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2023 Best History Doctor's Degree Schools

109 Colleges in the United States
721 Doctor's Degrees
$54,296 Avg Early-Career Salary
If you plan on getting your doctor's degree in history, you won't be alone since the degree program is ranked #39 in the country in terms of popularity. As a result, there are many college that offer the degree, making your choice of school a hard one.

College Factual looked at 109 colleges and universities when compiling its 2023 Best History Doctor's Degree Schools ranking. When you put them all together, these colleges and universities awarded 721 doctor's degrees in history during the 2020-2021 academic year.

Jump to one of the following sections: * Our Methodology

Choosing a Great History School for Your Doctor's Degree

Best History Doctor's Degree Schools The history doctor's degree program you select can have a big impact on your future. Important measures of a quality history program can vary widely even among the top schools. To make it into this list, a school must excel in the following areas.

A Great Overall School

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.

Early-Career Earnings

One measure we use to determine the quality of a school is to look at the average salary of doctorate graduates during the early years of their career. This is because one of the main reasons people pursue their doctor's degree is to enable themselves to find better-paying positions.

Other Factors We Consider

In addition to the above, you should consider some of the following factors:

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

One Size Does Not Fit All

Rankings by Location Check Out Other Locales
More History Rankings Other Ranking Categories

Since the program you select can have a significant impact on your future, we've developed a number of rankings, including this Best History Doctor's Degree Schools list, to help you choose the best school for you.

Best Schools for Doctorate Students to Study History in the United States

The following list ranks the best colleges and universities for pursuing a doctor's degree in history. Only those schools that rank in the top 15% of all the schools we analyze get awarded with a place on this list.

16 Top Schools for a Doctorate in History

1
UPenn crest
University of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, PA
11 Annual Graduates

It is hard to beat University of Pennsylvania if you want to pursue a doctor's degree in history. Located in the city of Philadelphia, UPenn is a private not-for-profit university with a very large student population.More information about a doctorate in history from University of Pennsylvania

2
Harvard crest
Harvard University
Cambridge, MA

Harvard University is one of the finest schools in the country for getting a doctor's degree in history. Harvard is a very large private not-for-profit university located in the medium-sized city of Cambridge.

Doctorate recipients from the history program at Harvard University make $8,803 more than the average college grad with the same degree shortly after graduation.

More information about a doctorate in history from Harvard University

3
Duke crest
Duke University
Durham, NC
10 Annual Graduates

Duke University is a great decision for students interested in a doctor's degree in history. Located in the large city of Durham, Duke is a private not-for-profit university with a fairly large student population.More information about a doctorate in history from Duke University

4
Princeton crest
Princeton University
Princeton, NJ
8 Annual Graduates

It is difficult to beat Princeton University if you wish to pursue a doctor's degree in history. Princeton is a medium-sized private not-for-profit university located in the small city of Princeton.More information about a doctorate in history from Princeton University

5
Yale crest
Yale University
New Haven, CT
10 Annual Graduates

Located in the midsize city of New Haven, Yale is a private not-for-profit university with a large student population.More information about a doctorate in history from Yale University

6
11 Annual Graduates

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 history from University of Chicago

7
Georgetown crest
Georgetown University
Washington, DC
16 Annual Graduates

Located in the city of Washington, Georgetown is a private not-for-profit university with a very large student population.More information about a doctorate in history from Georgetown University

8
5 Annual Graduates

Located in the suburb of Notre Dame, Notre Dame is a private not-for-profit university with a fairly large student population.More information about a doctorate in history from University of Notre Dame

9
Vanderbilt crest
Vanderbilt University
Nashville, TN
7 Annual Graduates

Vanderbilt is a large private not-for-profit university located in the large city of Nashville.More information about a doctorate in history from Vanderbilt University

10
18 Annual Graduates

Located in the large city of New York, Columbia is a private not-for-profit university with a fairly large student population.More information about a doctorate in history from Columbia University in the City of New York

11
10 Annual Graduates

Northwestern is a fairly large private not-for-profit university located in the city of Evanston.More information about a doctorate in history from Northwestern University

12
Brown crest
Brown University
Providence, RI
5 Annual Graduates

Located in the medium-sized city of Providence, Brown is a private not-for-profit university with a fairly large student population.More information about a doctorate in history from Brown University

13
NYU crest
New York University
New York, NY
11 Annual Graduates

Located in the large city of New York, NYU is a private not-for-profit university with a fairly large student population.More information about a doctorate in history from New York University

14
13 Annual Graduates

U-M is a very large public university located in the medium-sized city of Ann Arbor.More information about a doctorate in history from University of Michigan - Ann Arbor

15
8 Annual Graduates

University of Virginia is a fairly large public university located in the suburb of Charlottesville.More information about a doctorate in history from University of Virginia - Main Campus

16
14 Annual Graduates

Located in the small city of Champaign, UIUC is a public university with a very large student population.More information about a doctorate in history from University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Additional Noteworthy Schools

These are some additional schools worth mentioning that are also great but just didn't quite make the cut to earn our top Best History Doctor's Degree Schools award.

Rank College Location
17 University of California - Los Angeles Los Angeles, CA
18 University of Wisconsin - Madison Madison, WI
19 Emory University Atlanta, GA
20 Boston College Chestnut Hill, MA
21 University of California - Berkeley Berkeley, CA
22 Cornell University Ithaca, NY
23 University of Minnesota - Twin Cities Minneapolis, MN
24 George Washington University Washington, DC
25 University of Pittsburgh - Pittsburgh Campus Pittsburgh, PA

History by Region

View the Best History Doctor's Degree Schools for a specific region near you.

Region
Southeast
New England
Rocky Mountains
Plains States
Middle Atlantic
Far Western US
Southwest
Great Lakes

View All Rankings >

One of 0 majors within the History area of study, History has other similar majors worth exploring.

History Concentrations

Major Annual Graduates
General History 660
History and Philosophy of Science and Technology 25
Other History 23
Public/Applied History 8
American History (United States) 5

Notes and References

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