Inside the Ivory Tower

Inside the Ivory Tower is a ranking of the world's best university programs in international relations. The ranking is published by the Foreign Policy magazine in collaboration with the Teaching, Research, and International Policy (TRIP) Project at the College of William & Mary. The survey is based on input from "all international relations scholars employed at a college or university who have an affiliation with a political science department or school of public policy and who teach or conduct research on issues that cross international borders."

The first TRIP Faculty Survey was conducted in 2004. One of the questions asked respondents to rank International Relations graduate schools in the U.S. The survey has since expanded to include undergraduate programs. The survey began including universities outside of the U.S. in 2009. The survey was last conducted in 2024, and asks the respondents to rank the top five international relations programs by degree level. The rankings are determined by the percentage of respondents who list a particular school.

2024 Rankings The 2024 rankings were split out by degree level and specialty, with separate surveys conducted with international relations faculty, policymakers, and think tank staffers as respondents. For the first time, respondents were asked to differentiate between PhD programs for academics and policymakers in their responses.

Undergraduate Programs +International Relations Faculty RankCountry School Percent 1USA Princeton University 48.37 2USA Harvard University 46.65 3USA Georgetown University 43.59 4USA Stanford University 42.83 5USA Columbia University 29.83 6USA University of Chicago 23.33 7USAYale University 17.4 8USA American University 15.49 9USA George Washington University 14.91 10USA Dartmouth College 14.72 11USAUniversity of California, San Diego 11.85 12USAUniversity of California, Berkeley 10.52 13USAUniversity of Michigan 10.33 14USAJohns Hopkins University 10.13 14USA Tufts University 10.13 16USA William & Mary College 9.56 17USA Massachusetts Institute of Technology 8.22 18USAUniversity of Pennsylvania 5.93 19USABrown University 5.35 20USASwarthmore College 4.02 20USAUniversity of Denver 4.02 22USAOhio State University 3.82 22USAUniversity of California, Los Angeles 3.82 24USACornell University 3.63 25USAUniversity of Virginia 3.44+Policymakers RankCountry School Percent 1USA Georgetown University 70.39 2USA Harvard University 61.18 3USA Princeton University 42.11 4USA Stanford University 38.82 5USA Johns Hopkins University 30.92 6USA Yale University 28.95 7USATufts University 27.63 8USA George Washington University 25 9USA Columbia University 22.37 10USA American University 11.18 10USAUniversity of Chicago 11.18 12USAUniversity of California, Berkeley 8.55 13USAUniversity of Virginia 6.58 14USAWilliam & Mary College 4.61 15USA University of Michigan 3.95 15USA University of Texas at Austin 3.95 17USA Massachusetts Institute of Technology 3.29 18USABrown University 2.63 18USANew York University 2.63 18USAUniversity of Pennsylvania 2.63 18USAWilliams College 2.63 22USACornell University 1.97 22USADartmouth College 1.97 22USADuke University 1.97 22USAMiddlebury College 1.9722USASyracuse University1.9722USATexas A&M University1.9722USAUnited States Military Academy1.9722USAUniversity of California, Los Angeles1.97+Think Tank Staffers RankCountry School Percent 1USA Georgetown University 65.12 2USA Harvard University 64.34 3USA Princeton University 47.29 4USA Stanford University 44.19 5USA Columbia University 40.31 6USA Yale University 29.46 7USAJohns Hopkins University 27.13 8USA George Washington University 21.71 9USA Tufts University 16.28 10USA University of Chicago 14.73 11USAAmerican University 6.98 11USAUniversity of California, Berkeley 6.98 13USAUniversity of California, San Diego 6.2 14USAMassachusetts Institute of Technology 5.43 15USA Cornell University 3.88 15USA University of Pennsylvania 3.88 15USA William & Mary College 3.88 15USAWilliams College 3.88 19USADartmouth College 3.1 20USABrown University 2.33 20USANew York University 2.33 20USAUniversity of Michigan 2.33 20USAUniversity of Virginia 2.33 24USADuke University 1.55 24USANorthwestern University 1.5524USASwarthmore College1.5524USATexas A&M University1.5524USAUniversity of California, Davis1.5524USAUniversity of California, Los Angeles1.5524USAUniversity of Denver1.5524USAUniversity of Southern California1.5524USAUniversity of Washington1.55

Master's Programs +International Relations Faculty RankCountry School Percent 1USA Georgetown University (Walsh) 75.34 2USA Johns Hopkins University (SAIS) 59.03 3USA Harvard University (Kennedy) 52.23 4USA Columbia University (SIPA) 39.61 5USA Princeton University (SPIA) 34.37 6USA George Washington University (Elliott) 33.2 7USATufts University 32.04 8USA American University 22.52 9UK London School of Economics 13.59 10USA University of Chicago 12.04 11USAStanford University 8.16 12USAUniversity of Denver 7.77 13USAYale University 6.41 14USAUniversity of California, San Diego 4.66 15France Sciences Po-Paris 4.27 16USA Syracuse University (Maxwell) 4.08 17USA University of Oxford 3.69 18USATexas A&M University (Bush) 3.11 19USAUniversity of Texas at Austin (LBJ) 2.72 20SwitzerlandGeneva Graduate Institute 2.33 21UKKing's College London 2.14 21UKUniversity of Cambridge 2.14 21USAUniversity of Michigan (Ford) 2.14 24USANew York University 1.75 25USAMassachusetts Institute of Technology 1.55+Policymakers RankCountry School Percent 1USA Georgetown University (Walsh) 67.39 2USA Johns Hopkins University (SAIS) 61.59 3USA Harvard University (Kennedy) 58.7 4USA Tufts University 39.13 5USA Princeton University (SPIA) 34.78 6USA Columbia University (SIPA) 26.81 7UKLondon School of Economics 20.29 8USA George Washington University (Elliott) 17.39 9USA Stanford University 14.49 10USA American University 12.32 10USAYale University 12.32 12UKUniversity of Oxford 11.59 13USAUniversity of Chicago 5.8 14FranceSciences Po-Paris 4.35 15UK King's College London 3.62 16USA National War College 2.9 16USA University of California, Berkeley 2.9 18USANational Defense University 2.17 18UKUniversity of Cambridge 2.17 18USAUniversity of Denver 2.17 18USAUniversity of Pennsylvania 2.17 18USAUniversity of Texas at Austin (LBJ) 2.17 18USAUniversity of Virginia (Batten) 2.17 24USADuke University (Sanford) 1.45 24USAGeorge Mason University 1.4524USALiberty University1.4524USANaval Postgraduate School1.4524ChinaSchwarzman College at Tsinghua University1.4524USAUniversity of Michigan (Ford)1.4524USAUniversity of Pittsburgh (GSPIA)1.4524USACollege of William & Mary1.45+Think Tank Staffers RankCountry School Percent 1USA Georgetown University (Walsh) 73.17 2USA Johns Hopkins University (SAIS) 65.85 3USA Harvard University (Kennedy) 52.03 4USA Columbia University (SIPA) 42.28 5USA Tufts University 39.84 6USA Princeton University (SPIA) 38.21 7USAGeorge Washington University (Elliott) 21.14 8UK London School of Economics 17.07 9UK University of Oxford 16.26 10USA Stanford University 13.01 11USAYale University 8.94 12USAAmerican University 8.13 13USAUniversity of California, San Diego 6.5 13FranceSciences Po-Paris 6.5 15USA University of Chicago 5.69 16UK King's College London 3.25 16USA New York University 3.25 16USAUniversity of California, Berkeley 3.25 19UKUniversity of Cambridge 2.44 20SwitzerlandGeneva Graduate Institute 1.63 20USAMassachusetts Institute of Technology 1.63 20SingaporeNational University of Singapore 1.63 20USATexas A&M University (Bush) 1.63 20UKUniversity of London 1.63 20USAUniversity of Michigan (Ford) 1.6320USAUniversity of Texas at Austin (LBJ)1.6320USAUniversity of Virginia (Batten)1.63

PhD Programs - Academic +International Relations Faculty RankCountry School Percent 1USA Harvard University 64.65 2USA Princeton University 60.3 3USA Stanford University 59.36 4USA Columbia University 38 5USA University of Chicago 27.6 6USA Yale University 27.03 7USAMassachusetts Institute of Technology 20.04 7USA University of California, San Diego 20.04 9USA University of Michigan 17.58 10USA University of California, Berkeley 17.01 11UKUniversity of Oxford 12.85 12USAGeorgetown University 11.53 13UKLondon School of Economics 7.94 14USACornell University 6.24 15USA Johns Hopkins University 6.05 16UK University of Cambridge 5.86 17USA Ohio State University 5.48 18USAUniversity of Pennsylvania 5.29 19USAGeorge Washington University 4.91 19USANew York University 4.91 21USAAmerican University 4.16 22USAUniversity of California, Los Angeles 3.78 23USADuke University 2.65 24USATufts University 1.89 24USAUniversity of Minnesota, Twin Cities 1.89+Policymakers RankCountry School Percent 1USA Harvard University 85.53 2USA Stanford University 56.58 3USA Princeton University 51.32 4USA Yale University 42.11 5UK University of Oxford 34.21 6USA Georgetown University 31.58 7USAColumbia University 27.63 8USA Johns Hopkins University 25 9USA University of Chicago 19.74 10UK London School of Economics 17.11 11USAUniversity of California, Berkeley 13.16 12USAMassachusetts Institute of Technology 11.84 12UKUniversity of Cambridge 11.84 14USATufts University 7.89 15USA George Washington University 5.26 16USA American University 3.95 16USA Duke University 3.95 16USAUniversity of Michigan 3.95 19UKKing's College London 2.63 19USANew York University 2.63 19FranceParis 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne University 2.63 22USADartmouth College 1.32 22FranceSciences Po 1.32 22USAUniversity of California, Los Angeles 1.32 22USAUniversity of Denver 1.3222USAUniversity of Notre Dame1.3222USAUniversity of Pennsylvania1.3222USAUniversity of Texas at Austin1.32+Think Tank Staffers RankCountry School Percent 1USA Harvard University 77.08 2USA Princeton University 55.21 2USA Stanford University 55.21 4USA Columbia University 46.88 5USA Yale University 33.33 6UK University of Oxford 25 7USAMassachusetts Institute of Technology 23.96 8USA Georgetown University 22.92 9USA University of Chicago 19.79 10USA Johns Hopkins University 16.67 11USAUniversity of California, Berkeley 13.54 12USATufts University 11.46 13UKUniversity of Cambridge 8.33 14USAUniversity of California, San Diego 7.29 14USA University of Michigan 7.29 16UK London School of Economics 6.25 17France Sciences Po 5.21 18USAGeorge Washington University 4.17 19USACornell University 3.12 20USAAmerican University 2.08 20USADuke University 2.08 20USAOhio State University 2.08 20USAUniversity of California, Los Angeles 2.08 24AustraliaAustralian National University 1.04 24UKKing's College London 1.0424SingaporeNational University of Singapore1.0424USANew York University1.0424USANorthwestern University1.0424USAPennsylvania State University1.0424USAUniversity of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign1.0424UKUniversity of London1.0424USAUniversity of Pennsylvania1.0424UKUniversity of St. Andrews1.0424USAUniversity of Virginia1.0424USAUniversity of Wisconsin, Milwaukee1.04

PhD Programs - Policymakers