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Agricultural Sciences Rankings: Indicate Your Priorities

Listed below are characteristics that capture some of the ways that graduate programs differ from one another. Tell us which characteristics are important to you, and we will rank programs based on your priorities.

→ Search Agricultural Sciences master's and doctoral programs by location, specialty, tuition, and more.

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For some items (e.g., number of students) you can indicate that you prefer larger or smaller values.

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Educational Quality and Outcomes

	Postdoc Placement: The percentage of doctorate recipients with definite postgraduation plans who have a postdoctoral position is ? Postdoctoral positions are typically one- to three-year positions in which a recent doctorate recipient obtains additional training in preparation for independent research. Postdoctoral positions pay modest stipends.
	Education Placement: The percentage of doctorate recipients with definite postgraduation plans who have a (nonpostdoctoral) position at an educational institution is ? If your ultimate goal is to obtain a position at an educational institution, you might want to consider a program whose graduates find such employment.
	Private-Sector Placement: The percentage of doctorate recipients with definite postgraduation plans who have a private-sector position is ? If your ultimate goal is to work in the private sector, you might want to consider a program whose graduates tend to find jobs there.

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Tuition and Expenses

	Low cost per year: The cost per year for an student living is low. Assume tuition remission. ? State-funded universities often charge lower rates for students who are considered residents of the state. If you are from out of state, it may take some time to become a resident. Check with the institution about residency requirements. On-campus housing is not always available to graduate students. Students often do not pay the full amount of tuition. For example, teaching and research assistantships often cover most or all of a graduate student’s tuition. Tuition remission refers to the amount that tuition is discounted. No remission means that you pay full tuition, and full remission means that you pay no tuition. Median remission means that you receive the median level of remission reported by 2000-2004 doctorate recipients from the program.
	In-State Tuition: Graduate tuition for in-state students is low. ? State-funded universities often charge lower rates for students who are considered residents of the state. If you are from out of state, it may take some time to become a resident. Check with the institution about residency requirements.
	Out-of-State Tuition: Graduate tuition for out-of-state students is low. ? State-funded universities often charge lower rates for students who are considered residents of the state. If you are from out of state, it may take some time to become a resident. Check with the institution about residency requirements.
	Living Expenses: Living expenses are low.

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Student Demographics

	Women: The percentage of doctoral degrees awarded to women is large.
	Underrepresented Minorities: The percentage of doctoral degrees awarded to underrepresented minorities is large. ? The category "underrepresented minorities" consists of US citizens who identify themselves as American Indian / Alaska Native, Black / African-American, and/or Hispanic / Latino.
	Foreign Students: The percentage of doctoral degrees awarded to non-US citizens with temporary visas is ? Programs with larger numbers of foreign students may be better equipped to meet any special needs they may have.

Program Size

Doctorates per Year: The number of doctoral degrees awarded per year is ?

Undergraduate Selectivity

	Acceptance Rate: The institution accepts a small percentage of applicants to its undergraduate programs. ? In the absence of other information, undergraduate selectivity can serve as a rough predictor of the selectivity of a graduate program. It is not a perfect predictor, however. Institutions that are less selective in admitting undergraduates may nonetheless have very selective graduate programs in some fields, and graduate programs at highly selective undergraduate institutions may be less selective in some fields. If you think that you are likely to have a teaching assistantship, undergraduate selectivity will give you some idea of the caliber of students you would have in the classes you teach.
	Math SAT: Undergraduates at the institution have high scores on the mathematics section of the SAT. ? The Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) is commonly required as part of the undergraduate application process. The math and verbal sections of the SAT are each scored on a scale of 200 to 800. Learn more.
	Verbal SAT: Undergraduates at the institution have high scores on the verbal section of the SAT. ? The Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) is commonly required as part of the undergraduate application process. The math and verbal sections of the SAT are each scored on a scale of 200 to 800. Learn more.

Missing Data

Program data are not always available. How should missing values be handled?

Use averages — Replace missing values with values based on the average for all programs in the field. ?
Skip and reweight — Skip items with missing values and redistribute their weights to the available values. ?
Do not rank — Leave programs with missing values out of the ranking. Unranked programs will be listed separately. ?

The graduate school rankings on phds.org have been made possible by grants from The Alfred P. Sloan Foundation and The Burroughs Wellcome Fund. The Center for Science and the Media served as the fiscal sponsor for the project.

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