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2024 Best Music Doctor's Degree Schools

87 Colleges in the United States
1,327 Doctor's Degrees
$38,302 Avg Early-Career Salary
Music is of the hottest doctor's degree programs in the United States, coming in as the #22 most popular major in the country. So, there are lots of possibilities to explore when you're trying to determine where you want to get your degree.

For its 2024 ranking, College Factual looked at 87 schools in the United States to determine which ones were the best for music students pursuing a doctor's degree. Combined, these schools handed out 1,327 doctor's degrees in music to qualified students.

What's on this page: * Our Methodology

Choosing a Great Music School for Your Doctor's Degree

Best Music Doctor's Degree Schools The music doctor's degree program you select can have a big impact on your future. This section explores some of the factors we include in our ranking and how much they vary depending on the school you select. Below we explain some of the most important factors to consider before making your choice:

Overall Quality Is a Must

A school that excels in educating for a particular major and degree level must be a great school overall as well. To take this into account we consider a college's overall Best Colleges for a Doctor's Degree ranking which itself looks at a host of various factors like degree completion, educational resources, student body caliber and post-graduation earnings for the school as a whole.

Average Early-Career Salaries

Average early-career salary of those graduating with their doctor's degree is one indicator we use in our analysis to find the schools that offer the highest-quality education. That is, everyone wants their doctor's degree to be worth something, and salaries are one measure of determining that.

Other Factors We Consider

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

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

More Ways to Rank Music Schools

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

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 Music Doctor's Degree Schools list to help you make the college decision.

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

Below you'll see a list of the best colleges and universities for pursuing a doctor's degree in music. Only those schools that rank in the top 15% of all the schools we analyze get awarded with a place on this list.

13 Top Schools for a Doctorate in Music

1
17 Annual Graduates

Northwestern University is a great decision for students interested in a doctor's degree in music. Located in the small city of Evanston, Northwestern is a private not-for-profit university with a very large student population.More information about a doctorate in music from Northwestern University

2
Michigan State crest
Michigan State University
East Lansing, MI

Any student pursuing a degree in a doctor's degree in music has to take a look at Michigan State University. Michigan State is a fairly large public university located in the small city of East Lansing.

Music doctor's degree recipients from Michigan State University receive an earnings boost of around $15,790 over the typical earnings of music majors.

More information about a doctorate in music from Michigan State University

3

It's difficult to beat University of Southern California if you wish to pursue a doctor's degree in music. Located in the city of Los Angeles, USC is a private not-for-profit university with a very large student population.

After graduation, music doctorate recipients usually earn around $36,397 in their early careers.

More information about a doctorate in music from University of Southern California

4
Duke crest
Duke University
Durham, NC
4 Annual Graduates

Any student pursuing a degree in a doctor's degree in music has to look into Duke University. Duke is a large private not-for-profit university located in the large city of Durham.More information about a doctorate in music from Duke University

5

UT Austin is a fairly large public university located in the large city of Austin.

Music doctor's degree recipients from The University of Texas at Austin get an earnings boost of about $6,891 over the average earnings of music majors.

More information about a doctorate in music from The University of Texas at Austin

6

University of Rochester is a fairly large private not-for-profit university located in the city of Rochester.

Doctorate recipients from the music program at University of Rochester earn $5,595 above the average college graduate in this field when they enter the workforce.

More information about a doctorate in music from University of Rochester

7
18 Annual Graduates

Located in the midsize city of Ann Arbor, U-M is a public university with a fairly large student population.More information about a doctorate in music from University of Michigan - Ann Arbor

8
Rice crest
Rice University
Houston, TX
10 Annual Graduates

Located in the large city of Houston, Rice is a private not-for-profit university with a medium-sized student population.More information about a doctorate in music from Rice University

9
Yale crest
Yale University
New Haven, CT
9 Annual Graduates

Yale is a fairly large private not-for-profit university located in the city of New Haven.More information about a doctorate in music from Yale University

10

Located in the city of Bloomington, IU Bloomington is a public university with a very large student population.

Doctorate students who receive their degree from the music program earn about $40,016 in the first couple years of their career.

More information about a doctorate in music from Indiana University - Bloomington

11

UCLA is a very large public university located in the city of Los Angeles.

Doctorate recipients from the music degree program at University of California - Los Angeles get $6,871 above the average college graduate in this field when they enter the workforce.

More information about a doctorate in music from University of California - Los Angeles

12

UW - Madison is a fairly large public university located in the large city of Madison.

Music doctor's degree recipients from University of Wisconsin - Madison get an earnings boost of around $2,130 over the average income of music graduates.

More information about a doctorate in music from University of Wisconsin - Madison

13
14 Annual Graduates

Columbia is a fairly large private not-for-profit university located in the city of New York.More information about a doctorate in music from Columbia University in the City of New York

Honorable Mentions

Here are some additional great schools for Music students that almost earned our Best Music Doctor's Degree Schools award.

Rank College Location
14 University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Champaign, IL
15 University of Pennsylvania Philadelphia, PA
16 Texas Christian University Fort Worth, TX
16 New York University New York, NY
17 University of Miami Coral Gables, FL
18 University of California - Berkeley Berkeley, CA
19 Ohio State University - Main Campus Columbus, OH
20 Brandeis University Waltham, MA
21 Johns Hopkins University Baltimore, MD

Music by Region

View the Best Music Doctor'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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Music is one of 10 different types of Visual & Performing Arts programs to choose from.

Music Concentrations

Major Annual Graduates
General Music 538
Music Performance 479
Music Theory & Composition 65
Keyboard Instruments 44
Musicology & Ethnomusicology 41
Other Music 39
Conducting 33
Music Pedagogy 23
Stringed Instruments 19
Voice Performance 17

Related Major Annual Graduates
Fine & Studio Arts 160
Drama & Theater Arts 69
Film, Video & Photographic Arts 46
General Visual & Performing Arts 32
Other Visual Art 16
Dance 8
Arts & Media Management 7
Design & Applied Arts 4

Notes and References

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