most competitive phd programs

Last Updated on December 15, 2022

One of the most important choices you may make in your life is selecting your Phd program. Your decision will be forever etched into your professional history, with long-lasting implications. What makes one doctoral program more competitive than another? Experts regard the following factors as the most crucial elements to consider when trying to decide which programs are right for you.

15 Best One-Year PhD Programs in USA | 2021 World Scholarship Forum

Top 10 Most Competitive PhDs In The World

It is common for Bachelor’s and Master’s degree applicants to look up the rankings of a course before they apply. Now, can you do this for a PhD? The simple answer is no. This is because the nature of a PhD is very different from other higher-level courses. But here are a few metrics that can help you decide. 

Although PhD programs are not ranked themselves, university rankings can be a strong consideration point. In fact, the currently listed top 10 most competitive PhD programs also happen to fall in order of the university rankings:

Educational instituteStrong Disciplines
1University of OxfordArchitecture, business and management, law, education, the arts, engineering, music, history, health sciences.
2Stanford UniversityHistory, Mathematics, Political Science, Physics, Psychology
3Harvard UniversityPolitical science, Public health, Statistics
4California Institute of TechnologyEngineering, Chemistry, Computer Science, Earth Sciences
5Massachusetts Institute of TechnologyAccounting, Biological sciences, Economics, Earth Sciences
6University of CambridgeBiology and Biochemistry, Cell Biology, Oncology, Physics, geosciences
7University of CaliforniaBusiness programs, Biomedical Engineering, Corporate law, Chemistry
8Yale UniversityBioengineering, Medical research, Law, Biophysics, Structural Biology
9Princeton UniversityEngineering, English, History, Political Science
10University of ChicagoFinance, Marketing, Business law, Medical research

Top 10 most competitive PhDs and their universities.

The courses in these institutes are so competitive that some international students are required to do a pathway course just to meet the eligibility criteria. How are they capable of attracting such a big crowd of students? Are they worth the effort?

Now, where you wish to do your PhD depends on a plethora of reasons like your interests, relocation ability, and other preferences. But if any of the above institutions rank well in your field of interest, here are some compelling reasons for you to consider them also explaining what makes them so competitive.

What a PhD stands for: Research

As a PhD candidate, you will essentially be a postgraduate researching working to answer that one focused question. You will be guided by an extremely experienced individual in the field. But that’s not all. 

Research is about collaboration. And the above-listed research institutes facilitate the same efficiently and effectively.

In an ideal PhD lab, you will constantly be engaging in conversations with other people in your research group or department. The top 10 universities listed in this blog have a strong record of research quality in terms of impact, visibility, and credibility. Impactful research comes from sustained strong collaborations and work as a research community. 

These institutions also house some of the brightest minds in their respective strong disciplines and are capable of providing a challenging yet encouraging environment favoring cutting-edge research. 

A Teacher Affects Eternity

The importance of a good mentor in everybody’s life need not be explained. Yes, a PhD is a research degree and will be extremely hands-on. This is why what most broad teaching metrics demonstrate will not apply in this case. However, this does not rule out the necessity of a good guide. 

A good PhD supervisor will teach you to learn by curiosity. In the learning process, you will understand the essence of research. There are no factors currently that can measure or rank the quality of any university’s PhD supervision. 

But a majority of the programs aforementioned guarantee the availability of sufficient staff and an engaging environment that is very important for a PhD. In addition, some PhD guides in these institutes are luminaries in their respective fields and have effectively demonstrated the value of lifelong learning. 

Influence And Social Profile

If you look at the above list, you may notice that most of these are really old and established institutions. An upper hand for these other than the quality of mentor-ship and availability of resources is the external engagement and influence they have. Maybe you aren’t looking to get into the industry but there are many ways these can benefit even your career in academia. 

A good reputation is able to attract a more generous funding. Although you may not want to become a working industry professional, a good reputation also indicates the potential to work with such dominant partners in the industry. This can be highly beneficial because you will avail of much better technology while also contributing to humanity and seeing your hard work bear fruit. 

Having a strong influence also means that the institute is able to attract students from a variety of academic and social backgrounds. Such internationalization can provide a great learning experience. 

Factoring In University Rankings For Your PhD

Turning university rankings into “PhD rankings” can be tricky. The first thing to bear in mind is that these rankings do not directly translate into what’s the best for you. You still have to be the one making the choice. Your direct benefit will be the specific characteristics of the institute that these rankings elucidate. 

Another thing to understand is that the quality of your own research will matter as much as the program you are into. You will only be able to create an impact if you put in the hard work and you are really passionate about the field. Your curiosity can only be aggravated by a supervisor. 

Also, the university rankings are like an over-the-top view. It is because a university is ranked based on the average measures of all metrics derived from all its individual schools and disciplines. This may not speak much even about your field of study, let alone the specialist area you will be focusing on for your doctorate. 

How relevant this is to you will come from the impact of research the university has in your specific field. 

Despite any amount of external engagement demonstrated by the universities, none of them can offer a commitment that your specific program will have a partnership. A lot of the outcomes depend on the work you put in. 

Big universities clearly exploit their influence and long-built reputation in these rankings. Yes, they continue to remain competitive for the reasons mentioned above. But because new universities aren’t able to do as good on these league tables doesn’t mean they aren’t good. In fact, they may specialise in the exact focused area that would favor your PhD project. This would also mean they have the required facilities and expertise. 

Some rankings have a major influence from the quality of instruction. This may not be extremely relevant for PhD candidates because they will have more autonomy than undergraduate or masters students. However, some rankings measure the number and ratio of PhDs these universities award each here and those are the ones that will actually help. 

Essentially, the rankings and competitiveness of PhD programs give you a good start point. But you must dig deeper and look for the exact information you need. It is always a good idea to get in touch with the PhD guides and potential lab-mates to try and gauge the strength of the program. 

Universities that do well in rankings are known to have a record of high-quality cutting edge research in terms of the technology they use and the reproducibility and impact of their research outcomes. However, historically, most rankings focus on STEM disciplines especially in terms of research. The data on courses that fall under arts and humanities is much less extensive. So, a strong focus on research and citations does not necessarily reflect a strong support for courses under that dome. 

To summarize, answering the question of, “which is the best option for me?” in the case of a PhD is not easy at all. Branch out from these listings and find out more about the PhD projects and programs that they currently have available. Know how these rankings work and understand the factors they consider before you narrow down your options. 

University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia

School Highlight: Alumni of The Wharton School include John Sculley, Jeff Weiner, and J.D. Power III.

The University of Pennsylvania was tied for sixth among national universities by U.S. News and World Report in 2020. The university has eight graduate schools and offers programs in law, medicine, engineering, business, education and design. The graduate schools are highly ranked and admission is competitive. The Wharton School, for example, had the third best Executive MBA program in the nation according to 2020 rankings by U.S. News and World Report. For 2017, the acceptance rate at the business school was 19.8%, and the mean GMAT score was 732. The School of Medicine had a 5.4% acceptance rate in 2017, and applicants had a median undergraduate GPA of 3.87 and total MCAT score of 38.

Columbia University in New York, New York

School Highlight: Alumni of the business school includes Gail J. McGovern, Henry Kravis and Shelly Lazarus.

Columbia University was tied for third among national universities in 2020 by U.S. News and World Report. The university’s well-respected graduate schools offer advanced study in architecture, law, medicine, business and the arts. Columbia’s medical school had a 4.0% acceptance rate in 2017. Applicants accepted into the program generally had a 3.82 GPA and scored 36 on the MCAT total score. The acceptance rate at the business school was 18% in 2017. The average score on the GMAT was 715, and the average undergraduate GPA was 3.50.

Duke University in Durham, NC

School Highlight:The School of Engineering had a 24.5% overall acceptance rate in 2017.

The average GPA for students entering the master’s degree program at Duke’s Pratt School of Engineering, as of 2017, was 3.5, while the average GPA for the entering doctoral program class was 3.7. The average GPA for entrants to the law school was 3.76, and the overall acceptance rate was 23.3%. The median LSAT score was 169. Well-known alumni of Duke’s law school include Richard Nixon and Tucker Max.

Most Selective Graduate Schools

Here are some more highly selective graduate schools:

  • Georgetown University’s School of Medicine in Washington, DC, accepted just 796 applicants out of almost 12,700 for 2020.
  • Harvard University’s graduate business school in Cambridge, MA, typically admits only 9.7% of students who apply.
  • Northwestern University’s business graduate school, which ranked 6th in the nation in 2020 by U.S. News and World Report, accepted 20.6% of its 2017 applicants; the average GMAT score for those accepted was 724. The school is in Evanston, IL.
  • Stanford University’s Law School in Stanford, CA, was tied for second in the nation by U.S. News and World Report in 2020 and accepted only 11.3% of 2017 applicants.
  • The University of Notre Dame’s graduate school accepted 17% of its nearly 5,000 applicants in 2014. The school is in Notre Dame, IN.
  • Vanderbilt University’s School of Engineering in Nashville, TN, accepted 17.1% of applicants in 2017.
  • At Washington University in St. Louis, programs in the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences typically accept 10-20% of students who apply. The school is located in Saint Louis, MO.
  • Yale University’s Law School in New Haven, CT, ranked 1st in the nation by U.S. News and World Report in 2017, had an 9.7% acceptance rate in 2017.

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