2025 Best Public Policy Doctor's Degree Schools in Massachusetts

Public Policy is above average in terms of popularity with it being the #77 most popular doctor's degree program in the country. As a result, there are many college that offer the degree, making your choice of school a hard one.

College Factual looked at 2 colleges and universities when compiling its 2025 Best Public Policy Doctor's Degree Schools in Massachusetts ranking. When you put them all together, these colleges and universities awarded 34 doctor's degrees in public policy during the 2022-2023 academic year.

Jump to one of the following sections: * Our Methodology

• Best Doctor’s Degree Schools List

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 many resources a school devotes to public policy students as compared to other majors.
• Major Demand - The number of public policy 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 easy is it for public policy to pay back their student loans after receiving their doctor's degree.
• Accreditation - Whether a school is regionally accredited and/or accredited by a recognized public policy related body.

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

More Ways to Rank Public Policy Schools

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 Public Policy Doctor's Degree Schools in Massachusetts list to help you make the college decision.

Best Schools for Doctorate Students to Study Public Policy in Massachusetts

The following list ranks the best colleges and universities for pursuing a doctor's degree in public policy.

Top Massachusetts Schools for a Doctorate in Public Policy

1

Brandeis University
Waltham, MA

13 Annual Graduates

Brandeis University is a good decision for individuals pursuing a doctor's degree in public policy. Located in the city of Waltham, Brandeis is a private not-for-profit university with a medium-sized student population.More information about a doctorate in public policy from Brandeis University

2

University of Massachusetts - Boston
Boston, MA

11 Annual Graduates

University of Massachusetts - Boston is a great option for students pursuing a doctor's degree in public policy. UMass Boston is a fairly large public university located in the city of Boston.More information about a doctorate in public policy from University of Massachusetts - Boston

Best Public Policy Colleges in the New England Region

Explore all the Best Public Policy Schools in the New England Area or other specific states within that region.

State	Colleges	Degrees Awarded
Rhode Island	78	0
Maine	46	5

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Rankings in Majors Related to Public Policy

One of 4 majors within the Public Administration & Social Service area of study, Public Policy has other similar majors worth exploring.

Public Policy Focus Areas

Major	Annual Graduates
General Public Policy Analysis	19
Education Policy Analysis	6
International Policy Analysis	5
Other Public Policy Analysis	4

Most Popular Majors Related to Public Policy

Related Major	Annual Graduates
Other Public Administration	7

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 The Official CTBTO Photostream. More about our data sources and methodologies.