2024 Best Geological & Earth Sciences Doctor's Degree Schools in Illinois

If you plan on getting your doctor's degree in geological & earth sciences, you won't be alone since the degree program is ranked #37 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 reviewed 3 schools in Illinois to determine which ones were the best for doctor's degree seekers in the field of geological & earth sciences. When you put them all together, these colleges and universities awarded 25 doctor's degrees in geological & earth sciences during the 2020-2021 academic year.

Jump to one of the following sections: * Our Methodology

• Best Doctor’s Degree Schools List

Choosing a Great Geological & Earth Sciences School for Your Doctor's Degree

The geology 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 geological & earth sciences students vs. other majors.
• Major Demand - How many other geological & earth sciences students want to attend this school to pursue a doctor's degree.
• 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 geological & earth sciences 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 geological & earth sciences related body.

Our full ranking methodology documents in more detail how we consider these factors to identify the best schools for geological & earth sciences 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 Geological & Earth Sciences Doctor's Degree Schools in Illinois list, to help you choose the best school for you.

Best Schools for Doctorate Students to Study Geological & Earth Sciences in Illinois

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

Top Illinois Schools for a Doctorate in Geology

1

Northwestern University
Evanston, IL

5 Annual Graduates

Every student pursuing a degree in a doctor's degree in geological & earth sciences needs to look into Northwestern University. Northwestern is a fairly large private not-for-profit university located in the city of Evanston.More information about a doctorate in geological & earth sciences from Northwestern University

2

University of Chicago
Chicago, IL

9 Annual Graduates

University of Chicago is a wonderful choice for individuals interested in a doctor's degree in geological & earth sciences. Located in the large city of Chicago, UChicago is a private not-for-profit university with a large student population.More information about a doctorate in geological & earth sciences from University of Chicago

3

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Champaign, IL

8 Annual Graduates

It is difficult to beat University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign if you wish to pursue a doctor's degree in geological & earth sciences. Located in the small city of Champaign, UIUC is a public university with a fairly large student population.More information about a doctorate in geological & earth sciences from University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Best Geological & Earth Sciences Colleges in the Great Lakes Region

Explore all the Best Geological & Earth Sciences Colleges in the Great Lakes Area or other specific states within that region.

State	Colleges	Degrees Awarded
Michigan	149	21
Ohio	144	23
Indiana	132	14
Wisconsin	108	7

View All Rankings >

Geological & Earth Sciences Related Rankings by Major

Geological & Earth Sciences is one of 8 different types of Physical Sciences programs to choose from.

Geology Focus Areas

Major	Annual Graduates
Geology & Earth Sciences	16
Geophysics & Seismology	9

Most Popular Related Majors

Related Major	Annual Graduates
Chemistry	167
Physics	81
Astronomy & Astrophysics	14
Atmospheric Sciences & Meteorology	5

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 Kelvinsong. More about our data sources and methodologies.