2024 Best Natural Sciences Doctor's Degree Schools

If you're seeking a Doctor's Degree in natural sciences, you will have fewer peers than average since the major degree program is the #229 one in the country in terms of popularity.As such, your educational options may be more limited than if you were in a more popular field.

In 2024, College Factual analyzed 2 schools in order to identify the top ones for its Best Natural Sciences Doctor's Degree Schools ranking. When you put them all together, these colleges and universities awarded 8 doctor's degrees in natural sciences during the 2020-2021 academic year.

What's on this page: * Our Methodology

• Best Doctor’s Degree Schools List

Average Earnings

To determine the overall quality of a graduate school, one factor we look at is the average early-career salary of those receiving their doctor's degree from the school. After all, your doctor's degree won't mean much if it doesn't help you find a job that will help you earn a living.

Other Factors We Consider

The metrics below are just some of the other metrics that we use to determine our rankings.

• Major Focus - How much a school focuses on natural sciences students vs. other majors.
• Major Demand - How many other natural sciences students want to attend this school to pursue a doctor's degree.
• Educational Resources - How many resources are allocated to students. These resources may include educational expenditures per student, number of students per instructor, and graduation rate among other things.
• Student Debt - How easy is it for natural sciences to pay back their student loans after receiving their doctor's degree.
• Accreditation - Whether a school is regionally accredited and/or accredited by a recognized natural sciences related body.

Our complete ranking methodology documents in more detail how we consider these factors to identify the best schools for natural sciences students working on their doctor's degree.

More Ways to Rank Natural Sciences Schools

The natural sciences school you choose to invest your time and money in matters. To help you make the decision that is right for you, we've developed a number of major-specific rankings, including this list of the Best Natural Sciences Doctor's Degree Schools.

Best Schools for Doctorate Students to Study Natural Sciences in the United States

The following list ranks the best colleges and universities for pursuing a doctor's degree in natural sciences.

Top Schools for a Doctorate in Natural Sciences

1

Virginia Commonwealth University
Richmond, VA

5 Annual Graduates

It is difficult to beat Virginia Commonwealth University if you want to pursue a doctor's degree in natural sciences. VCU is a very large public university located in the medium-sized city of Richmond.More information about a doctorate in natural sciences from Virginia Commonwealth University

2

University of Colorado at Colorado Springs
Colorado Springs, CO

2 Annual Graduates

Any student pursuing a degree in a doctor's degree in natural sciences needs to take a look at University of Colorado at Colorado Springs. UCCS is a large public university located in the city of Colorado Springs.More information about a doctorate in natural sciences from University of Colorado at Colorado Springs

Natural Sciences by Region

View the Best Natural Sciences Doctor's Degree Schools for a specific region near you.

Region
Southeast
New England
Rocky Mountains
Plains States
Middle Atlantic
Far Western US
Southwest
Other U.S. Territories
Great Lakes

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Rankings in Majors Related to Natural Sciences

Natural Sciences is one of 51 different types of Multi / Interdisciplinary Studies programs to choose from.

Natural Sciences Focus Areas

Major	Annual Graduates
Natural Sciences	8

Most Popular Related Majors

Related Major	Annual Graduates
Other Multi/Interdisciplinary Studies	213
Nutrition Science	182
Behavioral Science	138
Biological & Physical Science	72
Interdisciplinary Studies	47
Cognitive Science	44
Marine Science	36
Systems Theory	33
Computational Science	33
Sustainability Science	33

Notes and References

• The bars on the spread charts above show the distribution of the schools on this list +/- one standard deviation from the mean.
• The Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) from the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), a branch of the U.S. Department of Education (DOE) serves as the core of the rest of our data about colleges.
• Some other college data, including much of the graduate earnings data, comes from the U.S. Department of Education’s (College Scorecard).
• Credit for the banner image above goes to Agsftw. More about our data sources and methodologies.