There are lots of options to choose from today when trying to decide which grad school to attend. College Factual was founded, in part, to help students make the decision as to what would be the best school for them. Our Best Doctor's Degree Colleges in Washington ranking is part of that endeavor.
We analyzed 11 grad schools across Washington to determine which have the best doctorate degree programs. Our ranking for the best grad schools is based on objective factors. We steer clear of subjective measures since they don't give a clear picture when determining how one school compares to another. The following gives more info on what goes into our ranking factors and why we consider those factors.
Early-Career Salaries Are Higher
One measure we use to determine the quality of a graduateschool is to look at the average salary of doctorate graduates during the early years of their career. A doctorate degree holder from a school in Washington makes an average starting salary of $75,201, but the students who attended schools in the top 7 of our list make an average of $75,345.
Starting Salary ( 60860 to 86191 )
Average Student Debt
Another factor that we look at to determine a school's ranking is the average debt load that graduate students take on while they are working on their doctorate degree.
We consider this number in conjunction with average post-graduation earnings to gauge the difficulty doctorate recipients will have paying back their loans.
Other Ranking Factors in Our Methodology
In addition to average post-graduation earnings and average student debt loads, we also look at a host of other factors to determining our Best Doctorate Degree Schools ranking.
Several other factors - such as how much the school spends on educational resources, the demand of the school, the availability of online learning options, and the student body caliber - go into our rankings.
Are you more interested in the top doctorate degree schools in your area? Try narrowing this list by location. Also, you may want to check out our other college rankings.
Still not sure what graduate degree you wish to pursue? You may want to visit our Best Master's Degree Schools ranking.
Top Doctorate Degree Schools in Washington
Learn more about these excellent grad schools below:
Our 2024 rankings named University of Washington - Seattle Campus the best grad school in Washington in terms of overall quality for students working on their doctorate degree. Seattle, Washington is the setting for this large institution of higher learning. The public school handed out doctorate degrees to 1,479 students in 2020-2021.
Upon graduation, doctorate degree recipients go on to jobs making an average salary of $77,113 during the early years of their career.
A rank of #2 on our Best Doctorate Degrees in Washington list means University of Puget Sound is a great place for students working on their degree. Puget Sound is a small private not-for-profit school situated in Tacoma, Washington. It awarded 35 doctorate degrees in 2020-2021.
Those who receive a doctorate degree from Puget Sound go into careers with an average salary of $73,526 during the early years of their career.
The excellent doctorate degree programs at Washington State University helped the school earn the #3 place on this year’s ranking of the best schools in Washington. Washington State University is a large public school located in Pullman, Washington that handed out 642 doctorate degrees in 2020-2021.
The average salary of a graduate with a doctorate degree from Wazzu is $100,052 during the early years of their career.
The excellent doctorate degree programs at Seattle Pacific University helped the school earn the #4 place on this year’s ranking of the best schools in Washington. Located in Seattle, Washington, the small private not-for-profit school awarded 54 diplomas to qualifed doctorate degree students in 2020-2021.
The average salary of a graduate with a doctorate degree from SPU is $67,680 during the early years of their career.
Out of the 11 doctorate degree schools in Washington that were part of this year’s ranking, Seattle University landed the #5 spot on the list. Located in Seattle, Washington, the medium-sized private not-for-profit school awarded 287 diplomas to qualifed doctorate degree students in 2020-2021.
During the early years of their career, doctorate degree graduates from Seattle U make an average of $59,130 a year.
With a ranking of #6, City University of Seattle did quite well on the 2024 Best Doctorate Degree Schools in Washington list. CityU is located in Seattle, Washington and has a small student population. In 2020-2021, this school awarded 25 doctorate degrees to qualified graduate students.
Pacific Lutheran University ranked #7 on this year’s Best Doctorate Degree Schools in Washington list. Located in Tacoma, Washington, the small private not-for-profit school awarded 23 diplomas to qualifed doctorate degree students in 2020-2021.
Gonzaga University ranked #8 on this year’s Best Doctorate Degree Schools in Washington list. Located in Spokane, Washington, the medium-sized private not-for-profit school awarded 211 diplomas to qualifed doctorate degree students in 2020-2021.
Those who receive a doctorate degree from Gonzaga go into careers with an average salary of $78,396 during the early years of their career.
Eastern Washington University landed the #9 spot on the 2024 Best Doctorate Degree Schools in Washington ranking. Located in Cheney, Washington, the fairly large public school awarded 37 diplomas to qualifed doctorate degree students in 2020-2021.
Upon graduation, doctorate degree recipients go on to jobs making an average salary of $71,516 during the early years of their career.
Northwest University came in at #10 in this year’s edition of the Best Doctorate Degree Schools in Washington ranking. Northwest University is a small private not-for-profit school situated in Kirkland, Washington. It awarded 7 doctorate degrees in 2020-2021.
Antioch University - Seattle ranked #11 on this year’s Best Doctorate Degree Schools in Washington list. Antioch University - Seattle is a private not-for-profit institution located in Seattle, Washington. The school has a small population, and it awarded 10 doctorate degrees in 2020-2021.
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%.
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