a master's degree in music is more popular than many other degrees. In fact, it ranks #36 out of 343 on popularity of all such degrees in the nation. This means you won't have too much trouble finding schools that offer the degree.
In 2025, College Factual analyzed 5 schools in order to identify the top ones for its Best Music Master's Degree Schools in Massachusetts ranking. Combined, these schools handed out 541 master's degrees in music to qualified students.
Earn the music business degree that fits into the business world – and partners Southern New Hampshire University with world-renowned Berklee College of Music.
Choosing a Great Music School for Your Master's Degree
Your choice of music for getting your master's degree school matters. This section explores some of the factors we include in our ranking and how much they vary depending on the school you select. When choosing a school we recommend considering some of the following factors:
Quality Overall Is Important
The overall quality of a master's degree school is important to ensure a good education, not just how well they do in a particular major. To account for this we consider a school's overall Best Colleges for a Master's Degree ranking which itself looks at a host of different factors like degree completion, educational resources, student body caliber and post-graduation earnings for the school as a whole.
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 master's degree from the school. This is because one of the main reasons people pursue their master's degree is to enable themselves to find better-paying positions.
Other Factors We Consider
The metrics below are just some of the other metrics that we use to determine our rankings.
Major Focus - How much a school focuses on music students vs. other majors.
Major Demand - How many other music students want to attend this school to pursue a master's degree.
Educational Resources - How many resources are allocated to students. These resources may include educational expenditures per student, number of students per instructor, and graduation rate among other things.
Student Debt - How easy is it for music to pay back their student loans after receiving their master's degree.
Accreditation - Whether a school is regionally accredited and/or accredited by a recognized music related body.
Our full ranking methodology documents in more detail how we consider these factors to identify the best schools for music students working on their master's degree.
Since picking the right college can be one of the most important decisions of your life, we've developed the Best Music Master's Degree Schools in Massachusetts ranking, along with many other major-related rankings, to help you make that decision.
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Earn the music business degree that fits into the business world – and partners Southern New Hampshire University with world-renowned Berklee College of Music.
It is difficult to beat Boston University if you want to pursue a master's degree in music. Located in the city of Boston, Boston U is a private not-for-profit university with a very large student population.More information about a master’s in music from Boston University
Berklee College of Music is one of the best schools in the United States for getting a master's degree in music. Berklee College of Music is a medium-sized private not-for-profit college located in the city of Boston.
Students who graduate with their master's from the music program report average early career income of $25,163.
The New England Conservatory of Music is one of the best schools in the United States for getting a master's degree in music. Located in the city of Boston, The New England Conservatory of Music is a private not-for-profit school with a small student population.
Master's graduates who receive their degree from the music program earn an average of $24,499 for their early career.
Any student who is interested in a master's degree in music needs to look into University of Massachusetts Amherst. UMass Amherst is a very large public university located in the city of Amherst.
Master's recipients from the music major at University of Massachusetts Amherst make $2,741 above the standard college graduate in this field shortly after graduation.
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.