2023 Best Master's Degree Schools
There are lots of options to pick from today when trying to decide which program is right for you. Along with traditional schools that require in-person attendence, you can attend one of many reputable online schools. Some programs even offer a hybrid experience. Also, there are a number of trade schools and bootcamp with offerings that you might find attractive.
To assist you in seeing some of the education options that are available to you, Course Advisor has created its Best Master's Degree Schools ranking. This report analyzed 1,033 schools in the United States to see which ones offered the best master's degree programs for students. Factors related to overall quality of the school, post-graduation earnings, average student debt, and more accumulated were considered when coming up with this list.
View our full ranking methodology.
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Top Master's Degree Schools in the United States
Learn more about these excellent schools below:
Our 2023 rankings named Keck Graduate Institute the best school in the United States for students working on their master’s degree. KGI is located in Claremont, California and has a very small student population. In , this school awarded 155 master’s degrees to qualified students.
Depending on your major, you may be able to take online graduate classes at KGI. In 2022-2023 about 24% of the graduate students at the school chose to take one or more online courses.
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You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend Massachusetts Institute of Technology. It ranked #2 on our 2023 Best Master’s Degree Schools list. Cambridge, Massachusetts is the setting for this fairly large institution of higher learning. The private not-for-profit school handed out master’s degrees to 2,031 students in .
MIT does have options available for those who want to take online graduate classes. You will need to check with the school to see if they are available for your specific major. In fact, around 1% of the graduate population registered for at least one online class in 2022-2023.
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A rank of #3 on this year’s list means Stanford University is a great place for students working on their master’s degree. Stanford, California is the setting for this fairly large institution of higher learning. The private not-for-profit school handed out master’s degrees to 2,512 students in .
Some students may be able to take online graduate classes at Stanford. During the 2022-2023 year, about 8% of the graduate students at the school took at least one online course.
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You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend Rice University. It ranked #4 on our 2023 Best Master’s Degree Schools list. Rice is located in Houston, Texas and has a medium-sized student population. In , this school awarded 1,422 master’s degrees to qualified students.
Rice does have options available for those who want to take online graduate classes. You will need to check with the school to see if they are available for your specific major. In 2022-2023 about 19% of the graduate students at the school chose to take one or more online courses.
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Out of the 1,033 schools in the United States that were part of this year’s ranking, Princeton University landed the # 5 spot on the list. Located in Princeton, New Jersey, the medium-sized private not-for-profit school awarded 661 diplomas to qualifed master’s degree students in .
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Dartmouth College did quite well in this year’s ranking of the best places for students to get a master’s degree. It came in at #6 on the list. Located in Hanover, New Hampshire, the medium-sized private not-for-profit school handed out 704 master’s degree awards in .
One thing to take note of is that Dartmouth does offer online graduate classes in some areas. In 2022-2023 about 5% of the graduate students at the school chose to take one or more online courses.
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Duke University came in at #7 in this year’s edition of the Best Master’s Degree Schools ranking. Located in Durham, North Carolina, the fairly large private not-for-profit school awarded 3,764 diplomas to qualifed master’s degree students in .
Depending on your major, you may be able to take online graduate classes at Duke. Of all the graduate students enrolled at the school during the 2022-2023 academic year, around 18% took at least some of their classes online.
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With a ranking of #8, Northwestern University did quite well on this year’s best schools for students working on their master’s degree. Northwestern is a large private not-for-profit school situated in Evanston, Illinois. It awarded 6,071 master’s degrees in .
Northwestern does offer online graduate classes for certain degree levels. Of all the graduate students enrolled at the school during the 2022-2023 academic year, around 19% took at least some of their classes online.
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Georgia Institute of Technology - Main Campus did quite well in this year’s ranking of the best places for students to get a master’s degree. It came in at #9 on the list. Located in Atlanta, Georgia, the large public school handed out 6,610 master’s degree awards in .
If you are interested in distance education, be sure to check with the school since Georgia Tech does offer online graduate classes for certain majors. During the 2022-2023 year, about 71% of the graduate students at the school took at least one online course.
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With a ranking of #10, University of Notre Dame did quite well on this year’s best schools for students working on their master’s degree. Notre Dame is a private not-for-profit institution located in Notre Dame, Indiana. The school has a fairly large population, and it awarded 1,284 master’s degrees in .
You may have the opportunity to take online graduate classes at Notre Dame. Of all the graduate students enrolled at the school during the 2022-2023 academic year, around 11% took at least some of their classes online.
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University of Chicago did quite well in this year’s ranking of the best places for students to get a master’s degree. It came in at #11 on the list. This fairly large private not-for-profit school is located in Chicago, Illinois, and it awarded 3,921 master’s degrees in .
If you are interested in distance education, be sure to check with the school since UChicago does offer online graduate classes for certain majors. To give an idea of how popular online courses are at the school, 0% of graduates took at least one course online in 2022-2023.
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Cornell University ranked #12 on this year’s Best Master’s Degree Schools list. This large private not-for-profit school is located in Ithaca, New York, and it awarded 3,779 master’s degrees in .
You may have the opportunity to take online graduate classes at Cornell. To give an idea of how popular online courses are at the school, 22% of graduates took at least one course online in 2022-2023.
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Carnegie Mellon University did quite well in this year’s ranking of the best places for students to get a master’s degree. It came in at #13 on the list. Carnegie Mellon is a fairly large private not-for-profit school situated in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It awarded 4,339 master’s degrees in .
If you are interested in distance education, be sure to check with the school since Carnegie Mellon does offer online graduate classes for certain majors. In fact, around 26% of the graduate population registered for at least one online class in 2022-2023.
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With a ranking of #14, Brown University did quite well on this year’s best schools for students working on their master’s degree. Brown University is a fairly large private not-for-profit school located in Providence, Rhode Island that handed out 986 master’s degrees in .
You may have the opportunity to take online graduate classes at Brown. Of all the graduate students enrolled at the school during the 2022-2023 academic year, around 5% took at least some of their classes online.
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University of Pennsylvania ranked #15 on this year’s Best Master’s Degree Schools list. UPenn is a large private not-for-profit school situated in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It awarded 6,099 master’s degrees in .
UPenn does have options available for those who want to take online graduate classes. You will need to check with the school to see if they are available for your specific major. To give an idea of how popular online courses are at the school, 19% of graduates took at least one course online in 2022-2023.
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Teachers College at Columbia University landed the #16 spot in the 2023 rankings for the best master’s degree programs. Located in New York, New York, the small private not-for-profit school handed out 1,847 master’s degree awards in .
Depending on your major, you may be able to take online graduate classes at Teachers College. Of all the graduate students enrolled at the school during the 2022-2023 academic year, around 36% took at least some of their classes online.
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University of California - Berkeley did quite well in this year’s ranking of the best places for students to get a master’s degree. It came in at #17 on the list. UC Berkeley is located in Berkeley, California and has a large student population. In , this school awarded 4,022 master’s degrees to qualified students.
Online graduate courses are available at UC Berkeley, but you will need to check with the school to see if they are available for your field of interest. To give an idea of how popular online courses are at the school, 23% of graduates took at least one course online in 2022-2023.
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Santa Clara University landed the #18 spot in the 2023 rankings for the best master’s degree programs. SCU is located in Santa Clara, California and has a medium-sized student population. In , this school awarded 1,027 master’s degrees to qualified students.
Depending on your major, you may be able to take online graduate classes at SCU. Of all the graduate students enrolled at the school during the 2022-2023 academic year, around 13% took at least some of their classes online.
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Georgetown University ranked #19 on this year’s Best Master’s Degree Schools list. Georgetown University is a large private not-for-profit school located in Washington, District of Columbia that handed out 4,805 master’s degrees in .
One thing to take note of is that Georgetown does offer online graduate classes in some areas. In 2022-2023 about 33% of the graduate students at the school chose to take one or more online courses.
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University of Virginia - Main Campus came in at #20 in this year’s edition of the Best Master’s Degree Schools ranking. University of Virginia is located in Charlottesville, Virginia and has a large student population. In , this school awarded 2,463 master’s degrees to qualified students.
University of Virginia does offer online graduate classes for certain degree levels. In 2022-2023 about 10% of the graduate students at the school chose to take one or more online courses.
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Vanderbilt University landed the #21 spot in the 2023 rankings for the best master’s degree programs. Located in Nashville, Tennessee, the fairly large private not-for-profit school handed out 1,940 master’s degree awards in .
One thing to take note of is that Vanderbilt does offer online graduate classes in some areas. In fact, around 20% of the graduate population registered for at least one online class in 2022-2023.
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Yale University did quite well in this year’s ranking of the best places for students to get a master’s degree. It came in at #22 on the list. This fairly large private not-for-profit school is located in New Haven, Connecticut, and it awarded 2,869 master’s degrees in .
Online graduate courses are available at Yale, but you will need to check with the school to see if they are available for your field of interest. In fact, around 2% of the graduate population registered for at least one online class in 2022-2023.
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With a ranking of #23, Johns Hopkins University did quite well on this year’s best schools for students working on their master’s degree. Johns Hopkins is a private not-for-profit institution located in Baltimore, Maryland. The school has a large population, and it awarded 8,840 master’s degrees in .
Depending on your major, you may be able to take online graduate classes at Johns Hopkins. During the 2022-2023 year, about 71% of the graduate students at the school took at least one online course.
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Harvard University ranked #24 on this year’s Best Master’s Degree Schools list. Harvard University is a large private not-for-profit school located in Cambridge, Massachusetts that handed out 5,850 master’s degrees in .
Some students may be able to take online graduate classes at Harvard. In fact, around 34% of the graduate population registered for at least one online class in 2022-2023.
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University of California - Los Angeles ranked #25 on this year’s Best Master’s Degree Schools list. UCLA is a large public school situated in Los Angeles, California. It awarded 3,967 master’s degrees in .
UCLA does offer online graduate classes for certain degree levels. In 2022-2023 about 11% of the graduate students at the school chose to take one or more online courses.
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Notes and References
Footnotes
*These averages are for the top 25 schools only.
References
- Read more about our ranking methodology.
- 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 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).
- Information about the national average student loan default rate is from the U.S. Department of Education and refers to data about the 2016 borrower cohort tracking period for which the cohort default rate (CDR) was 10.1%.
More about our data sources and methodologies.
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