This is the 2017 ranking of Human Development and Family Science-type programs. You might wonder – what is Human Development and Family Science, what those of us in the field affectionately call HDFS? My colleague Sarah Schoppe-Sullivan wrote that “The purpose of HDFS is to nurture independent scholars who approach the study of development and behavior of human beings within social contexts from multiple disciplinary perspectives. The training of HDFS graduate students thus encompasses many approaches and paradigms, but is integrated through instruction in systems and bioecological perspectives, which emphasize that individuals are embedded in social contexts and cannot be fully understood out of context, and that human development and adaptation influence and are influenced by multiple interconnected sets of factors (e.g., genes, family relationships, school, community, society).” Below, you will see a ranking of 48-HDFS doctoral programs. These programs have a variety of names, but what they all hold in common is the study of human development in context. I will rank programs again in 2020, and until then, browse these programs, and consider continuing your graduate training in a program that will give you a broad perspective on human development and family relationships across multiple contexts and from multiple disciplinary perspectives. Often the most innovative advances in the study of human development and the family come from scholars who generate ideas after being exposed to a variety of disciplinary perspectives. Study HDFS, and you may be surprised at what you learn, and the knowledge that you generate!
If you are looking for advice on how to choose a graduate program, check out this article: Where Should I Go to Graduate School.
The methodology of these rankings can be accessed here.
2017 Overall Rankings
Top 5 Programs in Family Science 2017
| Rank | University | Program/Department |
| 1 | Pennsylvania State University | Department of Human Development and Family Studies |
| 2 | University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana | Department of Human Development and Family Studies |
| 2 | Virginia Tech | Department of Human Development and Family Science |
| 4 | University of Minnesota | Department of Family Social Science |
| 5 | Brigham Young University | Program in Marriage, Family, and Human Development |
photo credit: Cilia Schubert via photopin cc
Top 5 Programs in Child Development 2017
| Rank | University | Program/Department |
| 1 | University of California, Davis | Human Development Graduate Group |
| 2 | Pennsylvania State University | Department of Human Development and Family Studies |
| 3 | University of North Carolina Greensboro | Department of Human Development and Family Studies |
| 4 | Cornell University | Department of Human Development |
| 5 | Arizona State University | Program in Family and Human Development |
Top 5 Programs in Adolescent Development and Emerging Adulthood 2017
| Rank | University | Program/Department |
| 1 | Pennsylvania State University | Department of Human Development and Family Studies |
| 2 | Arizona State University | Program in Family and Human Development |
| 3 | University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana | Department of Human Development and Family Studies |
| 3 | Auburn University | Department of Human Development and Family Studies |
| 3 | Tufts University | Department of Child Study and Human Development |
photo credit: Photoflurry via photopin cc
Top 5 Programs in Adult Development and Aging 2017
| Rank | University | Program |
| 1 | Pennsylvania State University | Department of Human Development and Family Studies |
| 1 | Virginia Tech | Department of Human Development and Family Science |
| 3 | Colorado State University | Department of Human Development and Family Studies |
| 4 | Purdue University | Department of Human Development and Family Studies |
| 4 | Oregon State University | Program in Human Development and Family Studies |