2024 Best Philosophy Doctor's Degree Schools in the Southeast Region

If you plan on getting your doctor's degree in philosophy, you won't be alone since the degree program is ranked #59 in the country in terms of popularity. As a result, there are many college that offer the degree, making your choice of school a hard one.

College Factual looked at 6 colleges and universities when compiling its 2024 Best Philosophy Doctor's Degree Schools in the Southeast Region ranking. Combined, these schools handed out 77 doctor's degrees in philosophy to qualified students.

Jump to one of the following sections: * Our Methodology

• Best Doctor’s Degree Schools List

Choosing a Great Philosophy School for Your Doctor's Degree

The philosophy 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. To make it into this list, a school must excel in the following areas.

A Great Overall School

The overall quality of a doctor's degree school is important to ensure a good 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.

Early-Career Earnings

One measure we use to determine the quality of a school is to look at the average salary of doctorate graduates during the early years of their career. This is because one of the main reasons people pursue their doctor's degree is to enable themselves to find better-paying positions.

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 philosophy students vs. other majors.
• Major Demand - The number of philosophy 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 much debt philosophy students go into to obtain their doctor's degree and how well they are able to pay back that debt.
• Accreditation - Whether a school is regionally accredited and/or accredited by a recognized philosophy related body.

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

One Size Does Not Fit All

Since the program you select can have a significant impact on your future, we've developed a number of rankings, including this Best Philosophy Doctor's Degree Schools in the Southeast Region list, to help you choose the best school for you.

Best Schools for Doctorate Students to Study Philosophy in the Southeast Region

Explore the top ranked colleges and universities for philosophy students seeking a a doctor's degree.

Top Southeast Region Schools for a Doctorate in Philosophy

1

Duke University
Durham, NC

4 Annual Graduates

Duke University is one of the best schools in the United States for getting a doctor's degree in philosophy. Located in the large city of Durham, Duke is a private not-for-profit university with a fairly large student population.More information about a doctorate in philosophy from Duke University

2

Emory University
Atlanta, GA

10 Annual Graduates

Emory University is one of the finest schools in the United States for getting a doctor's degree in philosophy. Located in the city of Atlanta, Emory is a private not-for-profit university with a large student population.More information about a doctorate in philosophy from Emory University

3

Vanderbilt University
Nashville, TN

5 Annual Graduates

Vanderbilt University is one of the best schools in the country for getting a doctor's degree in philosophy. Vanderbilt is a fairly large private not-for-profit university located in the large city of Nashville.More information about a doctorate in philosophy from Vanderbilt University

4

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Chapel Hill, NC

7 Annual Graduates

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill is one of the finest schools in the United States for getting a doctor's degree in philosophy. UNC Chapel Hill is a very large public university located in the city of Chapel Hill.More information about a doctorate in philosophy from University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

5

Florida State University
Tallahassee, FL

5 Annual Graduates

Located in the medium-sized city of Tallahassee, Florida State is a public university with a fairly large student population.More information about a doctorate in philosophy from Florida State University

6

Piedmont International University
Winston-Salem, NC

17 Annual Graduates

$96,764 Median Starting Salary

Piedmont International University is a fairly small private not-for-profit university located in the midsize city of Winston-Salem.

Students who graduate with their doctorate from the philosophy program report average early career earnings of $96,764.

More information about a doctorate in philosophy from Piedmont International University

Best Philosophy Colleges by State

Explore the best philosophy schools for a specific state in the Southeast Region .

State	Colleges	Degrees Awarded
Florida	138	15
Virginia	127	1
Georgia	126	11
North Carolina	115	28
Mississippi	113	0
Louisiana	103	6
Tennessee	102	10
South Carolina	91	2
Kentucky	87	4
Arkansas	58	0

View All Rankings >

Philosophy Related Rankings by Major

Philosophy is one of 3 different types of Philosophy & Religious Studies programs to choose from.

Philosophy Focus Areas

Major	Annual Graduates
Philosophy	60
Other Philosophy	17

Majors Similar to Philosophy

Related Major	Annual Graduates
Religious Studies	60
General Philosophy & Religious Studies	4

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). More about our data sources and methodologies.