Animal Science is above average in terms of popularity with it being the #92 most popular degree program in the country. As a result, there are many college that offer the degree, making your choice of school a hard one.
For its 2024 ranking, College Factual looked at 76 schools in the United States to determine which ones were the best for animal science students pursuing a degree. When you put them all together, these colleges and universities awarded 8,294 degrees in animal science during the 2020-2021 academic year.
Your choice of animal science school matters, so we have put together these rankings to help you make your decision. In order to come up with a best overall ranking for animal science schools, we combine our degree-level rankings, weighting them by the number of degrees awarded at each level.
In order to find the schools that are the best fit for you, you may want to filter to one of the degree levels below.
The animal science school you choose to invest your time and money in matters. To help you make the decision that is right for you, we've developed a number of major-specific rankings, including this list of the Best Animal Science Schools.
If you'd like to restrict your choices to just one part of the country, you can filter this list by location.
In addition to our rankings, you can take two colleges and compare them based on the criteria that matters most to you in our unique tool, College Combat.
Test it out when you get a chance! You may also want to bookmark the link and share it with others who are trying to make the college decision.
Best Schools for Animal Science in the United States
If you aren't interested in a particular degree level and want to know which schools are the overall best at delivering an education for the animal science degrees they offer, see the list below. Only those schools that rank in the top 15% of all the schools we analyze get awarded with a place on this list.
Texas A&M University - College Station is one of the best schools in the United States for getting a degree in animal science. Texas A&M College Station is a very large public university located in the midsize city of College Station. A Best Colleges rank of #44 out of 2,217 schools nationwide means Texas A&M College Station is a great university overall.
There were roughly 298 animal science students who graduated with this degree at Texas A&M College Station in the most recent data year. Degree recipients from the animal science major at Texas A&M University - College Station make $11,061 more than the standard college grad in this field shortly after graduation.
Iowa State University is a great choice for students pursuing a degree in animal science. Iowa State is a fairly large public university located in the city of Ames. This university ranks 1st out of 40 schools for overall quality in the state of Iowa.
There were approximately 225 animal science students who graduated with this degree at Iowa State in the most recent data year. Degree recipients from the animal science degree program at Iowa State University make $21,307 more than the standard college grad in this field shortly after graduation.
It's difficult to beat University of California - Davis if you want to pursue a degree in animal science. UC Davis is a very large public university located in the small suburb of Davis. A Best Colleges rank of #52 out of 2,217 schools nationwide means UC Davis is a great university overall.
There were about 364 animal science students who graduated with this degree at UC Davis in the most recent data year. Soon after graduation, animal science degree recipients typically make about $27,988 in the first five years of their career.
Any student pursuing a degree in animal science has to look into University of Wisconsin - Madison. UW - Madison is a very large public university located in the large city of Madison. A Best Colleges rank of #30 out of 2,217 schools nationwide means UW - Madison is a great university overall.
There were about 61 animal science students who graduated with this degree at UW - Madison in the most recent data year. Degree recipients from the animal science degree program at University of Wisconsin - Madison earn $4,774 above the average college grad in this field shortly after graduation.
Located in the town of Brookings, South Dakota State is a public university with a fairly large student population. This university ranks 1st out of 13 schools for overall quality in the state of South Dakota.
There were about 138 animal science students who graduated with this degree at South Dakota State in the most recent data year. Animal Science degree recipients from South Dakota State University earn a boost of about $10,117 above the typical income of animal science majors.
Located in the city of Raleigh, NC State is a public university with a fairly large student population. This university ranks 3rd out of 93 schools for overall quality in the state of North Carolina.
There were roughly 225 animal science students who graduated with this degree at NC State in the most recent year we have data available. Students who graduate with their degree from the animal science program report average early career income of $31,223.
Located in the small city of Ithaca, Cornell is a private not-for-profit university with a very large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #22 out of 2,217 schools nationwide means Cornell is a great university overall.
There were about 108 animal science students who graduated with this degree at Cornell in the most recent year we have data available. Graduates who receive their degree from the animal science program earn about $25,436 for their early career.
UGA is a very large public university located in the medium-sized city of Athens. A Best Colleges rank of #72 out of 2,217 colleges nationwide means UGA is a great university overall.
There were about 136 animal science students who graduated with this degree at UGA in the most recent data year. Those animal science students who get their degree from University of Georgia make $2,372 more than the standard animal science student.
Located in the small city of Manhattan, K -State is a public university with a large student population. This university ranks 2nd out of 47 colleges for overall quality in the state of Kansas.
There were roughly 256 animal science students who graduated with this degree at K -State in the most recent year we have data available. Degree recipients from the animal science major at Kansas State University earn $3,248 above the typical graduate in this field shortly after graduation.
Located in the city of Columbus, Ohio State is a public university with a very large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #69 out of 2,217 colleges nationwide means Ohio State is a great university overall.
There were roughly 170 animal science students who graduated with this degree at Ohio State in the most recent data year. Animal Science degree recipients from Ohio State University - Main Campus receive an earnings boost of about $2,104 over the average income of animal science majors.
Located in the city of West Lafayette, Purdue is a public university with a very large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #40 out of 2,217 schools nationwide means Purdue is a great university overall.
There were approximately 198 animal science students who graduated with this degree at Purdue in the most recent data year. Soon after graduation, animal science degree recipients usually make around $32,152 in the first five years of their career.
The bars on the spread charts above show the distribution of the schools on this list +/- one standard deviation from the mean.
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 Billy Hathorn.