Ranked #11 in popularity, chemistry is one of the most sought-after doctor's degree programs in the nation. This means there are lots of options to choose from when you decide to get your degree.
College Factual looked at 93 colleges and universities when compiling its 2025 Best Chemistry Doctor's Degree Schools ranking. Combined, these schools handed out 3,210 doctor's degrees in chemistry to qualified students.
Choosing a Great Chemistry School for Your Doctor's Degree
Your choice of chemistry for getting your doctor's degree school matters. Important measures of a quality chemistry 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:
Major Focus - How much a school focuses on chemistry students vs. other majors.
Major Demand - The number of chemistry students who choose to seek a doctor's degree at the school.
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 much debt chemistry 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 chemistry related body.
Our full ranking methodology documents in more detail how we consider these factors to identify the best colleges for chemistry students working on their doctor's degree.
Since picking the right college can be one of the most important decisions of your life, we've developed the Best Chemistry Doctor's Degree Schools ranking, along with many other major-related rankings, to help you make that decision.
Best Schools for Doctorate Students to Study Chemistry in the United States
Explore the top ranked colleges and universities for chemistry students seeking a a doctor's degree. Only those schools that rank in the top 20% of all the schools we analyze get awarded with a place on this list.
It's difficult to beat Massachusetts Institute of Technology if you wish to pursue a doctor's degree in chemistry. Located in the midsize city of Cambridge, MIT is a private not-for-profit school with a large student population.
Those chemistry students who get their doctor's degree from Massachusetts Institute of Technology earn $11,506 more than the standard chemistry student.
University of California - Berkeley is a wonderful decision for students pursuing a doctor's degree in chemistry. UC Berkeley is a very large public university located in the medium-sized city of Berkeley.
Those chemistry students who get their doctor's degree from University of California - Berkeley receive $23,459 more than the standard chemistry graduate.
University of Michigan - Ann Arbor is a wonderful option for students interested in a doctor's degree in chemistry. U-M is a very large public university located in the midsize city of Ann Arbor.
Those chemistry students who get their doctor's degree from University of Michigan - Ann Arbor make $25,463 more than the typical chemistry grad.
Located in the large city of Madison, UW - Madison is a public university with a very large student population.
Doctorate recipients from the chemistry degree program at University of Wisconsin - Madison earn $24,145 above the typical college grad with the same degree shortly after graduation.
Ohio State is a very large public university located in the city of Columbus.
Doctorate recipients from the chemistry program at Ohio State University - Main Campus earn $8,779 above the typical college grad in this field shortly after graduation.
Located in the city of Champaign, UIUC is a public university with a fairly large student population.
Doctorate recipients from the chemistry major at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign make $16,547 above the average college graduate with the same degree when they enter the workforce.
UCSD is a very large public university located in the city of La Jolla.
Chemistry doctor's degree recipients from University of California - San Diego get an earnings boost of about $8,453 above the average income of chemistry majors.
Rest of the Top Best Chemistry Doctor's Degree Schools
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 Chemistry Doctor's Degree Schools award.
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.
Your choice of chemistry for getting your doctor's degree school matters. Important measures of a quality chemistry program can vary widely even among the top schools. To make it into this list, a school must excel in the following areas.
