Madison	Wisconsin
20	34	University of Texas at Austin	Texas
21	=42	University of Southern California	California
22	45	University of California, San Diego	California
23	50	University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign	Illinois
24	=51	Arizona State University (Tempe)	Arizona
25	=53	Ohio State University (Main campus)	Ohio
26	58	Indiana University	Indiana
27	=60	University of Maryland, College Park	Maryland
28	69	Brown University	Rhode Island
29	70	Michigan State University	Michigan
30	71	University of California, Santa Barbara	California
31	73	Washington University in St Louis	Missouri
32	78	University of Minnesota	Minnesota
33	82	Carnegie Mellon University	Pennsylvania
34	86	Georgetown University	Washington DC
35	87	University of California, Irvine	California
36	=91	Penn State (Main campus)	Pennsylvania
37	=94	University of Arizona	Arizona
=38	=96	University of California, Davis	California
=38	=96	Vanderbilt University	Tennessee
=40	101–125	Boston University	Massachusetts
=40	101–125	Emory University	Georgia
=40	101–125	University of Florida	Florida
=40	101–125	Georgia Institute of Technology	Georgia
=40	101–125	University of Massachusetts	Massachusetts
=40	101–125	Rutgers University – New Brunswick	New Jersey
=40	101–125	Texas A&M University	Texas
=47	126–150	Boston College	Massachusetts
=47	126–150	University of Colorado Boulder	Colorado
=47	126–150	Dartmouth College	New Hampshire
=47	126–150	Florida State University	Florida
=47	126–150	George Washington University	Washington DC
=47	126–150	Northeastern University	Illinois
=47	126–150	University of Notre Dame	Indiana
=47	126–150	Purdue University West Lafayette	Indiana
=47	126–150	Syracuse University	New York
=56	151–175	University of California, Santa Cruz	California
=56	151–175	University of Georgia	Georgia
=58	176–200	George Mason University	Virginia
=58	176–200	The New School	New York
=58	176–200	North Carolina State University	North Carolina
=58	176–200	Rice University	Texas
=58	176–200	Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University	Virginia
=63	201–250	University of Hawai’i at Mānoa	Hawaii
=63	201–250	University of Miami	Florida
=63	201–250	University of Pittsburgh-Pittsburgh campus	Pennsylvania
=63	201–250	University of South Florida	Florida
=63	201–250	SUNY University at Albany	New York
=63	201–250	Tufts University	Massachusetts
=63	201–250	University of Utah	Utah
=63	201–250	University of Virginia (Main campus)	Virginia
=71	251–300	University of California, Merced	California
=71	251–300	University of California, Riverside	California
=71	251–300	Clark University	Massachusetts
=71	251–300	Colorado State University, Fort Collins	Colorado
=71	251–300	University of Connecticut	Connecticut
=71	251–300	Drexel University	Pennsylvania
=71	251–300	Georgia State University	Georgia
=71	251–300	University of Illinois at Chicago	Illinois
=71	251–300	University of Iowa	Iowa
=71	251–300	Stony Brook University	New York
=81	301–400	University of Alaska Fairbanks	Alaska
=81	301–400	American University	Washington
=81	301–400	University at Buffalo	New York
=81	301–400	University of Central Florida	Florida
=81	301–400	University of Colorado Denver /Anschutz Medical Campus	Colorado
=81	301–400	University of Denver	Colorado
=81	301–400	University of Kansas	Kansas
=81	301–400	University of Kentucky	Kentucky
=81	301–400	University of Nevada, Las Vegas	Nevada
=81	301–400	University of South Carolina-Columbia	South Carolina
=81	301–400	Temple University	Pennsylvania
=81	301–400	The University of Tennessee-Knoxville	Tennessee
=81	301–400	University of Toledo	Ohio
=81	301–400	Washington State University	Washington
=95	401–500	University of Arkansas	Arkansas
=95	401–500	Chapman University	California
=95	401–500	Clemson University	South Carolina
=95	401–500	University of Delaware	Delaware
=95	401–500	Florida International University	Florida
=95	401–500	Iowa State University	Iowa
=95	401–500	Mizzou - University of Missouri	Missouri
=95	401–500	University of Nebraska-Lincoln	Nebraska
=95	401–500	Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute	New York
=95	401–500	SUNY Binghamton University	New York
=95	401–500	University of Texas at Dallas	Texas
=95	401–500	Wake Forest University	North Carolina
=95	401–500	William & Mary	Virginia
=108	501–600	The University of Alabama	Alabama
=108	501–600	Auburn University	Alabama
=108	501–600	Case Western Reserve University	Ohio
=108	501–600	Colorado School of Mines	Colorado
=108	501–600	Lehigh University	Pennsylvania
=108	501–600	University of North Carolina at Greensboro	North Carolina
=108	501–600	Northern Illinois University	Illinois
=108	501–600	Oklahoma State University	Oklahoma
=108	501–600	Old Dominion University	Virginia
=108	501–600	Portland State University	Ohio
=108	501–600	San Diego State University	California
=108	501–600	University of Texas at Arlington	Texas
=108	501–600	University of Texas at El Paso	Texas
=108	501–600	The University of Texas at San Antonio	Texas
=108	501–600	Texas Tech University	Texas
=108	501–600	Virginia Commonwealth University	Virginia
=108	501–600	University of Wyoming	Wyoming
=125	601–800	Baylor University	Texas
=125	601–800	Bowling Green State University	Ohio
=125	601–800	Brandeis University	Massachusetts
=125	601–800	University of Colorado Colorado Springs	Colorado
=125	601–800	Florida Atlantic University	Florida
=125	601–800	University of Houston	Texas
=125	601–800	Howard University	Washington DC
=125	601–800	Kansas State University	Kansas
=125	601–800	Louisiana State University	Louisiana
=125	601–800	Marquette University	Wisconsin
=125	601–800	University of Maryland, Baltimore County	Maryland
=125	601–800	University of Memphis	Tennessee
=125	601–800	Mississippi State University	Mississippi
=125	601–800	University of Missouri-St Louis	Missouri
=125	601–800	Montana State University	Montana
=125	601–800	New Mexico State University (Main campus)	New Mexico
=125	601–800	University of North Carolina at Charlotte	North Carolina
=125	601–800	Ohio University (Main campus)	Ohio
=125	601–800	University of Rhode Island	Rhode Island
=125	601–800	Rochester Institute of Technology	New York
=125	601–800	Rowan University	New Jersey
=125	601–800	Saint Louis University	Missouri
=125	601–800	Southern Illinois University Carbondale	Illinois
=125	601–800	Texas State University	Texas
=125	601–800	Tulane University	Louisiana
=125	601–800	Wayne State University	Michigan
=125	601–800	University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee	Wisconsin
=125	601–800	Worcester Polytechnic Institute	Massachusetts
=153	801+	University of Dayton	Ohio
=153	801+	Georgia Southern University	Georgia
=153	801+	Grand Valley State University	Michigan
=153	801+	Morgan State University	Baltimore
=153	801+	University of North Carolina Wilmington	North Carolina
=153	801+	Oakland University	Michigan
=153	801+	University of Texas Rio Grande Valley	Texas
=153	801+	Western Michigan University	Michigan