Ranked #22 in popularity, music is one of the most sought-after doctor's degree programs in the nation. This makes choosing the right school a hard decision.
For its 2025 ranking, College Factual looked at 2 schools in the New England Region to determine which ones were the best for music students pursuing a doctor's degree. When you put them all together, these colleges and universities awarded 72 doctor's degrees in music during the 2022-2023 academic year.
Earn the music business degree that fits into the business world – and partners Southern New Hampshire University with world-renowned Berklee College of Music.
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
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 - The number of music students who choose to seek a doctor's degree at the school.
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 doctor'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 colleges for music students working on their doctor's degree.
Since picking the right college can be one of the most important decisions of your life, we've developed the Best Music Doctor's Degree Schools in the New England Region 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.
Boston University is one of the best schools in the United States for getting a doctor's degree in music. Located in the large city of Boston, Boston U is a private not-for-profit university with a fairly large student population.
Students who graduate with their doctorate from the music program report average early career earnings of $38,029.
Every student who is interested in a doctor's degree in music has to check out University of Hartford. Located in the city of West Hartford, UHart is a private not-for-profit university with a medium-sized student population.More information about a doctorate in music from University of Hartford
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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.
