2023 Best Medical Science Doctor’s Degree Colleges for Veterans in the Plains States Region

When pursuing a degree in today’s world, veterans have many different options to choose from. College Factual has developed its “Most Veteran Friendly in the Plains States Region for Medical Science for a Doctorate” ranking as one item you can use to help make this decision.

Medical Science is the 255th most popular major in the country with 909 degrees awarded in 2020-2021. In 2019-2020, medical science graduates who were awarded their degree in 2017-2019, earned an average of $112,309 and had an average of $0 in loans still to pay off.

Across the Plains States region, there were 73 medical science graduates with average earnings and debt of $0 and $0 respectively.

For this year’s “Most Veteran Friendly in the Plains States Region for Medical Science for a Doctorate” ranking, we looked at 2 colleges that offer a degree in medical science. Not only do the schools that top this list have excellent medical science programs, but they also offer a lot of support to veterans and active service members.

Some of the factors we look at when determining these rankings are overall quality of the medical science program at the school, veteran affordability, and veteran population. For more information, check out our ranking methodology.

One Size Does Not Fit All

The medical science 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 “Most Veteran Friendly in the Plains States Region for Medical Science for a Doctorate”.

We’ve created a tool called College Combat that lets you create your own customized comparisons based on the factors that matter the most to you. Go ahead and give it a try, or bookmark the link so you can check it out later.

Most Veteran Friendly in the Plains States Region for Medical Science for a Doctorate

The colleges and universities below are the best for plains states region doctor’s degree vets studying medical science.

Top 2 Best Medical Science Doctor’s Degree Colleges for Veterans in the Plains States Region

1

University of South Dakota
Vermillion, South Dakota

332 GI Bill® Students**

#2 in overall quality

YES Student Veterans Organization

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend University of South Dakota. It ranked #1 on our 2023 Most Veteran Friendly in the Plains States Region for Medical Science for a Doctorate list. University of South Dakota is a medium-sized school located in Vermillion, South Dakota that handed out 2 doctorate’s medical science degrees in 2020-2021.

USD also took the #2 spot in our “Best Medical Science Doctor’s Degree Schools in the Plains States Region” ranking.According to our most recent data, USD supports 9,459 students, and 332 of those are GI Bill® students, of which 180 are Post-9/11 GI Bill® recipients. The average tuition and fees award for the Post-9/11 GI Bill® recipients was $6,423. During this same period, 0 students received funds through the Yellow Ribbon Program. USD does offer credit for military training for eligible students.

The low undergrad student loan default rate of [DEFAULT_RATE_STRING]% is a good sign that students have an easier time paying off their loans than they might at other schools. For comparison, the national default rate is 10.1%.

Full USD Veteran Student Life Report

2

Mayo Clinic School of Medicine
Rochester, Minnesota

12 GI Bill® Students**

#1 in overall quality

$7,668 Average GI Bill® Award

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend Mayo Clinic School of Medicine. It ranked #2 on our 2023 Most Veteran Friendly in the Plains States Region for Medical Science for a Doctorate list. This small school is located in Rochester, Minnesota, and it awarded 2 doctorate’s medical science degrees in 2020-2021.

Mayo Clinic School of Medicine also took the #1 spot in our “Best Medical Science Doctor’s Degree Schools in the Plains States Region” ranking.Our most recent data shows that 12 of the 1,223 students enrolled at Mayo Clinic School of Medicine were GI Bill® students, of which 5 were Post-9/11 GI Bill® recipients. The average tuition and fees award for the Post-9/11 GI Bill® recipients was $7,668. To help with additional expenses, 0 students received scholarships through the Yellow Ribbon Program.

The undergraduate student-to-faculty ratio of 4 to 1 is a sign that students will have more opportunities to engage with their professors one-on-one.

Full Mayo Clinic School of Medicine Veteran Student Life Report

• Best Medical Science Doctor’s Degree Colleges for Veterans

Notes and References

References

• 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 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).
• Veteran-specific data can be found at the U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs.
• Information about the national average student loan default rate is from the U.S. Department of Education and refers to data about the 2016 borrower cohort tracking period for which the cohort default rate (CDR) was 10.1%.

Read more about our data sources and methodologies

Footnotes

• *Avg Salary and Avg 4-Year Grad Rate are for the top schools only.
• **GI Bill® student total includes all chapters of the GI Bill® program (e.g., Post-9/11, Montgomery GI Bill, Reserve Education Assistance Program, and Veteran Readiness and Employment)
• Some schools otherwise deserving of recognition may have been removed from this ranking in the event that new data identified post-publication warranted it, or at the request of the school.