If you plan on getting your doctor's degree in public health, you won't be alone since the degree program is ranked #32 in the country in terms of popularity. So, you have a fair amount of options to choose from when looking for a school.
College Factual looked at 99 colleges and universities when compiling its 2024 Best Public Health Doctor's Degree Schools ranking. When you put them all together, these colleges and universities awarded 981 doctor's degrees in public health during the 2020-2021 academic year.
Choosing a Great Public Health School for Your Doctor's Degree
The public health doctor's degree program you select can have a big impact on your future. This section explores some of the factors we include in our ranking and how much they vary depending on the school you select. Below we explain some of the most important factors to consider before making your choice:
Overall Quality Is a Must
The overall quality of a doctor's degree school is important to ensure a quality education, not just how well they do in a particular major. To make it into this list a school must rank well in our overall Best Colleges for a Doctor's Degree ranking. This ranking considered factors such as graduation rates, overall graduate earnings and other educational resources to identify great colleges and universities.
Average Early-Career Salaries
Average early-career salary of those graduating with their doctor's degree is one indicator we use in our analysis to find the schools that offer the highest-quality education. That is, everyone wants their doctor's degree to be worth something, and salaries are one measure of determining that.
Other Factors We Consider
In addition to the above, you should consider some of the following factors:
Major Focus - How much a school focuses on public health students vs. other majors.
Major Demand - The number of public health students who choose to seek a doctor's degree at the school.
Educational Resources - The amount of money and other resources allocated to students while they are pursuing their degree. These resources include such things as number of students per instructor and education expenditures per student.
Student Debt - How easy is it for public health 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 public health related body.
Our full ranking methodology documents in more detail how we consider these factors to identify the best schools for public health students working on their doctor's degree.
Since the program you select can have a significant impact on your future, we've developed a number of rankings, including this Best Public Health Doctor's Degree Schools list, to help you choose the best school for you.
Best Schools for Doctorate Students to Study Public Health in the United States
Explore the top ranked colleges and universities for public health students seeking a a doctor's degree. Only those schools that rank in the top 15% of all the schools we analyze get awarded with a place on this list.
It is hard to beat Harvard University if you want to pursue a doctor's degree in public health. Harvard is a very large private not-for-profit university located in the midsize city of Cambridge.
Doctorate recipients from the public health degree program at Harvard University get $12,880 above the typical college graduate with the same degree when they enter the workforce.
University of California - Los Angeles is one of the best schools in the country for getting a doctor's degree in public health. Located in the city of Los Angeles, UCLA is a public university with a very large student population.
Those public health students who get their doctor's degree from University of California - Los Angeles receive $21,408 more than the average public health student.
Yale University is a great decision for individuals pursuing a doctor's degree in public health. Located in the medium-sized city of New Haven, Yale is a private not-for-profit university with a fairly large student population.More information about a doctorate in public health from Yale University
Loma Linda University is a great option for individuals interested in a doctor's degree in public health. Located in the suburb of Loma Linda, Loma Linda University is a private not-for-profit university with a small student population.
Those public health students who get their doctor's degree from Loma Linda University earn $23,962 more than the typical public health grad.
These are some additional schools worth mentioning that are also great but just didn't quite make the cut to earn our top Best Public Health Doctor's Degree Schools award.
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).
college factual
The public health doctor's degree program you select can have a big impact on your future. This section explores some of the factors we include in our ranking and how much they vary depending on the school you select. Below we explain some of the most important factors to consider before making your choice:
.jpg){kind=link}