Social Sciences at University of California - San Diego

If you plan to study social sciences, take a look at what University of California - San Diego has to offer and decide if the program is a good match for you. Get started with the following essential facts.

UCSD is located in La Jolla, California and has a total student population of 39,576. Of the 9,086 students who graduated with a bachelor’s degree from University of California - San Diego in 2021, 1,221 of them were social sciences majors.

Want to know more about the career opportunities in this field? Check out the Careers in Social Sciences section at the bottom of this page.

UCSD Social Sciences Degrees Available

• Bachelor’s Degree in Social Sciences
• Master’s Degree in Social Sciences
• Doctorate Degree in Social Sciences

UCSD Social Sciences Rankings

The following rankings from College Factual show how the social sciences progam at UCSD compares to programs at other colleges and universities.

Note: Rankings don't always give a complete picture of a school's strengths and weaknesses, so it's a good idea to extend your research and also look at other factors when trying to decide if the school is right for you.

Bachelor’s Degree Overall Quality & Other Notable Rankings

The social sciences major at UCSD is not ranked on College Factual’s Best Colleges and Universities for Social Sciences. This could be for a number of reasons, such as not having enough data on the major or school to make an accurate assessment of its quality.

Ranking Type	Rank
	46
Most Focused Social Sciences Bachelor’s Degree Schools	196
Best Value Social Sciences Bachelor’s Degree Schools	419

In 2021, 149 students received their master’s degree in social sciences from UCSD. This makes it the #19 most popular school for social sciences master’s degree candidates in the country.

There were 34 students who received their doctoral degrees in social sciences, making the school the #31 most popular school in the United States for this category of students.

Social Sciences Student Demographics at UCSD

Take a look at the following statistics related to the make-up of the social sciences majors at University of California - San Diego.

UCSD Social Sciences Bachelor’s Program

The social sciences program at UCSD awarded 1,221 bachelor's degrees in 2020-2021. About 46% of these degrees went to men with the other 54% going to women. The typical social sciences bachelor's degree program is made up of only 44% men. So male students are more repesented at UCSD since its program graduates 2% more men than average.

Prospective students may be interested in knowing that this school graduates 13% more racial-ethnic minorities in its social sciences bachelor's program than the national average.*

The following table and chart show the race/ethnicity for students who recently graduated from University of California - San Diego with a bachelor's in social sciences.

Race/Ethnicity	Number of Students
Asian	264
Black or African American	28
Hispanic or Latino	330
White	281
International Students	258
Other Races/Ethnicities	60

UCSD Social Sciences Master’s Program

During the 2020-2021 academic year, 149 students graduated with a master's degree in social sciences from UCSD. About 59% were men and 41% were women. Nationwide, master's degree programs only see 44% men graduate in social sciences each year. UCSD does a better job at serving the male population as it supports 15% more men than average.

The following table and chart show the race/ethnicity for students who recently graduated from University of California - San Diego with a master's in social sciences.

Race/Ethnicity	Number of Students
Asian	22
Black or African American	3
Hispanic or Latino	15
White	50
International Students	46
Other Races/Ethnicities	13

UCSD also has a doctoral program available in social sciences. In 2021, 34 students graduated with a doctor's degree in this field.

Concentrations Within Social Sciences

If you plan to be a social sciences major, you may want to focus your studies on one of the following concentrations. The completion numbers here include all graduates who receive any type of degree in this field from University of California - San Diego. Some of these focus areas may not be available for your degree level.

Concentration	Annual Degrees Awarded
Economics	480
Political Science & Government	469
Sociology	161
International Relations & National Security	108
Anthropology	91
Other Social Sciences	57
Urban Studies	38

Related Majors

• Area, Ethnic, Culture, & Gender Studies
• History
• Family, Consumer & Human Sciences
• Education
• Communication & Journalism

Careers That Social Sciences Grads May Go Into

A degree in social sciences can lead to the following careers. Since job numbers and average salaries can vary by geographic location, we have only included the numbers for CA, the home state for University of California - San Diego.

Occupation	Jobs in CA	Average Salary in CA
High School Teachers	112,960	$80,510
Market Research Analysts and Marketing Specialists	98,590	$78,090
Managers	66,300	$143,350
Urban and Regional Planners	7,950	$93,790
Statisticians	5,650	$99,860

References

*The racial-ethnic minorities count is calculated by taking the total number of students and subtracting white students, international students, and students whose race/ethnicity was unknown. This number is then divided by the total number of students at the school to obtain the racial-ethnic minorities percentage.

• College Factual
• National Center for Education Statistics
• O*NET Online
• Image Credit: By Znode at English Wikipedia under License

More about our data sources and methodologies.