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New Data, Rankings: Higher Ed: Top 20 Doctorate-Granting Institutions in U.S. (2015)

Filed by on December 11, 2016

The rankings are included in new set of data files, “Doctorate Recipients from U.S. Universities: 2015” released by the National Science Foundation (NSF). A text report is scheduled to be released in 2017. All data files can be viewed online as well as downloaded.

Previous reports are also available.

Two of many tables from the new NSF data files are found below.

Table 3. Top 50 doctorate-granting institutions, ranked by number of doctorate recipients: 2015

Rank Institution Doctorate recipients
1 U. Michigan, Ann Arbor 852
2 U. Texas, Austin 841
3 U. Wisconsin-Madison 836
4 U. California, Berkeley 811
5 U. Illinois, Urbana-Champaign 781
6 U. Florida 747
7 U. California, Los Angeles 744
8 Texas A&M U., College Station and Health Science Center 732
9 Ohio State U., Columbus 726
10 Harvard U. 715
11 Purdue U., West Lafayette 714
12 U. Minnesota, Twin Cities 711
13 Pennsylvania State U., University Park and Hershey Medical Center 694
14 Stanford U. 689
15 U. Washington, Seattle 666
16 U. Maryland, College Park 619
17 Massachusetts Institute of Technology 606
18 Michigan State U. 597
19 Walden U. 562
20 U. California, Davis 539
21 Georgia Institute of Technology 526
22 U. California, San Diego 501
23 Johns Hopkins U. 492
23 U. North Carolina, Chapel Hill 492
25 U. Arizona 485
26 Cornell U. 481
26 U. Pennsylvania 481
28 Columbia U. in the City of New York 475
29 North Carolina State U. 472
30 Arizona State U. 471
31 U. Southern California 452
31 Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State U. 452
33 Indiana U., Bloomington 448
34 New York U. 430
35 Northwestern U. 425
36 U. Georgia 424
37 Yale U. 420
38 U. Colorado Boulder 418
39 U. Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh 417
40 CUNY, Graduate Center 408
41 Boston U. 399
42 U. Chicago 392
43 U. California, Irvine 390
44 Rutgers, State U. New Jersey, New Brunswick 389
45 Florida State U. 383
46 Princeton U. 373
47 U. Utah 372
48 Duke U. 366
49 U. Kansas 351
50 U. Virginia, Charlottesville 346
NOTE: Tied institutions are listed alphabetically.
SOURCE: National Science Foundation, National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics, Survey of Earned Doctorates, 2015.

 
 

Table 4. Top 20 doctorate-granting institutions ranked by number of doctorate recipients, by broad field of study: 2015

Rank Field and institution Doctorate recipients
Life sciencesa 12,520
From top 20 institutions 3,610
1 Johns Hopkins U. 261
2 Harvard U. 255
3 U. Florida 246
4 U. Wisconsin-Madison 216
5 U. North Carolina, Chapel Hill 209
6 U. California, Davis 198
7 U. Washington, Seattle 196
8 U. Michigan, Ann Arbor 190
9 U. Minnesota, Twin Cities 183
10 Ohio State U., Columbus 173
11 U. California, Berkeley 167
12 U. Georgia 158
13 Texas A&M U., College Station and Health Science Center 155
14 U. California, Los Angeles 151
15 Walden U. 146
16 U. Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh 145
17 Michigan State U. 143
18 U. Illinois, Urbana-Champaign 141
19 U. Pennsylvania 140
20 U. Texas Health Science Center, Houston 137
Physical sciences and earth sciences 5,924
From top 20 institutions 1,805
1 U. Michigan, Ann Arbor 116
2 U. Wisconsin-Madison 112
3 Massachusetts Institute of Technology 109
4 U. California, Berkeley 100
5 U. Texas, Austin 99
6 U. Colorado Boulder 95
7 U. Arizona 92
7 U. California, San Diego 92
9 Harvard U. 89
10 U. Maryland, College Park 87
11 Texas A&M U., College Station and Health Science Center 86
12 Purdue U., West Lafayette 85
12 Stanford U. 85
14 U. Washington, Seattle 83
15 U. California, Los Angeles 82
15 U. Illinois, Urbana-Champaign 82
17 U. California, Davis 81
18 Pennsylvania State U., University Park and Hershey Medical Center 79
19 Princeton U. 77
20 Ohio State U., Columbus 74
Mathematics and computer sciences 3,825
From top 20 institutions 1,199
1 Purdue U., West Lafayette 74
2 Carnegie Mellon U. 72
3 Massachusetts Institute of Technology 71
3 U. Illinois, Urbana-Champaign 71
5 North Carolina State U. 70
5 U. California, Los Angeles 70
5 U. Washington, Seattle 70
8 U. Maryland, College Park 67
9 Georgia Institute of Technology 62
9 U. California, Berkeley 62
11 Ohio State U., Columbus 59
12 Stanford U. 54
13 U. Wisconsin-Madison 52
14 Pennsylvania State U., University Park and Hershey Medical Center 51
14 U. Texas, Austin 51
16 U. Michigan, Ann Arbor 50
16 U. Minnesota, Twin Cities 50
18 U. California, Irvine 49
19 SUNY, Stony Brook U. 48
20 Rutgers, State U. New Jersey, New Brunswick 46
Psychology and social sciences 9,095
From top 21 institutions 2,367
1 Walden U. 230
2 CUNY, Graduate Center 148
3 U. California, Los Angeles 131
4 U. Texas, Austin 129
5 Harvard U. 128
6 U. California, Berkeley 127
7 U. Maryland, College Park 124
8 U. Michigan, Ann Arbor 123
9 Indiana U., Bloomington 101
9 U. Minnesota, Twin Cities 101
9 U. Wisconsin-Madison 101
12 U. Florida 99
13 Ohio State U., Columbus 96
14 New York U. 94
14 U. California, San Diego 94
16 U. Chicago 92
17 Michigan State U. 91
18 Arizona State U. 90
18 Texas A&M U., College Station and Health Science Center 90
20 U. Arizona 89
20 U. Kansas 89
Engineering 9,897
From top 20 institutions 3,837
1 Georgia Institute of Technology 353
2 Purdue U., West Lafayette 280
3 Massachusetts Institute of Technology 266
4 U. Illinois, Urbana-Champaign 231
5 Stanford U. 229
6 U. Michigan, Ann Arbor 228
7 Texas A&M U., College Station and Health Science Center 219
8 U. Texas, Austin 212
9 Pennsylvania State U., University Park and Hershey Medical Center 203
10 U. California, Berkeley 180
11 U. Florida 176
12 North Carolina State U. 170
13 Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State U. 168
14 U. Wisconsin-Madison 147
15 Ohio State U., Columbus 144
16 Carnegie Mellon U. 135
17 U. Minnesota, Twin Cities 127
18 Northwestern U. 123
18 U. California, Los Angeles 123
18 U. Maryland, College Park 123
Education 5,117
From top 20 institutions 1,424
1 Columbia U., Teachers C. 136
2 U. Georgia 95
3 Walden U. 93
4 Michigan State U. 87
5 U. Texas, Austin 83
6 U. Minnesota, Twin Cities 82
7 Texas A&M U., College Station and Health Science Center 80
8 Pennsylvania State U., University Park and Hershey Medical Center 76
9 Ohio State U., Columbus 71
10 U. Wisconsin-Madison 67
11 Texas Tech U. 65
12 U. Illinois, Urbana-Champaign 63
13 U. Nebraska-Lincoln 57
14 U. Maryland, College Park 54
14 U. South Carolina, Columbia 54
16 Indiana State U. 53
16 Indiana U., Bloomington 53
18 George Washington U. 52
18 U. Washington, Seattle 52
20 Old Dominion U. 51
Humanities and arts 5,600
From top 20 institutions 1,910
1 New York U. 120
1 U. California, Los Angeles 120
3 U. California, Berkeley 119
4 Harvard U. 116
5 Columbia U. in the City of New York 113
6 CUNY, Graduate Center 109
7 U. Chicago 107
8 U. Texas, Austin 103
9 Boston U. 100
10 U. Wisconsin-Madison 99
11 Indiana U., Bloomington 91
11 Yale U. 91
13 U. Virginia, Charlottesville 87
14 Florida State U. 85
15 Ohio State U., Columbus 81
16 Princeton U. 80
17 U. Michigan, Ann Arbor 77
18 U. Pennsylvania 74
19 Stanford U. 70
20 Emory U. 68
Otherb 3,028
From top 20 institutions 888
1 Walden U. 84
2 U. Illinois, Urbana-Champaign 57
3 U. Texas, Austin 54
4 U. Minnesota, Twin Cities 52
5 U. Florida 46
6 U. Southern California 45
7 Northwestern U. 44
8 Regent U. 43
9 U. Missouri, Columbia 42
9 U. Wisconsin-Madison 42
11 Texas A&M U., College Station and Health Science Center 41
12 Florida State U. 39
12 Pennsylvania State U., University Park and Hershey Medical Center 39
14 Indiana U., Bloomington 38
14 Texas Tech U. 38
14 U. Chicago 38
17 Massachusetts Institute of Technology 37
17 U. Michigan, Ann Arbor 37
19 Louisiana State U., Baton Rouge 36
19 U. Alabama, Tuscaloosa 36
a Includes agricultural sciences and natural resources; biological and biomedical sciences; and health sciences.
b Non-science and engineering fields not shown separately.
NOTE: Tied institutions are listed alphabetically.
SOURCE: National Science Foundation, National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics, Survey of Earned Doctorates, 2015.
About Gary Price

Gary Price (gprice@mediasourceinc.com) is a librarian, writer, consultant, and frequent conference speaker based in the Washington D.C. metro area. Before launching INFOdocket, Price and Shirl Kennedy were the founders and senior editors at ResourceShelf and DocuTicker for 10 years. From 2006-2009 he was Director of Online Information Services at Ask.com, and is currently a contributing editor at Search Engine Land.

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