Museum Studies isn't the most popular master's program in the world, but it's not the least popular either. To be more precise it ranks #151 in popularity out of 343 majors in the country. As such, the degree program isn't offered at every college in the United States, but there are schools that do have a program in the field that are top-notch when it comes to quality.
For its 2025 ranking, College Factual looked at 2 schools in the New England Region to determine which ones were the best for museum studies students pursuing a master's degree. When you put them all together, these colleges and universities awarded 49 master's degrees in museum studies during the 2022-2023 academic year.
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
In addition to the above, you should consider some of the following factors:
Major Focus - How much a school focuses on museum studies students vs. other majors.
Major Demand - How many other museum studies students want to attend this school to pursue a master's degree.
Educational Resources - The amount of money and other resources allocated to students while they are pursuing their degree. These resources include such things as number of students per instructor and education expenditures per student.
Student Debt - How easy is it for museum studies to pay back their student loans after receiving their master's degree.
Accreditation - Whether a school is regionally accredited and/or accredited by a recognized museum studies related body.
Our full ranking methodology documents in more detail how we consider these factors to identify the best colleges for museum studies students working on their master's degree.
The museum studies 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 the Best Museum Studies Master's Degree Schools in the New England Region.
Best Schools for Master’s Students to Study Museum Studies in the New England Region
Explore the top ranked colleges and universities for museum studies students seeking a a master's degree.
Top New England Region Schools for a Master's in Museum Studies
It's difficult to beat Harvard University if you wish to pursue a master's degree in museum studies. Harvard is a fairly large private not-for-profit university located in the city of Cambridge.
Master's recipients from the museum studies degree program at Harvard University make $6,679 above the average college graduate in this field when they enter the workforce.
It is difficult to beat Tufts University if you want to pursue a master's degree in museum studies. Tufts is a fairly large private not-for-profit university located in the large suburb of Medford.
Master's graduates who receive their degree from the museum studies program make around $31,434 in their early career salary.
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.
