2023 Best Graduate Certificate Schools
When it comes to higher education, there are a lot of options for students. With more and more schools offering online options, you could even register for a great program on the other side of the country. Or you may find the programs at a trade school or bootcamp to be a better alternative for you.
The Best 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 773 schools in the United States to see which ones offered the best graduate certificate programs for students.
View our full ranking methodology.
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Top Graduate Certificate Schools in the United States
Learn more about these excellent schools below:
Our analysis found Fielding Graduate University to be the best school for students who want to pursue a graduate certificate in the United States.
Fielding does offer online graduate classes for certain degree levels. In fact, around 97% of the graduate population registered for at least one online class in 2019-2020.
You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend Presidio Graduate School. It ranked #2 on our 2023 Best Graduate Certificate Schools list.
A rank of #3 on this year’s list means Northwestern University is a great place for students working on their graduate certificate.
Graduate Certificate recipients from Northwestern accumulate an average of $21,679 in student debt by the time they complete their degree.
Online graduate courses are available at Northwestern, but you will need to check with the school to see if they are available for your field of interest. In fact, around 2% of the graduate population registered for at least one online class in 2019-2020.
The excellent graduate certificate programs at Santa Clara University helped the school earn the #4 place on this year’s ranking of the best schools in the United States.
On average, graduate certificate students take out $18,093 in loans while pursuing their degree.
SCU does offer online graduate classes for certain degree levels. Of all the graduate students enrolled at the school during the 2019-2020 academic year, around 10% took at least some of their classes online.
Out of the 773 schools in the United States that were part of this year’s ranking, Lebanon Valley College landed the # 5 spot on the list.
LVC does have options available for those who want to take online graduate classes. You will need to check with the school to see if they are available for your specific major. To give an idea of how popular online courses are at the school, 81% of graduates took at least one course online in 2019-2020.
Stephens College landed the #6 spot in the 2023 rankings for the best graduate certificate programs.
Stephens does have options available for those who want to take online graduate classes. You will need to check with the school to see if they are available for your specific major. To give an idea of how popular online courses are at the school, 37% of graduates took at least one course online in 2019-2020.
Keck Graduate Institute landed the #7 spot in the 2023 rankings for the best graduate certificate programs.
On average, graduate certificate students take out $24,498 in loans while pursuing their degree.
One thing to take note of is that KGI does offer online graduate classes in some areas. To give an idea of how popular online courses are at the school, 4% of graduates took at least one course online in 2019-2020.
University of Washington - Seattle Campus ranked #8 on this year’s Best Graduate Certificate Schools list.
UW Seattle does offer online graduate classes for certain degree levels. In 2019-2020 about 7% of the graduate students at the school chose to take one or more online courses.
Michigan Technological University came in at #9 in this year’s edition of the Best Graduate Certificate Schools ranking.
You may have the opportunity to take online graduate classes at Michigan Tech. During the 2019-2020 year, about 30% of the graduate students at the school took at least one online course.
Claremont Graduate University did quite well in this year’s ranking of the best places for students to get a graduate certificate. It came in at #10 on the list.
Claremont Graduate University does offer online graduate classes for certain degree levels. In fact, around 67% of the graduate population registered for at least one online class in 2019-2020.
University of Virginia - Main Campus landed the #11 spot in the 2023 rankings for the best graduate certificate programs.
You may have the opportunity to take online graduate classes at University of Virginia. To give an idea of how popular online courses are at the school, 75% of graduates took at least one course online in 2019-2020.
With a ranking of #12, University of Pennsylvania did quite well on this year’s best schools for students working on their graduate certificate.
One thing to take note of is that UPenn does offer online graduate classes in some areas. In fact, around 74% of the graduate population registered for at least one online class in 2019-2020.
University of Chicago ranked #13 on this year’s Best Graduate Certificate Schools list.
Harvard University landed the #14 spot in the 2023 rankings for the best graduate certificate programs.
By the time they get their graduate certificate, students from this school have racked up an average of $19,755 in student loans.
Harvard does have options available for those who want to take online graduate classes. You will need to check with the school to see if they are available for your specific major. During the 2019-2020 year, about 96% of the graduate students at the school took at least one online course.
Linfield University - Online and Continuing Education landed the #15 spot in the 2023 rankings for the best graduate certificate programs.
Interested in an online degree? Then you definitely want to check out Linfield OCE. Every graduate student at the school took at least one class online.
Read full report on Linfield University - Online and Continuing Education
Stanford University did quite well in this year’s ranking of the best places for students to get a graduate certificate. It came in at #16 on the list.
Stanford does offer online graduate classes for certain degree levels. In 2019-2020 about 10% of the graduate students at the school chose to take one or more online courses.
Duke University did quite well in this year’s ranking of the best places for students to get a graduate certificate. It came in at #17 on the list.
Graduate Certificate recipients from Duke accumulate an average of $17,440 in student debt by the time they complete their degree.
One thing to take note of is that Duke does offer online graduate classes in some areas. During the 2019-2020 year, about 2% of the graduate students at the school took at least one online course.
With a ranking of #18, Elizabethtown College did quite well on this year’s best schools for students working on their graduate certificate.
Some students may be able to take online graduate classes at Etown. In 2019-2020 about 72% of the graduate students at the school chose to take one or more online courses.
The College of New Jersey landed the #19 spot in the 2023 rankings for the best graduate certificate programs.
Some students may be able to take online graduate classes at TCNJ. In 2019-2020 about 99% of the graduate students at the school chose to take one or more online courses.
Wisconsin Lutheran College did quite well in this year’s ranking of the best places for students to get a graduate certificate. It came in at #20 on the list.
You may have the opportunity to take online graduate classes at WLC. To give an idea of how popular online courses are at the school, 75% of graduates took at least one course online in 2019-2020.
Villanova University ranked #21 on this year’s Best Graduate Certificate Schools list.
Villanova does offer online graduate classes for certain degree levels. During the 2019-2020 year, about 89% of the graduate students at the school took at least one online course.
Southwestern College landed the #22 spot in the 2023 rankings for the best graduate certificate programs.
SC does have options available for those who want to take online graduate classes. You will need to check with the school to see if they are available for your specific major. Of all the graduate students enrolled at the school during the 2019-2020 academic year, around 84% took at least some of their classes online.
Seattle Pacific University landed the #23 spot in the 2023 rankings for the best graduate certificate programs.
Depending on your major, you may be able to take online graduate classes at SPU. During the 2019-2020 year, about 83% of the graduate students at the school took at least one online course.
With a ranking of #24, Virginia Tech did quite well on this year’s best schools for students working on their graduate certificate.
You may have the opportunity to take online graduate classes at Virginia Tech. In fact, around 63% of the graduate population registered for at least one online class in 2019-2020.
Tufts University came in at #25 in this year’s edition of the Best Graduate Certificate Schools ranking.
If you are interested in distance education, be sure to check with the school since Tufts does offer online graduate classes for certain majors. Of all the graduate students enrolled at the school during the 2019-2020 academic year, around 88% took at least some of their classes online.
Rest of the Top 50 Best Graduate Certificate Schools in the United States
Not only did these schools make the top 50 list, but they also landed in the top 15% of this year’s ranking:
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Rest of the Top 15% Best Graduate Certificate Schools in the United States
To learn more about the schools below, just click on their names:
Honorable Mentions
These schools also performed well in our best schools ranking:
Notes and References
Footnotes
*These averages are for the top 25 schools only.
References
- Read more about our ranking methodology.
- 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 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).
- Information about the national average student loan default rate is from the U.S. Department of Education and refers to data about the 2016 borrower cohort tracking period for which the cohort default rate (CDR) was 10.1%.
More about our data sources and methodologies.
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