Top 40 Schools with Cherry-Picked Majors 2024

I am concluding my series on top schools in specific majors that may interest my relatives. Here are the Top 40 universities and their Communications, Computer Science, Finance, History, Math, and Political Science rankings.

Unranked schools are marked “UR.” They could still be in the Top 40 for a given field but did not make my final rankings.

Harvard, MIT, UPenn, Johns Hopkins, Northwestern, and USC are the only schools to be ranked in all six majors. But, that doesn’t mean anything. Just data fun.

OVR	School	Comm	CS	Fin	Hist	Math	PS
1	Harvard University	1	4	1	1	1	1
2	Massachusetts Institute of Technology	5	1	3	9	3	10
3	Stanford University	2	2	UR	3	2	4
4	Princeton University	UR	5	UR	2	4	2
5	Yale University	UR	11	7	4	7	3
6	University of Pennsylvania	3	11	2	7	12	8
7	Columbia University	16	10	UR	6	9	11
8	Cornell University	12	7	UR	21	15	18
9	Johns Hopkins University	19	18	14	11	16	25
10	California Institute of Technology	UR	6	UR	UR	5	UR
11	University of California, Berkeley	11	8	UR	14	8	17
12	University of Chicago	UR	13	UR	5	10	6
13	Duke University	22	23	UR	12	18	16
14	Northwestern University	6	24	5	13	17	13
15	University of California, Los Angeles	9	17	UR	10	6	12
16	University of Michigan	8	UR	10	15	14	14
17	Brown University	14	20	UR	8	11	9
18	University of California, San Diego	31	UR	29	33	26	36
19	University of Washington	17	22	21	UR	27	45
20	Vanderbilt University	26	UR	UR	19	30	19
21	Washington University in St. Louis	UR	26	13	UR	31	23
22	University of Southern California	4	21	11	22	24	29
23	Carnegie Mellon University	28	3	8	UR	13	UR
24	Dartmouth College	UR	UR	UR	16	22	7
25	New York University	10	UR	4	23	19	22
26	University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill	15	UR	12	26	34	31
27	University of Wisconsin – Madison	13	UR	22	UR	29	UR
28	University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign	29	14	16	UR	23	UR
29	University of California, Davis	36	UR	35	38	35	47
30	Georgetown University	24	UR	18	17	55	5
31	Georgia Institute of Technology	40	9	UR	UR	25	UR
32	University of Texas at Austin	7	15	9	UR	20	UR
33	Rice University	UR	19	UR	18	21	20
34	University of Florida	21	UR	20	36	41	UR
35	Boston University	20	UR	17	29	32	44
36	University of Notre Dame	UR	UR	15	20	28	21
37	University of Virginia	41	UR	19	24	43	33
38	Emory University	42	UR	26	25	40	35
39	University of Minnesota	UR	UR	24	UR	39	UR
40	Purdue University	UR	25	33	UR	38	UR

The Outsiders

Only eight schools outside the Top 40 made the Top ~25 for a given major, and none of them made two lists. No schools in Math, History, or Computer Science were from outside the Top 40.

• Michigan State University (47): #19 Communications
• Indiana University (50): #23 Communications
• Arizona State (61): #25 Communications
• University of California, Santa Barbara (41): #27 Communications
• Pomona College (UR): #15 Political Science
• Boston College (56): #6 Finance
• University of Rochester (49): #23 Finance
• George Washington University (70): #25 Finance

Conclusion

I was hoping for more hidden gems, but it seems like most ranking sites believe that if you are a top school overall, you are a top school in most majors. Also, if you are interested in History, you should strongly consider a liberal arts college if your finances allow it.