2025 Best Cognitive Science Master's Degree Schools

You'll be studying one of the lesser sought-after majors if you pursue a Master's Degree in cognitive science. It is ranked #258 out of 343 major degree programs in terms of popularity. As such, your educational options may be more limited than if you were in a more popular field.

College Factual reviewed 2 schools in the United States to determine which ones were the best for master's degree seekers in the field of cognitive science. Combined, these schools handed out 66 master's degrees in cognitive science to qualified students.

What's on this page: * Our Methodology

• Best Master’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 master's degree from the school. This is because one of the main reasons people pursue their master's degree is to enable themselves to find better-paying positions.

Other Factors We Consider

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

• Major Focus - How many resources a school devotes to cognitive science students as compared to other majors.
• Major Demand - The number of cognitive science students who choose to seek a master's degree at the school.
• 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 cognitive science students go into to obtain their master'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 cognitive science related body.

Our complete ranking methodology documents in more detail how we consider these factors to identify the best schools for cognitive science students working on their master'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 Cognitive Science Master's Degree Schools list to help you make the college decision.

Best Schools for Master’s Students to Study Cognitive Science in the United States

Explore the top ranked colleges and universities for cognitive science students seeking a a master's degree.

Top Schools for a Master's in Cognitive Science

1

Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Cambridge, MA

13 Annual Graduates

Massachusetts Institute of Technology is a wonderful decision for students pursuing a master's degree in cognitive science. MIT is a fairly large private not-for-profit school located in the midsize city of Cambridge.More information about a master’s in cognitive science from Massachusetts Institute of Technology

2

Johns Hopkins University
Baltimore, MD

12 Annual Graduates

Johns Hopkins University is one of the best schools in the United States for getting a master's degree in cognitive science. Located in the city of Baltimore, Johns Hopkins is a private not-for-profit university with a very large student population.More information about a master’s in cognitive science from Johns Hopkins University

Cognitive Science by Region

View the Best Cognitive Science Master's Degree Schools for a specific region near you.

Region
Southeast
New England
Rocky Mountains
Plains States
Middle Atlantic
Far Western US
Southwest
Other U.S. Territories
Great Lakes

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Cognitive Science Related Rankings by Major

One of 51 majors within the Multi / Interdisciplinary Studies area of study, Cognitive Science has other similar majors worth exploring.

Cognitive Science Focus Areas

Major	Annual Graduates
Cognitive Science	66

Majors Similar to Cognitive Science

Related Major	Annual Graduates
Data Analytics	4,609
Data Science	2,326
Sustainability Science	1,914
Other Multi/Interdisciplinary Studies	1,860
Nutrition Science	1,636
Behavioral Science	1,629
Computational Science	1,477
Human Computer Interaction	1,048
International Studies	938
Museum Studies	562

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 Allan Ajifo. More about our data sources and methodologies.