Hello!
For years, I have heard people refer to specific programs at colleges and universities, and their rankings. However, I have no idea where one can find this information at the undergraduate level. I looked for a ranking of universities by a specific major, and could not find a reputable source! Does anyone know where these rankings come from? Thanks!
Outside of business programs, most majors aren’t reputably ranked at the undergraduate level.
Alright, thank you so much for your response! 
Agee that few reputable rankings exist for specific undergraduate programs (though engineering and business are by ranked by USNWR). Some undergraduate rankings with less formal or fairly narrow methodology (e.g., for math, economics, writing) are available, however. Do you know what you would like to study?
I think that if you see a school’s grad program ranked well, you can assume that the undergrad equivalent is also pretty decent at least.
Some of the same faculty will be teaching undergrad and grad courses, grad students will be leading at least some discussions and labs, and grad students will be taking some (usually high-level) undergrad courses. There is, thus, some “bleed” from the grad program to the undergrad program,
There’s also research opportunities to covsider.
The US News ranks are about departments. Not about graduate programs. Not about undergraduate programs (except as noted). Students should look at the reputations of the departments they may major in. Yes it does make a difference to undergrads. A crappy dept will have few resources. So everyone having anything to do with the dept will be impacted.
Thank you for the responses! @merc81 I want to major in political science and Econ/business (as of now), but I already chose a school. I was wondering because I didn’t know about these rankings, I picked the best school overall- but I can always transfer.
And @lostaccount I heard that underfunded/crappy programs could be detrimental, so I started worrying about it more than I had previously, which is why I posted this thread
“I picked the best school overall”
This works too, so don’t feel you have made a mistake with respect to your personal choice of a college.
That said, these are economics department rankings (as measured by faculty publishing) of which I’m aware: “Economics Departments at Liberal Arts Colleges,” “US Economics Departments,” IDEAS.
For several reasons, I do not believe graduate department rankings should be consulted for the selection of an undergraduate college.
US News states that its Economics ranking identifies “the top graduate schools for economics programs.”
The ranking is “based on a survey of academics at peer institutions”.
What exactly are the rankers ranking? Whatever it is, does it heavily influence (or reflect) the quality of undergraduate instruction? I’ve never seen a detailed description of the ranking criteria or survey questions.
I wouldn’t worry too much about the department rankings if you’re otherwise happy with your school choice. A high department/program ranking probably is a good sign. A relatively low department ranking isn’t necessarily a bad sign. Some excellent LACs for example don’t show up in the USNWR program/department rankings at all. Yet their alumni typically have good graduate/professional school and career outcomes.
The Princeton Review does some rankings by major, but you should know that 70% of the students who graduated in 2015 changed their major at least once, so an overall school ranking might be more beneficial than a ranking by major.