Find Grad Schools

Study Area & Zipcode

Best Value Music Doctor's Degree Schools in California

Find Schools Near

2023 Best Value Music Doctor's Degree Schools in California

Identifying Quality Schools at More Affordable Prices

11 Colleges
$23,628 Avg Tuition & Fees*
$38,302 Avg Salary

Finding the Best Music Doctor's Degree School for You

With 629 degrees and certificates handed out in 2020-2021, music is the #40 most popular major in California.

There are lots of options to pick from today when trying to decide which program is right for you. Along with traditional schools that require in-person attendence, you can attend one of many reputable online schools. Some programs even offer a hybrid experience. Alternatively, you may choose a trade school that prepares you to enter the workforce with knowledge in a specific field.

To help you arm yourself with the information you need to make your decision, Grad Degree Search has developed this Best Value Music Doctor's Degree Schools in California ranking. This report analyzed 11 schools in California to see which ones offered the best value doctor's degree programs for music students. The goal was to highlight schools with more affordable prices than others offering similar quality experiences.

When determining this ranking, we place a high emphasis on the school's quality as well as its sticker price. Even though a college may be affordable, it may not offer value. More specifically, we discount our quality score by the published tuition and fees charged by a school. This gives the cost per unit of quality for each college. The value is determined by how much quality your dollar buys.

Our calculations use out-of-state tuition and fees in our nationwide and regional rankings. Average in-state tuition and fees are used for our statewide rankings.

2023 Best Value Music Doctor’s Degree Schools in California

The colleges and universities below are the best value schools for music majors pursuing a doctor's degree.

Top 10 Best Music Doctor's Degree Schools

Our 2023 rankings named University of California - Berkeley the best value school in California for music students working on their doctor’s degree. Located in the medium-sized city of Berkeley, UC Berkeley is a public school with a very large student population.

UC Berkeley graduate students pay an average of $14,160 in in-state tuition and fees each year.

UC Berkeley also made our Best Music Doctor’s Degree Schools in California list, coming in at #3.

Read full report on Music at University of California - Berkeley

The excellent doctor’s degree programs at University of California - Los Angeles helped the school earn the #2 place on this year’s ranking of the best value music schools in California. Located in the large city of Los Angeles, UCLA is a public college with a fairly large student population.

The average tuition and fees for an in-state graduate student at UCLA are $13,036 a year.

On top of its placing in our value ranking, UCLA also did well on our Best Music Doctor’s Degree Schools in California list. It’s in the top 20% of all schools reviewed in this analysis.

Read More…

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend University of California - Irvine. It ranked #3 on our 2023 Best Value Music Doctor’s Degree Schools in California list. Located in the large city of Irvine, UC Irvine is a public college with a fairly large student population.

The average tuition and fees for an in-state graduate student at UC Irvine are $13,356 a year.

Full Music at University of California - Irvine Report

The excellent doctor’s degree programs at University of California - Davis helped the school earn the #4 place on this year’s ranking of the best value music schools in California. Located in the small suburb of Davis, UC Davis is a public college with a very large student population.

The average tuition and fees for an in-state graduate student at UC Davis are $13,608 a year.

Read More…

The excellent doctor’s degree programs at University of California - Santa Barbara helped the school earn the #5 place on this year’s ranking of the best value music schools in California. Located in the medium-sized suburb of Santa Barbara, UCSB is a public school with a very large student population.

UCSB graduate students pay an average of $13,581 in in-state tuition and fees each year.

Read full report on Music at University of California - Santa Barbara

University of California - San Diego ranked #6 on this year’s Best Value Music Doctor’s Degree Schools in California list. UCSD is a very large public school located in the large city of La Jolla.

In-state tuition fees for graduate students at UCSD are $13,564 per year.

Full Music at University of California - San Diego Report

University of California - Santa Cruz came in at #7 in this year’s edition of the Best Value Music Doctor’s Degree Schools in California ranking. UC Santa Cruz is a large public school located in the small city of Santa Cruz.

The average tuition and fees for an in-state graduate student at UC Santa Cruz are $13,895 a year.

Read More…

University of California - Riverside came in at #7 in this year’s edition of the Best Value Music Doctor’s Degree Schools in California ranking. Located in the large city of Riverside, UCR is a public college with a very large student population.

In-state tuition fees for graduate students at UCR are $13,467 per year.

Full Music at University of California - Riverside Report

Claremont Graduate University ranked #9 on this year’s Best Value Music Doctor’s Degree Schools in California list. Claremont Graduate University is a small private not-for-profit school located in the suburb of Claremont.

In-state tuition fees for graduate students at Claremont Graduate University are $36,380 per year.

Claremont Graduate University also took the #2 spot in our Best Music Doctor’s Degree Schools in California rankings.

Read More…

University of Southern California did quite well in this year’s ranking of the best places for music students to get a doctor’s degree. It came in at #10 on the list. USC is a fairly large private not-for-profit school located in the city of Los Angeles.

USC graduate students pay an average of $61,396 in in-state tuition and fees each year.

USC also claimed a spot on our Best Music Doctor’s Degree Schools in California list. It’s in the top 15% of all schools in this category.

Full Music at University of Southern California Report

Best Value Music Colleges in the Far Western US Region

Explore all the Best Value Music Colleges in the Far Western US Area or other specific states within that region.

State Degrees Awarded
Washington 63
Oregon 74
Nevada 33
Hawaii 8
Alaska 0

One of 9 majors within the area of study, music has other similar majors worth exploring.

Related Major Annual Graduates
Fine & Studio Arts 3,224
Design & Applied Arts 1,979
Film, Video & Photographic Arts 1,704
Drama & Theater Arts 1,699
Arts & Media Management 1,184

Notes and References

*These averages are for the top 11 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).

More about our data sources and methodologies.

Featured Schools

Find Graduate Schools Near You

Our free school finder matches students with accredited graduate schools across the U.S.