2025 Best Social Sciences Doctor's Degree Schools in the Plains States Region

Social Sciences is above average in terms of popularity with it being the #10 most popular doctor's degree program in the country. This means you won't have too much trouble finding schools that offer the degree.

For its 2025 ranking, College Factual looked at 3 schools in the Plains States Region to determine which ones were the best for social sciences students pursuing a doctor's degree. When you put them all together, these colleges and universities awarded 222 doctor's degrees in social sciences during the 2022-2023 academic year.

Jump to one of the following sections: * Our Methodology

• Best Doctor’s Degree Schools List

Choosing a Great Social Sciences School for Your Doctor's Degree

The social sciences doctor's degree program you select can have a big impact on your future. Important measures of a quality social sciences program can vary widely even among the top schools. When choosing a school we recommend considering some of the following factors:

Quality Overall Is Important

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.

Average Earnings

To determine the overall quality of a graduate school, one factor we look at is the average early-career salary of those receiving their doctor's degree from the school. After all, your doctor's degree won't mean much if it doesn't help you find a job that will help you earn a living.

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 social sciences students as compared to other majors.
• Major Demand - How many other social sciences students want to attend this school to pursue a doctor'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 much debt social sciences 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 social sciences related body.

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

One Size Does Not Fit All

Since picking the right college can be one of the most important decisions of your life, we've developed the Best Social Sciences Doctor's Degree Schools in the Plains States Region ranking, along with many other major-related rankings, to help you make that decision.

Best Schools for Doctorate Students to Study Social Sciences in the Plains States Region

Explore the top ranked colleges and universities for social sciences students seeking a a doctor's degree.

Top Plains States Region Schools for a Doctorate in Social Sciences

1

University of Minnesota - Twin Cities
Minneapolis, MN

Doctor's Degree Highest Degree Type

45 Annual Graduates

It is hard to beat University of Minnesota - Twin Cities if you wish to pursue a doctor's degree in social sciences. Located in the large city of Minneapolis, UMN Twin Cities is a public university with a fairly large student population.More information about a doctorate in social sciences from University of Minnesota - Twin Cities

2

Washington University in St Louis
Saint Louis, MO

Doctor's Degree Highest Degree Type

23 Annual Graduates

It's difficult to beat Washington University in St Louis if you want to pursue a doctor's degree in social sciences. Located in the suburb of Saint Louis, WUSTL is a private not-for-profit university with a large student population.More information about a doctorate in social sciences from Washington University in St Louis

3

Iowa State University
Ames, IA

Doctor's Degree Highest Degree Type

13 Annual Graduates

Iowa State University is one of the best schools in the United States for getting a doctor's degree in social sciences. Located in the small city of Ames, Iowa State is a public university with a fairly large student population.More information about a doctorate in social sciences from Iowa State University

Best Social Sciences Colleges by State

Explore the best social sciences colleges for a specific state in the Plains States Region .

State	Colleges	Degrees Awarded
Minnesota	27	120
Missouri	27	44
Kansas	26	26
Iowa	26	25
Nebraska	24	6
South Dakota	15	8

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Social Sciences Majors to Study

Major	Annual Graduates
Economics	74
Other Social Sciences	42
Political Science & Government	36
Sociology	34
Anthropology	20
Geography & Cartography	8
General Social Sciences	2
Archeology	1

Majors Similar to Social Sciences

Related Major	Annual Graduates
Theology & Religious Vocations	292
English Language & Literature	71
Family, Consumer & Human Sciences	58
Communication & Journalism	52
Foreign Languages & Linguistics	37
History	32
Philosophy & Religious Studies	22
Area, Ethnic, Culture, & Gender Studies	20

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 AndrГ© KГјnzelmann. More about our data sources and methodologies.