2022 Best Value Social Sciences Schools for a Doctorate

Students have lots of options to chooose from today when trying to decide which college to attend. Our mission at College Factual is to arm you with as much information as we can to help you make that decision. Our “Best Value Social Sciences Schools for a Doctorate” ranking is one tool we have developed to help in this regard.

In 2019-2020, 19,742 people earned their degree in general social sciences, making the major the 51st most popular in the United States. In 2017-2018, general social sciences graduates who were awarded their degree in 2015-2017, earned an average of $31,665 and had an average of $22,423 in loans still to pay off.

At the doctor’s degree level specifically, there were 17 general social sciences graduates with average earnings and debt of $72,680 and $116,043 respectively.

For this year’s “Best Value Social Sciences Schools for a Doctorate” ranking, we looked at 2 colleges that offer a degree in general social sciences. The schools that top this list are recognized because they have great general social sciences programs and cost less that schools of similar quality.

When determining these rankings, we looked at things such as overall quality of the general social sciences program at the school and the cost to attend the school once aid has been awarded. See our ranking methodology to learn more.

One Size Does Not Fit All

The social sciences 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 “Best Value Social Sciences Schools for a Doctorate”.

In addition to our rankings, you can take two colleges and compare them based on the criteria that matters most to you in our unique tool, College Combat. Go ahead and give it a try, or bookmark the link so you can check it out later.

Best Value Social Sciences Schools for a Doctorate

The following schools top our list of the Best Best Value Social Sciences Schools for a Doctorate.

Top 3 Best Value Doctor’s Degree Colleges for General Social Sciences

#1

Syracuse University

Syracuse, New York

#2 in overall quality

$41,714 Avg Grad Tuition & Fees

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend Syracuse University. It ranked #1 on our 2022 Best Value Social Sciences Schools for a Doctorate list. Syracuse is a private not-for-profit institution located in Syracuse, New York. The school has a large population, and it awarded 3 doctorate’s degrees in 2019-2020.

Syracuse did well in our major quality rankings, too. It placed #2 on our “Best General Social Sciences Doctor’s Degree Schools” list. Average graduate tuition and fees at Syracuse are $41,714, but you may pay more or less depending on your major.

Full Syracuse University General Social Sciences Report

#2

Columbia University in the City of New York

New York, New York

#1 in overall quality

$51,194 Avg Grad Tuition & Fees

You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around if you attend Columbia University in the City of New York. The school came in at #2 for the Best Value Social Sciences Schools for a Doctorate. New York, New York is the setting for this large institution of higher learning. The private not-for-profit school handed out doctorate’s social sciences degrees to 12 students in 2019-2020.

Columbia did well in our major quality rankings, too. It placed #1 on our “Best General Social Sciences Doctor’s Degree Schools” list. Although you might pay more or less depending on your area of study, average graduate tuition and fees at Columbia University in the City of New York are $51,194.

Full Columbia University in the City of New York General Social Sciences Report

#3

University of Chicago

Chicago, Illinois

#2 in overall quality

$61,548 Avg Grad Tuition & Fees

You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around if you attend University of Chicago. The school came in at #3 for the Best Value Social Sciences Schools for a Doctorate. UChicago is a fairly large private not-for-profit school situated in Chicago, Illinois. It awarded 2 doctorate’s social sciences degrees in 2019-2020.

In addition to being on our doctor’s degree social sciences students list, UChicago has also earned the #2 rank in our “Best General Social Sciences Doctor’s Degree Schools” ranking. Average graduate tuition and fees at UChicago are $61,548, but you may pay more or less depending on your major.

Read full report on General Social Sciences at University of Chicago

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

Footnotes

• *Average salary, average net price, and average tuition and fees 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.

Credits

• Credit for the banner image above goes to Manfred Werner (Tsui).

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