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Most Popular General Education Graduate Certificate Schools

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2023 Most Popular General Education Graduate Certificate Schools

143 Colleges
$47,664 Avg Salary
$26,812 Avg Student Debt

Finding the Best General Education Graduate Certificate School for You

In 2020-2021, 21,189 people earned a degree or certificate in general education, making the major the #12 most popular in the United States.

It's not easy to decide which program to enroll in when you have so many options available. You can choose a traditional brick and mortar school, or with the growth of online education, you can attend a school half-way across the country without even leaving your house. Also there are many trade schools that offer short-term programs that open up more career options.

The Most Popular General Education Graduate Certificate Schools ranking is one of many tools that Grad Degree Search has developed to help you make your educational decision. This report analyzed 143 schools in the United States to see which ones were the most popular graduate certificate programs for students. To create this ranking we looked at how many students graduated from the General Education program at each school on the list.

The following schools top our list of the Most Popular General Education Graduate Certificate Colleges.

#1

Northcentral University

San Diego, CA

Our analysis found Northcentral University to be the most popular school for general education students who want to pursue a graduate certificate in the United States. Northcentral University is a large private not-for-profit school located in the large city of San Diego.

Of the 147 students majoring in education at Northcentral University, 20% are male and 80% are female.

Education majors at Northcentral University take out an average of $17,571 in student loans while working on their Graduate Certificate.

Read full report on General Education at Northcentral University

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend Southern New Hampshire University. It ranked #2 on our 2023 Most Popular General Education Graduate Certificate Schools list. Located in the midsize suburb of Manchester, SNHU is a private not-for-profit college with a very large student population.

Of the 134 students majoring in education at SNHU, 22% are male and 78% are female.

Read full report on General Education at Southern New Hampshire University

The in-demand graduate certificate programs at Jackson State University helped the school earn the #3 place on this year’s ranking of the most popular general education schools in the United States. Located in the medium-sized city of Jackson, Jackson State is a public college with a moderately-sized student population.

Women make up 96% of the education majors at the school.

Read More…

Out of the 143 schools in the United States that were part of this year’s ranking, University of California - Santa Barbara landed the # 4 spot on the list. UCSB is a very large public school located in the suburb of Santa Barbara.

Of the 75 students majoring in education at UCSB, 19% are male and 81% are female.

Read More…

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend Salem State University. It ranked #5 on our 2023 Most Popular General Education Graduate Certificate Schools list. Located in the large suburb of Salem, Salem State is a public school with a moderately-sized student population.

Of the 58 students majoring in education at Salem State, 9% are male and 91% are female.

Full General Education at Salem State University Report

#6

Jacksonville State University

Jacksonville, AL

Jacksonville State University ranked #6 on this year’s Most Popular General Education Graduate Certificate Schools list. Located in the small suburb of Jacksonville, Jacksonville State University is a public college with a medium-sized student population.

Women make up 73% of the education majors at the school.

Full General Education at Jacksonville State University Report

University of Connecticut came in at #7 in this year’s edition of the Most Popular General Education Graduate Certificate Schools ranking. UCONN is a very large public school located in the suburb of Storrs.

Women make up 78% of the education majors at the school.

Full General Education at University of Connecticut Report

University of Central Florida came in at #7 in this year’s edition of the Most Popular General Education Graduate Certificate Schools ranking. Located in the large suburb of Orlando, UCF is a public school with a fairly large student population.

About 78% of the students majoring in education at the school are women while 22% are male.

Education majors at UCF take out an average of $16,733 in student loans while working on their Graduate Certificate.

Read More…

#9

Auburn University

Auburn, AL

With a ranking of #9, Auburn University did quite well on this year’s most popular schools for general education students working on their graduate certificate. Located in the city of Auburn, Auburn is a public school with a fairly large student population.

Of the 36 students majoring in education at Auburn, 42% are male and 58% are female.

Full General Education at Auburn University Report

With a ranking of #10, Azusa Pacific University did quite well on this year’s most popular schools for general education students working on their graduate certificate. Azusa Pacific is a moderately-sized private not-for-profit school located in the large suburb of Azusa.

Of the 34 students majoring in education at Azusa Pacific, 12% are male and 88% are female.

Read More…

#11

University of Georgia

Athens, GA

University of Georgia did quite well in this year’s ranking of the most popular places for general education students to get a graduate certificate. It came in at #11 on the list. Located in the medium-sized city of Athens, UGA is a public school with a fairly large student population.

Of the 33 students majoring in education at UGA, 21% are male and 79% are female.

Read More…

#12

Mississippi State University

Mississippi State, MS

Mississippi State University did quite well in this year’s ranking of the most popular places for general education students to get a graduate certificate. It came in at #12 on the list. Located in the town of Mississippi State, Mississippi State is a public college with a very large student population.

Of the 30 students majoring in education at Mississippi State, 27% are male and 73% are female.

Read full report on General Education at Mississippi State University

#13

Goucher College

Baltimore, MD

Goucher College came in at #13 in this year’s edition of the Most Popular General Education Graduate Certificate Schools ranking. Goucher is a small private not-for-profit school located in the city of Baltimore.

Of the 26 students majoring in education at Goucher, 8% are male and 92% are female.

Full General Education at Goucher College Report

#14

Purdue University - Main Campus

West Lafayette, IN

Purdue University - Main Campus came in at #14 in this year’s edition of the Most Popular General Education Graduate Certificate Schools ranking. Purdue is a fairly large public school located in the city of West Lafayette.

Of the 22 students majoring in education at Purdue, 14% are male and 86% are female.

Read full report on General Education at Purdue University - Main Campus

University of Wisconsin - Whitewater did quite well in this year’s ranking of the most popular places for general education students to get a graduate certificate. It came in at #14 on the list. Located in the town of Whitewater, UW - Whitewater is a public college with a fairly large student population.

Of the 22 students majoring in education at UW - Whitewater, 5% are male and 95% are female.

Read full report on General Education at University of Wisconsin - Whitewater

Louisiana State University and Agricultural & Mechanical College landed the #17 spot in the 2023 rankings for the most popular graduate certificate general education programs. Louisiana State University is a very large public school located in the medium-sized city of Baton Rouge.

Women make up 86% of the education majors at the school.

Read full report on General Education at Louisiana State University and Agricultural & Mechanical College

With a ranking of #18, University of Pittsburgh - Pittsburgh Campus did quite well on this year’s most popular schools for general education students working on their graduate certificate. Pitt is a very large public school located in the city of Pittsburgh.

Women make up 85% of the education majors at the school.

Education majors at Pitt take out an average of $25,278 in student loans while working on their Graduate Certificate.

Full General Education at University of Pittsburgh - Pittsburgh Campus Report

#18

Mercer University

Macon, GA

Mercer University landed the #18 spot in the 2023 rankings for the most popular graduate certificate general education programs. Located in the city of Macon, Mercer is a private not-for-profit college with a medium-sized student population.

About 85% of the students majoring in education at the school are women while 15% are male.

Read More…

#20

Union College Kentucky

Barbourville, KY

Union College Kentucky came in at #20 in this year’s edition of the Most Popular General Education Graduate Certificate Schools ranking. Union College is a small private not-for-profit school located in the remote town of Barbourville.

Of the 19 students majoring in education at Union College, 37% are male and 63% are female.

Read full report on General Education at Union College Kentucky

University of Missouri - Columbia landed the #21 spot in the 2023 rankings for the most popular graduate certificate general education programs. Mizzou is a fairly large public school located in the midsize city of Columbia.

About 81% of the students majoring in education at the school are women while 19% are male.

Read full report on General Education at University of Missouri - Columbia

Honorable Mentions

These are some additional schools worth mentioning that are also popular but just didn't quite make the cut to earn our top Most Popular General Education Graduate Certificate Schools award.

Rank College Location
22 California State University - Los Angeles Los Angeles, CA
23 University of Southern Mississippi Hattiesburg, MS
24 Oklahoma State University - Main Campus Stillwater, OK
24 University of Oregon Eugene, OR
26 Colorado Mesa University Grand Junction, CO
26 Gratz College Melrose Park, PA
26 University of Memphis Memphis, TN
26 University of Alabama at Birmingham Birmingham, AL
26 University of North Alabama Florence, AL
26 University of California - Berkeley Berkeley, CA
26 Bay Path University Longmeadow, MA

General Education by Region

View the Most Popular General Education Graduate Certificate Schools for a specific region near you.

Region
Southeast
New England
Rocky Mountains
Plains States
Middle Atlantic
Far Western US
Southwest
Great Lakes

One of 14 majors within the area of study, general education has other similar majors worth exploring.

Majors Similar to Education

Related Major Annual Graduates
Educational Administration 45,458
Teacher Education Grade Specific 34,451
Special Education 25,158
Teacher Education Subject Specific 20,616
Curriculum & Instruction 19,784

Notes and References

*These averages are for the top 25 schools only.

  • 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 KOKUYO.

More about our data sources and methodologies.

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