When pursuing a grad degree in today's world, there are many different options to choose from. One of our goals at College Factual is to give you as much information as we can - such as our Top New England Region Colleges for a Master's ranking - to help you make that decision.
After analyzing 95 grad schools in the New England Region , we came up with our list of those that offered the best master's degree programs. Instead of depending on subjective information to rank the best grad schools, we focus on objective factors in our analysis. More specifically, the following explains what we consider and why.
Early-Career Salaries Are Higher
One measure we use to determine the quality of a school is to look at the average salary of master's graduates during the early years of their career. A master's degree holder from a school in the New England Region makes an average starting salary of $61,899, but the students who attended schools in the top 24 of our list make an average of $68,228.
Starting Salary ( 48249 to 82985 )
Average Student Debt
Graduate students may also take on a lot of debt while working on their master's so we factor that into our rankings as well.
The average debt load at a particular school may not be bad, but it's an important thing to consider in conjunction with post-graduation earnings.
Other Ranking Factors in Our Methodology
In addition to average post-graduation earnings and average student debt loads, we also look at a host of other factors to determining our Best Master's Degree Schools ranking.
Several other factors - such as how much the school spends on educational resources, the demand of the school, the availability of online learning options, and the student body caliber - go into our rankings.
If you'd rather work on your master's degree in a specific area of the country, you might be interested in our rankings by place. In addition, we've put together a number of other college rankings that may help you in your search.
Our 2024 rankings named Massachusetts Institute of Technology the best grad school in the New England Region in terms of overall quality for students working on their master’s degree. Massachusetts Institute of Technology is a fairly large private not-for-profit school located in Cambridge, Massachusetts that handed out 1,803 master’s degrees in 2020-2021.
Those who receive a master’s degree from MIT go into careers with an average salary of $107,308 during the early years of their career.
A rank of #2 on our Best Master’s Degree in the New England Region list means Harvard University is a great place for students working on their degree. This large private not-for-profit school is located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and it awarded 4,670 master’s degrees in 2020-2021.
The average salary of a graduate with a master’s degree from Harvard is $76,001 during the early years of their career.
A rank of #3 on our Best Master’s Degree in the New England Region list means Yale University is a great place for students working on their degree. Yale University is a fairly large private not-for-profit school located in New Haven, Connecticut that handed out 2,203 master’s degrees in 2020-2021.
Those who receive a master’s degree from Yale go into careers with an average salary of $66,650 during the early years of their career.
You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend Brown University. It ranked #4 on our 2024 Best Master’s Degree Schools in the New England Region list. Brown is a fairly large private not-for-profit school situated in Providence, Rhode Island. It awarded 752 master’s degrees in 2020-2021.
The average salary of a graduate with a master’s degree from Brown is $54,884 during the early years of their career.
Out of the 95 master’s degree schools in the New England Region that were part of this year’s ranking, Bentley University landed the #5 spot on the list. Located in Waltham, Massachusetts, the medium-sized private not-for-profit school awarded 499 diplomas to qualifed master’s degree students in 2020-2021.
The average salary of a graduate with a master’s degree from Bentley is $89,340 during the early years of their career.
Tufts University did quite well in the 2024 Best Master’s Degree Schools in the New England Region ranking, coming in at #6. Medford, Massachusetts is the setting for this fairly large institution of higher learning. The private not-for-profit school handed out master’s degrees to 1,459 students in 2020-2021.
Upon graduation, master’s degree recipients go on to jobs making an average salary of $64,585 during the early years of their career.
With a ranking of #7, Dartmouth College did quite well on the 2024 Best Master’s Degree Schools in the New England Region list. This medium-sized private not-for-profit school is located in Hanover, New Hampshire, and it awarded 662 master’s degrees in 2020-2021.
During the early years of their career, master’s degree graduates from Dartmouth make an average of $103,420 a year.
Boston University landed the #8 spot on the 2024 Best Master’s Degree Schools in the New England Region ranking. Boston U is a large private not-for-profit school situated in Boston, Massachusetts. It awarded 5,175 master’s degrees in 2020-2021.
Upon graduation, master’s degree recipients go on to jobs making an average salary of $61,807 during the early years of their career.
Middlebury College landed the #9 spot on the 2024 Best Master’s Degree Schools in the New England Region ranking. Middlebury is a small private not-for-profit school situated in Middlebury, Vermont. It awarded 105 master’s degrees in 2020-2021.
Graduates with a master’s degree from Middlebury make an average of $51,816 per year during the early years of their career.
Worcester Polytechnic Institute did quite well in the 2024 Best Master’s Degree Schools in the New England Region ranking, coming in at #10. WPI is a private not-for-profit institution located in Worcester, Massachusetts. The school has a medium-sized population, and it awarded 742 master’s degrees in 2020-2021.
During the early years of their career, master’s degree graduates from WPI make an average of $96,013 a year.
With a ranking of #11, Simmons University did quite well on the 2024 Best Master’s Degree Schools in the New England Region list. Simmons is a medium-sized private not-for-profit school situated in Boston, Massachusetts. It awarded 1,773 master’s degrees in 2020-2021.
Those who receive a master’s degree from Simmons go into careers with an average salary of $60,452 during the early years of their career.
Northeastern University did quite well in the 2024 Best Master’s Degree Schools in the New England Region ranking, coming in at #12. Northeastern is located in Boston, Massachusetts and has a large student population. In 2020-2021, this school awarded 3,193 master’s degrees to qualified graduate students.
Those who receive a master’s degree from Northeastern go into careers with an average salary of $69,661 during the early years of their career.
University of Connecticut came in at #13 in this year’s edition of the Best Master’s Degree Schools in the New England Region ranking. Located in Storrs, Connecticut, the large public school handed out 1,968 master’s degrees in 2020-2021.
Graduates with a master’s degree from UCONN make an average of $67,950 per year during the early years of their career.
With a ranking of #14, Bennington College did quite well on the 2024 Best Master’s Degree Schools in the New England Region list. Bennington College is a small private not-for-profit school located in Bennington, Vermont that handed out 43 master’s degrees in 2020-2021.
Upon graduation, master’s degree recipients go on to jobs making an average salary of $41,354 during the early years of their career.
Williams College landed the #15 spot on the 2024 Best Master’s Degree Schools in the New England Region ranking. Williams is a small private not-for-profit school situated in Williamstown, Massachusetts. It awarded 14 master’s degrees in 2020-2021.
With a ranking of #16, University of Massachusetts Amherst did quite well on the 2024 Best Master’s Degree Schools in the New England Region list. Amherst, Massachusetts is the setting for this large institution of higher learning. The public school handed out master’s degrees to 1,697 students in 2020-2021.
Upon graduation, master’s degree recipients go on to jobs making an average salary of $61,564 during the early years of their career.
Boston College came in at #17 in this year’s edition of the Best Master’s Degree Schools in the New England Region ranking. Boston College is a private not-for-profit institution located in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts. The school has a fairly large population, and it awarded 1,437 master’s degrees in 2020-2021.
The average salary of a graduate with a master’s degree from Boston College is $58,946 during the early years of their career.
Wentworth Institute of Technology landed the #18 spot on the 2024 Best Master’s Degree Schools in the New England Region ranking. Wentworth Institute of Technology is a small private not-for-profit school located in Boston, Massachusetts that handed out 99 master’s degrees in 2020-2021.
The average salary of a graduate with a master’s degree from WIT is $79,268 during the early years of their career.
Smith College came in at #19 in this year’s edition of the Best Master’s Degree Schools in the New England Region ranking. Smith is a small private not-for-profit school situated in Northampton, Massachusetts. It awarded 143 master’s degrees in 2020-2021.
Graduates with a master’s degree from Smith make an average of $45,055 per year during the early years of their career.
Providence College came in at #20 in this year’s edition of the Best Master’s Degree Schools in the New England Region ranking. Providence is located in Providence, Rhode Island and has a small student population. In 2020-2021, this school awarded 234 master’s degrees to qualified graduate students.
The average salary of a graduate with a master’s degree from Providence is $61,094 during the early years of their career.
Bryant University did quite well in the 2024 Best Master’s Degree Schools in the New England Region ranking, coming in at #21. Bryant University is a small private not-for-profit school located in Smithfield, Rhode Island that handed out 226 master’s degrees in 2020-2021.
Those who receive a master’s degree from Bryant go into careers with an average salary of $78,549 during the early years of their career.
Fairfield University did quite well in the 2024 Best Master’s Degree Schools in the New England Region ranking, coming in at #22. Located in Fairfield, Connecticut, the medium-sized private not-for-profit school awarded 391 diplomas to qualifed master’s degree students in 2020-2021.
During the early years of their career, master’s degree graduates from Fairfield U make an average of $66,722 a year.
Brandeis University ranked #23 on this year’s Best Master’s Degree Schools in the New England Region list. This medium-sized private not-for-profit school is located in Waltham, Massachusetts, and it awarded 859 master’s degrees in 2020-2021.
Those who receive a master’s degree from Brandeis go into careers with an average salary of $58,984 during the early years of their career.
With a ranking of #24, Emerson College did quite well on the 2024 Best Master’s Degree Schools in the New England Region list. Emerson is located in Boston, Massachusetts and has a medium-sized student population. In 2020-2021, this school awarded 458 master’s degrees to qualified graduate students.
The average salary of a graduate with a master’s degree from Emerson is $44,571 during the early years of their career.
Suffolk University did quite well in the 2024 Best Master’s Degree Schools in the New England Region ranking, coming in at #25. This medium-sized private not-for-profit school is located in Boston, Massachusetts, and it awarded 584 master’s degrees in 2020-2021.
During the early years of their career, master’s degree graduates from Suffolk make an average of $71,487 a year.
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 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).
Information about the national average student loan default rate is from the U.S. Department of Education and refers to data about the 2016 borrower cohort tracking period for which the cohort default rate (CDR) was 10.1%.
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