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U.S. News Grad Rankings: Berkeley Social Sciences departments among America's best

The 2024 U.S. News & World Report graduate rankings are out. Several departments in Berkeley Social Sciences continue to top the list.  Sociology ranked No. 1, Psychology No. 1, History No. 1, Economics No. 4 and Political Science No. 4.

"I'm very proud that University of California, Berkeley Social Sciences once again has some of our nation's best academic programs," Berkeley Social Sciences Dean Raka Ray said. 

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Berkeley sociology is ranked #1 sociology graduate program in the 2023 best graduate schools rankings by u.s. news & world report..

Berkeley  Sociology is ranked #1 Sociology graduate program in the 2023 Best Graduate Schools rankings by U.S. News & World Report .

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UW Sociology ranks highly in US News’ ‘Best Graduate School’ lists

Over 100 UW graduate and professional programs have been ranked by U.S. News & World Report to be among the top 35 in the nation. Featured on UW News 

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Methodology: Best Social Sciences and Humanities Schools Rankings

Find out how U.S. News ranks graduate programs in social sciences and the humanities.

Methodology: Social Sciences Rankings

The rankings of doctoral programs in the social sciences and humanities are based solely on the results of peer assessment surveys sent to academics in each discipline. U.S. News conducted the surveys in psychology and economics in fall 2021 and early 2022. U.S. News conducted the survey of doctoral programs in English, history, political science, sociology, and criminology and criminal justice in fall 2020 and early 2021.

For surveys conducted in fall 2021 and early 2022, U.S. News sent each school offering a doctoral program two surveys per discipline. Questionnaires were sent to department heads and directors of graduate studies in economics and psychology – or, alternatively, to a senior faculty member who teaches graduate students. The doctoral programs considered in this survey were based on programs that granted five or more doctoral degrees in the five academic years from 2015-2016 through 2019-2020 in each field surveyed, according to the U.S. Department of Education's annual IPEDS Completions survey of degrees awarded.

U.S. News collected the names of those surveyed in fall 2021 and early 2022 from each school in summer 2021. These two rankings were published in 2022.

For surveys conducted in fall 2020 and early 2021, U.S. News sent each school offering a doctoral program two surveys per discipline. Questionnaires were sent to department heads and directors of graduate studies in English, history, political science and sociology – or, alternatively, to a senior faculty member who teaches graduate students. The doctoral programs considered in this survey were based on programs that granted five or more doctoral degrees in the five academic years from 2014-2015 through 2018-2019 in each field surveyed, according to the U.S. Department of Education's annual IPEDS Completions survey of degrees awarded.

U.S. News collected the names of those surveyed in fall 2020 and early 2021 from each school in summer 2020. All these rankings were published in 2021.

For the fall 2020 and early 2021 survey of doctoral programs in criminology and criminal justice, U.S. News sent each school three surveys. The Association of Doctoral Programs in Criminology and Criminal Justice provided U.S. News with all the names of doctoral programs to survey and the names of all survey respondents, consisting of top academics at each of those programs. This ranking was published in 2021.

The questionnaires asked respondents to rate the academic quality of the programs at other institutions on a 5-point scale: 5 (outstanding), 4 (strong), 3 (good), 2 (adequate) or 1 (marginal). Individuals who were unfamiliar with a particular school's programs were asked to select "don't know."

Scores for each school were determined by computing a trimmed mean – eliminating the two highest and two lowest responses – of the ratings of all respondents who rated that school; average scores were then sorted in descending order.

A school’s rank should be one consideration – not the lone determinant – in where a student applies. The rankings reflect the peer assessments of academic quality, but other considerations involving location, environment, strength of different fields, cost after tuition and financial aid, and job placement are also very important.

Here is the number of schools surveyed in each discipline: 42 in criminology and criminal justice; 157 in English; 146 in history; 120 in political science; and 117 in sociology. Response rates were: criminology and criminal justice, 96%; English, 34%; history, 32%; political science, 46%; and sociology, 46%.

In psychology, a school was listed once on the survey even if it grants a doctoral degree in psychology in multiple departments. Programs in  clinical psychology  are ranked separately in the  health  section of the Best Graduate Schools rankings.

There were 331 psychology programs surveyed, with a response rate of 21.3%. There were 139 economics programs surveyed, with a response rate of 46.4%.

Schools with social sciences and humanities doctoral programs whose overall rankings are based solely on a 5-point peer assessment score are ranked from highest to lowest based on that peer assessment score.

Specialty Rankings

Specialty rankings are based solely on nominations – of up to 15 programs in each area – by department heads and directors of graduate studies at peer schools from the list of schools surveyed.

Schools in the specialty rankings are ranked in descending order based on the number of nominations they received, as long as the school or program received seven or more nominations in that specialty area. This means that schools ranked at the bottom of each specialty ranking received at least seven nominations.

Searching for a grad school? Browse the rankings  of the Best Graduate Schools.

Tags: economics , graduate schools , history , psychology , rankings , education , sociology

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2025 Best Sociology Doctor's Degree Schools

College Factual reviewed 15 schools in the United States to determine which ones were the best for doctor's degree seekers in the field of sociology. Combined, these schools handed out 607 doctor's degrees in sociology to qualified students.

Jump to one of the following sections: * Our Methodology

• Best Doctor’s Degree Schools List

Choosing a Great Sociology School for Your Doctor's Degree

Overall Quality Is a Must

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.

Average Early-Career Salaries

Average early-career salary of those graduating with their doctor's degree is one indicator we use in our analysis to find the schools that offer the highest-quality education. That is, everyone wants their doctor's degree to be worth something, and salaries are one measure of determining that.

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 sociology students as compared to other majors.
• Major Demand - How many other sociology students want to attend this school to pursue a doctor's degree.
• 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 sociology 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 sociology related body.

Our complete ranking methodology documents in more detail how we consider these factors to identify the best schools for sociology students working on their doctor's degree.

One Size Does Not Fit All

The sociology school you choose to invest your time and money in matters. To help you make the decision that is right for you, we've developed a number of major-specific rankings , including this list of the Best Sociology Doctor's Degree Schools.

Best Schools for Doctorate Students to Study Sociology in the United States

Explore the top ranked colleges and universities for sociology students seeking a a doctor's degree.

10 Top Schools for a Doctorate in Sociology

Stanford University is a good decision for individuals interested in a doctor's degree in sociology. Stanford is a fairly large private not-for-profit university located in the suburb of Stanford. More information about a doctorate in sociology from Stanford University

Any student pursuing a degree in a doctor's degree in sociology needs to take a look at University of Chicago. Located in the large city of Chicago, UChicago is a private not-for-profit university with a fairly large student population. More information about a doctorate in sociology from University of Chicago

It's hard to beat Northwestern University if you wish to pursue a doctor's degree in sociology. Northwestern is a fairly large private not-for-profit university located in the small city of Evanston. More information about a doctorate in sociology from Northwestern University

University of California - Berkeley is one of the finest schools in the country for getting a doctor's degree in sociology. UC Berkeley is a fairly large public university located in the city of Berkeley. More information about a doctorate in sociology from University of California - Berkeley

Located in the city of Los Angeles, UCLA is a public university with a very large student population. More information about a doctorate in sociology from University of California - Los Angeles

Cornell is a fairly large private not-for-profit university located in the city of Ithaca. More information about a doctorate in sociology from Cornell University

Located in the city of Madison, UW - Madison is a public university with a very large student population. More information about a doctorate in sociology from University of Wisconsin - Madison

Princeton is a medium-sized private not-for-profit university located in the small city of Princeton. More information about a doctorate in sociology from Princeton University

UC Irvine is a fairly large public university located in the city of Irvine. More information about a doctorate in sociology from University of California - Irvine

Ohio State is a very large public university located in the large city of Columbus. More information about a doctorate in sociology from Ohio State University - Main Campus

Sociology by Region

View the Best Sociology Doctor's Degree Schools for a specific region near you.

Other Rankings

Best associate degrees in sociology, best master's degrees in sociology, best value in sociology, best for non-traditional students in sociology, best online in sociology, most popular online in sociology, best bachelor's degrees in sociology, best overall in sociology, highest paid grads in sociology, best for veterans in sociology, most popular in sociology, most focused in sociology.

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Rankings in Majors Related to Sociology

One of 13 majors within the Social Sciences area of study, Sociology has other similar majors worth exploring.

Sociology Concentrations

Majors similar to sociology, 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 Kontos . More about our data sources and methodologies .

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