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Best Value Social Sciences Doctor's Degree Schools in the Great Lakes Region

2023 Best Value Social Sciences Doctor's Degree Schools in the Great Lakes Region

Identifying Quality Schools at More Affordable Prices

20 Colleges
$35,886 Avg Tuition & Fees*
$62,624 Avg Salary

Finding the Best Social Sciences Doctor's Degree School for You

With 205,984 degrees and certificates handed out in 2020-2021, social sciences is the #6 most popular major in the United States.

With all the programs available today, it can be tough to choose which one is the best for you. With more and more schools offering online options, you could even register for a great program on the other side of the country. On top of that, there are a considerable number of trade schools that offer fast-track entry to many fields.

Along with in-depth profiles of schools and the programs they offer, Course Advisor has created the Best Value Social Sciences Doctor's Degree Schools in the Great Lakes Region to help you in your search for the best school for you. This report analyzed 20 schools in the Great Lakes Region to see which ones offered the best value doctor's degree programs for social sciences students. The goal was to highlight schools with more affordable prices than others offering similar quality experiences.

Our ranking of value is based on the quality of a program as defined in our per sticker price dollar. More specifically, we discount our quality score by the published tuition and fees charged by a school. This gives the cost per unit of quality for each college. The value is determined by how much quality your dollar buys.

In our regional and nationwide rankings, out-of-state tution and fees are used in our calculations. Average in-state tuition and fees are used for our statewide rankings.

Top 10 Best Social Sciences Doctor's Degree Schools

Our analysis found Northern Illinois University to be the best value school for social sciences students who want to pursue a doctor’s degree in the Great Lakes Region . NIU is a fairly large public school located in the suburb of Dekalb.

The average tuition and fees for an out-of-state graduate students at NIU are $11,390 a year.

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Out of the 20 schools in the Great Lakes Region that were part of this year’s ranking, University of Wisconsin - Madison landed the # 2 spot on the list. Located in the city of Madison, UW - Madison is a public college with a very large student population.

Out-of-state tuition fees for graduate students at UW - Madison are $25,501 per year.

UW - Madison excels when it comes to quality. It’s ranked in the top 15% of all schools on our Best Social Sciences Doctor’s Degree Schools in the Great Lakes Region list.

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You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around you if you attend Loyola University Chicago. The school came in at #3 on this year’s Best Value Social Sciences Doctor’s Degree Schools in the Great Lakes Region list. Located in the large city of Chicago, Loyola Chicago is a private not-for-profit school with a large student population.

The average tuition and fees for an out-of-state graduate students at Loyola Chicago are $19,894 a year.

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#4

Purdue University - Main Campus

West Lafayette, IN

A rank of #4 on this year’s list means Purdue University - Main Campus is a great value for social sciences students working on their doctor’s degree. Located in the city of West Lafayette, Purdue is a public college with a fairly large student population.

Out-of-state tuition fees for graduate students at Purdue are $28,794 per year.

On top of its placing in our value ranking, Purdue also did well on our Best Social Sciences Doctor’s Degree Schools in the Great Lakes Region list. It’s in the top 10% of all schools reviewed in this analysis.

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A rank of #5 on this year’s list means University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign is a great value for social sciences students working on their doctor’s degree. Located in the small city of Champaign, UIUC is a public college with a fairly large student population.

Out-of-state tuition fees for graduate students at UIUC are $30,862 per year.

As a testament to the quality of education it offers, UIUC also is in the top 10% of our Best Social Sciences Doctor’s Degree Schools in the Great Lakes Region ranking.

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#6

Michigan State University

East Lansing, MI

Michigan State University ranked #6 on this year’s Best Value Social Sciences Doctor’s Degree Schools in the Great Lakes Region list. Michigan State is a fairly large public school located in the small city of East Lansing.

The average tuition and fees for an out-of-state graduate students at Michigan State are $38,638 a year.

Michigan State excels when it comes to quality. It’s ranked in the top 15% of all schools on our Best Social Sciences Doctor’s Degree Schools in the Great Lakes Region list.

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With a ranking of #7, Indiana University - Bloomington did quite well on this year’s best value schools for social sciences students working on their doctor’s degree. IU Bloomington is a very large public school located in the city of Bloomington.

IU Bloomington graduate students pay an average of $33,352 in tuition and fees each year.

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#8

Northwestern University

Evanston, IL

Northwestern University landed the #8 spot in the 2023 rankings for the best value doctor’s degree social sciences programs. Located in the city of Evanston, Northwestern is a private not-for-profit college with a fairly large student population.

Northwestern graduate students pay an average of $56,567 in tuition and fees each year.

Northwestern also took the #1 spot in our Best Social Sciences Doctor’s Degree Schools in the Great Lakes Region rankings.

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University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee did quite well in this year’s ranking of the best places for social sciences students to get a doctor’s degree. It came in at #9 on the list. Located in the large city of Milwaukee, UWM is a public college with a very large student population.

The average tuition and fees for an out-of-state graduate students at UWM are $25,651 a year.

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#9

University of Notre Dame

Notre Dame, IN

With a ranking of #9, University of Notre Dame did quite well on this year’s best value schools for social sciences students working on their doctor’s degree. Located in the suburb of Notre Dame, Notre Dame is a private not-for-profit college with a fairly large student population.

Out-of-state tuition fees for graduate students at Notre Dame are $58,662 per year.

In addition to its best value ranking, and one of the reasons why the school is on the list, Notre Dame is ranked #4 for overall quality for social sciences in the Great Lakes Region .

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Best Social Sciences Colleges by State

Explore the best social sciences colleges for a specific state in the Great Lakes region.

State Degrees Awarded
Indiana 2,941
Michigan 4,213
Ohio 4,915
Illinois 5,866
Wisconsin 3,504

Social Sciences Majors to Study

Major Annual Graduates
Political Science & Government 49,282
Economics 49,055
Sociology 38,475
General Social Sciences 18,997
International Relations & National Security 14,306
Anthropology 11,415
Criminology 11,039
Geography & Cartography 8,526
Other Social Sciences 2,414
Urban Studies 1,507
Sociology & Anthropology 541
Archeology 339
Demography & Population Studies 88

Related Major Annual Graduates
Education 327,871
Psychology 195,678
Communication & Journalism 120,571
Family, Consumer & Human Sciences 55,820
History 32,731

Notes and References

*These averages are for the top 20 schools only.

  • 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.

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