Top 25 U.S. Colleges for a Geology Ph.D.

Where Geology Professors Got Their Degrees

MIT building. The domed building on the Massachusetts Institute of Technology on campus.

Steve Lewis Stock/Getty Images

Where did most geology professors get their Ph.D.s? Of the teaching faculty of American universities, a study by the American Geological Institute found that an overwhelming 79 percent earned their geoscience doctoral degree from just 25 institutions. These same schools granted 48 percent of the doctorates held by all faculty at the time of the survey.

Here they are, ranked from first to last, with their current post-graduate degree programs. This is not the only way to rank colleges, but these ones are all top-notch. In some cases, the doctoral program may no longer by offered by the institution.

1. Massachusetts Institute of Technology Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences (EAPS) offers undergraduate, graduate, and postdoctoral programs. They have an active professional organization of graduate students, the EAPS Graduate Student Advisory Committee.

2. University of California, Berkeley Department of Earth and Planetary Science offers Master of Arts and doctoral programs.

3. University of Wisconsin, Madison Department of Geoscience offers Master of Science and Ph.D. degrees.

4. University of Washington Department of Earth and Space Sciences offers Master of Science and doctoral programs.

5. Columbia University Department of Earth & Environmental Sciences offers a Ph.D. in Earth and Enviromental Sciences and a Masters degree in Climate & Society.

6. Stanford University Department of Geological Sciences offers M.S., Engineer, and Ph.D. degrees.

7. Pennsylvania State University Department of Geosciences offers M.S. and Ph.D. degrees

8. Harvard University Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences admits students for the Ph.D. degree only.

9. University of California, San Diego Scripps Institution of Oceanography offers three Ph.D. programs, including Geosciences of the Earth, Oceans, and Planets.

10. University of Michigan Earth and Environmental Sciences has a Ph.D. program.

11. University of California, Los Angeles Earth, Planetary and Space Sciences has M.S. and Ph.D. programs in Geochemistry, Geology, and Geophysics & Space Physics.

12. California Institute of Technology Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences has a doctoral degree program and you may also be awarded a master's degree en route.

12. University of Illinois (tie) Department of Geology offers M.S. and Ph.D. degrees and notes that the oil and gas industry aggressively recruits in Illinois.

14. University of Arizona Geosciences department offers M.S. and four-year Ph.D. programs that are research-based.

15. University of Minnesota Department of Earth Sciences - Newton Horace Winchell School of Earth Sciences

16. Cornell University Earth and Atmospheric Sciences has a Geological Sciences field with Master of Engineering, Master of Science, and doctoral degrees.

17. Yale University Department of Geology & Geophysics has only a Ph.D. program.

18. University of Colorado Geological Sciences offers Masters of Science and doctoral degrees.

19. Princeton University Department of Geosciences offers only a Doctor of Philosophy degree.

20. University of Chicago Department of the Geophysical Sciences offers a Ph.D. program.

21. Oregon State University College of Earth, Ocean, and Atmospheric Sciences offers M.S. and Ph.D. degrees.

22. Johns Hopkins University Morton K. Blaustein Department of Earth & Planetary Sciences offers a doctoral program.

23. University of Texas, Austin Department of Geological Sciences

2 3. Texas A&M University (tie) Department Geology & Geophysics offers Master of Science and doctoral degrees.

25. Ohio State University: No longer lists a doctoral program, but offers BS and BA in Earth Sciences.

Thanks to the American Geological Institute for this information, reported in Geotimes May 2003.

Format
mla apa chicago
Your Citation
Alden, Andrew. "Top 25 U.S. Colleges for a Geology Ph.D." ThoughtCo, Aug. 27, 2020, thoughtco.com/top-us-colleges-for-geology-phds-1438982. Alden, Andrew. (2020, August 27). Top 25 U.S. Colleges for a Geology Ph.D. Retrieved from https://www.thoughtco.com/top-us-colleges-for-geology-phds-1438982 Alden, Andrew. "Top 25 U.S. Colleges for a Geology Ph.D." ThoughtCo. https://www.thoughtco.com/top-us-colleges-for-geology-phds-1438982 (accessed March 28, 2024).