2023 Most Focused Doctor’s Degree Colleges for Liberal Arts
8
Ranked Colleges
29
Degrees Awarded
$32,600
Avg Cost*
With all of the options students have for higher education today, it can be tough to choose which direction to take. College Factual was founded, in part, to help students make the decision as to what would be the best school for them. Our “Schools for a Doctorate Highly Focused on Liberal Studies Major” ranking is part of that endeavor.
In 2020-2021, 366,996 liberal arts students received their degree, making the major the 2nd most popular in the country.
At the doctor’s degree level specifically, there were 29 liberal arts graduates with average earnings and debt of $75,260 and $0 respectively.
For this year’s “Schools for a Doctorate Highly Focused on Liberal Studies Major” ranking, we looked at 8 colleges that offer a degree in liberal arts. The colleges and universities that top this list are recognized because their liberal arts program is one of the largest majors offered at the school.
For more information, check out our ranking methodology.
More Ways to Rank Liberal Arts Schools
The liberal studies 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 “Schools for a Doctorate Highly Focused on Liberal Studies Major”.
To further help you make the college decision, we’ve developed a unique tool called College Combat that allows you to compare schools based on the factors that matter the most to you. If you’re torn between two schools, you can use it to help you see how they stack up against one another. Bookmark it so you can compare any new schools that might interest you.
Schools for a Doctorate Highly Focused on Liberal Studies Major
The following schools top our list of the Best “Schools for a Doctorate Highly Focused on Liberal Studies Major”.
Top 8 Most Focused Doctor’s Degree Colleges for Liberal Arts
You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around if you attend Southern Methodist University. The school came in at #1 for the Schools for a Doctorate Highly Focused on Liberal Studies Major. SMU is a fairly large school located in Dallas, Texas that handed out 9 doctorate’s liberal studies degrees in 2020-2021.
Students who start out at the school are likely to stick around. The freshman retention rate is 90%. The school has an impressive undergrad student loan default rate. It’s only 2.1%, which is much lower than the national rate of 10.1%.
Read more about Liberal Arts at SMU
You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around if you attend Montana State University. The school came in at #2 for the Schools for a Doctorate Highly Focused on Liberal Studies Major. MSU Bozeman is a public institution located in Bozeman, Montana. The school has a fairly large population, and it awarded 4 doctorate’s degrees in 2020-2021.
The low undergrad student loan default rate of 3.5% 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 MSU Bozeman Liberal Arts Report
You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around if you attend Yale University. The school came in at #3 for the Schools for a Doctorate Highly Focused on Liberal Studies Major. New Haven, Connecticut is the setting for this fairly large institution of higher learning. The private not-for-profit school handed out doctorate’s liberal studies degrees to 5 students in 2020-2021.
The school has an impressive undergrad student loan default rate. It’s only 0.7%, which is much lower than the national rate of 10.1%. With a undergrad student-to-faculty ratio of 4 to 1, it’s easy to see that the school is committed to helping their undergraduates succeed.
Full Yale Liberal Arts Report
You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around if you attend Georgetown University. The school came in at #4 for the Schools for a Doctorate Highly Focused on Liberal Studies Major. Georgetown is a large private not-for-profit school situated in Washington, District of Columbia. It awarded 6 doctorate’s liberal studies degrees in 2020-2021.
The undergrad student loan default rate at the school is 0.7%, which is quite low when compared to the national default rate of 10.1%. Students who start out at the school are likely to stick around. The freshman retention rate is 94%.
Read more about Liberal Arts at Georgetown University
You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend Washington University in St Louis. It ranked #5 on our 2023 Schools for a Doctorate Highly Focused on Liberal Studies Major list. Washington University in St Louis is a fairly large school located in Saint Louis, Missouri that handed out 3 doctorate’s liberal studies degrees in 2020-2021.
The school has an impressive undergrad student loan default rate. It’s only 1.1%, which is much lower than the national rate of 10.1%. Students who start out at the school are likely to stick around. The freshman retention rate is 94%. The undergraduate student-to-faculty ratio of 7 to 1 is a sign that students will have more opportunities to engage with their professors one-on-one.
Read full report on Liberal Arts at Washington University in St Louis
Emory University ranked #6 on this year’s Schools for a Doctorate Highly Focused on Liberal Studies Major list. This fairly large school is located in Atlanta, Georgia, and it awarded 2 doctorate’s liberal studies degrees in 2020-2021.
The school has an impressive undergrad student loan default rate. It’s only 1.4%, which is much lower than the national rate of 10.1%. With a undergrad student-to-faculty ratio of 9 to 1, it’s easy to see that the school is committed to helping their undergraduates succeed. The school has an excellent freshman retention rate of 93%, which means students like the school well enough to return for a second year.
Full Emory Liberal Arts Report
Mississippi State University landed the #7 spot on the 2023 Schools for a Doctorate Highly Focused on Liberal Studies Major ranking. This large school is located in Mississippi State, Mississippi, and it awarded 2 doctorate’s liberal studies degrees in 2020-2021.
With a freshman retention rate of 85%, the school does an excellent job of retaining its undergraduate students.
Full Mississippi State Liberal Arts Report
With a ranking of #7, University of Memphis did quite well on the 2023 Schools for a Doctorate Highly Focused on Liberal Studies Major list. UofM is a public institution located in Memphis, Tennessee. The school has a large population, and it awarded 101 doctorate’s degrees in 2020-2021.
Full University of Memphis Liberal Arts Report
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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).
- 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
- *Avg Salary and Avg 4-Year Grad Rate are for the top schools only.
- 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.
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