2025 Best Public Policy Doctor's Degree Schools

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.

For its 2025 ranking, College Factual looked at 9 schools in the United States to determine which ones were the best for public policy students pursuing a doctor's degree. Combined, these schools handed out 280 doctor's degrees in public policy to qualified students.

Jump to one of the following sections: * Our Methodology

• Best Doctor’s Degree Schools List

Choosing a Great Public Policy School for Your Doctor's Degree

The public policy doctor's degree program you select can have a big impact on your future. Important measures of a quality public policy 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 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 colleges for public policy students working on their doctor's degree.

More Ways to Rank Public Policy Schools

Since picking the right college can be one of the most important decisions of your life, we've developed the Best Public Policy 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 Public Policy in the United States

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

Top Schools for a Doctorate in Public Policy

1

University of California - Berkeley
Berkeley, CA

11 Annual Graduates

University of California - Berkeley is one of the best schools in the country for getting a doctor's degree in public policy. UC Berkeley is a very large public university located in the medium-sized city of Berkeley.More information about a doctorate in public policy from University of California - Berkeley

2

Brandeis University
Waltham, MA

13 Annual Graduates

It's hard to beat Brandeis University if you want to pursue a doctor's degree in public policy. Located in the small 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

3

George Mason University
Fairfax, VA

10 Annual Graduates

George Mason University is one of the best schools in the country for getting a doctor's degree in public policy. GMU is a very large public university located in the large suburb of Fairfax.More information about a doctorate in public policy from George Mason University

4

The University of Texas at Austin
Austin, TX

10 Annual Graduates

The University of Texas at Austin is one of the best schools in the United States for getting a doctor's degree in public policy. Located in the large city of Austin, UT Austin is a public university with a fairly large student population.More information about a doctorate in public policy from The University of Texas at Austin

5

Arizona State University - Tempe
Tempe, AZ

10 Annual Graduates

ASU - Tempe is a fairly large public university located in the midsize city of Tempe.More information about a doctorate in public policy from Arizona State University - Tempe

6

University of Nevada - Las Vegas
Las Vegas, NV

17 Annual Graduates

UNLV is a fairly large public university located in the midsize city of Las Vegas.More information about a doctorate in public policy from University of Nevada - Las Vegas

7

University of Maryland - Baltimore County
Baltimore, MD

12 Annual Graduates

Located in the suburb of Baltimore, UMBC is a public university with a large student population.More information about a doctorate in public policy from University of Maryland - Baltimore County

8

University of Massachusetts - Boston
Boston, MA

11 Annual Graduates

UMass Boston is a large public university located in the large city of Boston.More information about a doctorate in public policy from University of Massachusetts - Boston

9

Southern University and A & M College
Baton Rouge, LA

30 Annual Graduates

Southern University and A & M College is a moderately-sized public university located in the city of Baton Rouge.More information about a doctorate in public policy from Southern University and A & M College

Public Policy by Region

View the Best Public Policy 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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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	227
Education Policy Analysis	17
Health Policy Analysis	17
Other Public Policy Analysis	14
International Policy Analysis	5

Most Popular Majors Related to Public Policy

Related Major	Annual Graduates
Public Administration	329
Human Services	97
Community Organization & Advocacy	32
Other Public Administration	28

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.