Best Music Schools

Harvard University Department of Music is ranked top in the nation for its doctoral degree programs. The Ph.D. program is offered in historical musicology, ethnomusicology, music theory, and composition.

The Department of Music at Chicago is in the top two positions nationally. It offers graduate degrees in Composition, Ethnomusicology, and Music History and Theory.

According to the 1995 National Research Council report prepared by the Council's Committee for the Study of Research-Doctorate Programs in the US, the best universities granting doctorates in music programs are headed by Harvard (1st), Chicago (2nd) and UC Berkeley (3rd).

NRC Rankings in Music:

1 Harvard
2 Chicago
3 Cal Berkeley
4 CUNY
5 Yale
6 Princeton
7 Penn
8 Rochester
9 Michigan
10 Illinois
11 Cornell
12 Columbia
13 Brandeis
14 SUNY Stony Brook
15 Stanford
16 North Carolina
17 Texas
18 UCLA
19 NYU
20 Indiana
21 North Texas
22 Duke
23 Northwestern
24 Cal Santa Barbara
25 Cal San Diego
26 Iowa
27 Florida State
28 Ohio State
29 Washington
30 Rutgers
31 Minnesota
32 Wisconsin
33 Washington (St. Louis)
34 Cincinnati
35 Maryland
36 Southern Cal
37 SUNY Buffalo
38 Temple
39 Arizona
40 Pittsburgh
41 LSU
42 Miami
43 Catholic University
44 Brown
45 Michigan State
46 Kansas
47 Oregon
48 Case Western
49 Wesleyan
50 Boston University
51 Georgia
52 Hartford
53 Colorado
54 Kentucky
55 West Virginia
56 Claremont
57 Texas Tech
58 Kent State
59 South Carolina
60 Ball State
61 Alabama
62 Southern Baptist Theol
63 Northern Colorado
64 Oklahoma
65 Missouri Kansas City

Source: National Research Council report

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