How these universities are ranked
44 of these universities hold a QS World position, from #13 (Cornell University) to #548 (Lehigh University); they are listed first, in that order. The rest are ordered by research impact. University of Washington has the largest research record in this group, with 98,133,539 citations and an h-index of 3,639. 9 universities have neither a QS position nor a research record yet and appear at the end, marked "Not yet ranked".
Public, private and where they are
The split is 416 public to 7 private institutions. By location, New York (6), Connecticut (2) and Minnesota (2) account for the most of those we can place. The oldest is Yale University, founded in 1701. Liberty University is the largest, with 144,000 students.
Levels, lengths and start dates
By level: 487 bachelor's, 77 master's, 17 phd / doctorate and 15 professional. Within the subject, the largest areas are Economics & Public Policy (664), Economics (19), Public Policy (5) and Applied Economics (2). The usual length is 4 years and 1–2 years. 94% are full-time and 31 can be studied online. Start dates lean to Fall (99% of courses with a stated intake) and Spring (95% of courses with a stated intake). Institute for World Politics offers the widest choice, with 14 of these courses.
What it costs
We hold indicative fees for 23 of these universities. University of Puerto Rico-Mayaguez is the least expensive at USD 5,274 a year and Columbia University the most at USD 66,000; the middle of the range is about USD 36,056. Check each university's own fee page before you budget — figures change every year.
