2024 Best Public Policy Doctor's Degree Schools in the Great Lakes Region

If you plan on getting your doctor's degree in public policy, you won't be alone since the degree program is ranked #77 in the country in terms of popularity. This means you won't have too much trouble finding schools that offer the degree.

College Factual looked at 2 colleges and universities when compiling its 2024 Best Public Policy Doctor's Degree Schools in the Great Lakes Region ranking. When you put them all together, these colleges and universities awarded 17 doctor's degrees in public policy during the 2020-2021 academic year.

What's on this page: * Our Methodology

• Best Doctor’s Degree Schools List

Average Earnings

To determine the overall quality of a graduate school, one factor we look at is the average early-career salary of those receiving their doctor's degree from the school. After all, your doctor's degree won't mean much if it doesn't help you find a job that will help you earn a living.

Other Factors We Consider

The metrics below are just some of the other metrics that we use to determine our rankings.

• Major Focus - How much a school focuses on public policy students vs. other majors.
• Major Demand - How many other public policy students want to attend this school to pursue a doctor's degree.
• Educational Resources - How many resources are allocated to students. These resources may include educational expenditures per student, number of students per instructor, and graduation rate among other things.
• Student Debt - How much debt public policy 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 public policy related body.

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

One Size Does Not Fit All

When choosing the right school for you, it's important to arm yourself with all the facts you can. To that end, we've created a number of major-specific rankings, including this Best Public Policy Doctor's Degree Schools in the Great Lakes Region list to help you make the college decision.

Best Schools for Doctorate Students to Study Public Policy in the Great Lakes Region

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

Top Great Lakes Region Schools for a Doctorate in Public Policy

1

University of Michigan - Ann Arbor
Ann Arbor, MI

5 Annual Graduates

University of Michigan - Ann Arbor is one of the finest schools in the United States for getting a doctor's degree in public policy. Located in the medium-sized city of Ann Arbor, U-M is a public university with a fairly large student population.More information about a doctorate in public policy from University of Michigan - Ann Arbor

2

Indiana University - Purdue University - Indianapolis
Indianapolis, IN

4 Annual Graduates

Indiana University - Purdue University - Indianapolis is a wonderful decision for students pursuing a doctor's degree in public policy. IUPUI is a very large public university located in the city of Indianapolis.More information about a doctorate in public policy from Indiana University - Purdue University - Indianapolis

Best Public Policy Colleges by State

Explore the best public policy schools for a specific state in the Great Lakes Region .

State	Colleges	Degrees Awarded
Illinois	153	0
Michigan	149	10
Indiana	132	7

View All Rankings >

Public Policy Related Rankings by Major

Public Policy is one of 4 different types of Public Administration & Social Service programs to choose from.

Public Policy Concentrations

Major	Annual Graduates
General Public Policy Analysis	13
Health Policy Analysis	4

Most Popular Related Majors

Related Major	Annual Graduates
Public Administration	22
Community Organization & Advocacy	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 The Official CTBTO Photostream. More about our data sources and methodologies.