2024 Best General Social Sciences Doctor's Degree Schools in the Great Lakes Region

General Social Sciencesdoctorate programs are on the lower end of the spectrum in terms of popularity. In fact, the major degree program ranks #239 out of the 306 majors we look at each year. While this may limit the number of schools that offer the degree program, there are still top-quality ones to be found.

For its 2024 ranking, College Factual looked at 3 schools in the Great Lakes Region to determine which ones were the best for general social sciences students pursuing a doctor's degree. Combined, these schools handed out 6 doctor's degrees in general social sciences to qualified students.

Jump to one of the following sections: * Our Methodology

• Best Doctor’s Degree Schools List

Choosing a Great General Social Sciences School for Your Doctor's Degree

The social sciences doctor's degree program you select can have a big impact on your future. Important measures of a quality social sciences program can vary widely even among the top schools. 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 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.

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 many resources a school devotes to general social sciences students as compared to other majors.
• Major Demand - The number of general social sciences 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 general social sciences 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 general social sciences related body.

Our complete ranking methodology documents in more detail how we consider these factors to identify the best colleges for general social 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 General Social Sciences Doctor's Degree Schools in the Great Lakes Region list, to help you choose the best school for you.

Best Schools for Doctorate Students to Study General Social Sciences in the Great Lakes Region

Below you'll see a list of the best colleges and universities for pursuing a doctor's degree in general social sciences.

Top Great Lakes Region Schools for a Doctorate in Social Sciences

1

University of Chicago
Chicago, IL

6 Annual Graduates

University of Chicago is one of the finest schools in the country for getting a doctor's degree in general social 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 general social sciences from University of Chicago

2

Southern Illinois University Carbondale
Carbondale, IL

Southern Illinois University Carbondale is one of the best schools in the country for getting a doctor's degree in general social sciences. Located in the small city of Carbondale, SIUC is a public university with a fairly large student population.More information about a doctorate in general social sciences from Southern Illinois University Carbondale

3

University of Toledo
Toledo, OH

Every student pursuing a degree in a doctor's degree in general social sciences has to check out University of Toledo. Located in the city of Toledo, University of Toledo is a public university with a fairly large student population.More information about a doctorate in general social sciences from University of Toledo

Best General Social Sciences Colleges by State

Explore the best general social sciences colleges for a specific state in the Great Lakes Region .

State	Colleges	Degrees Awarded
Illinois	153	6

View All Rankings >

General Social Sciences Related Rankings by Major

One of 13 majors within the Social Sciences area of study, General Social Sciences has other similar majors worth exploring.

Social Sciences Focus Areas

Major	Annual Graduates
General Social Sciences	6

Most Popular Majors Related to Social Sciences

Related Major	Annual Graduates
Economics	206
Sociology	127
Political Science & Government	114
Anthropology	106
Geography & Cartography	40
Urban Studies	2

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 Manfred Werner (Tsui). More about our data sources and methodologies.