2022 Best Value Biotech Schools for a Bachelor’s in California

It’s not easy to decide which college to attend when there so many options available for students. College Factual was founded, in part, to help students make the decision as to what would be the best school for them. Our “Best Value Biotech Schools for a Bachelor’s in California” ranking is part of that endeavor.

In 2019-2020, 3,585 people earned their degree in biotechnology, making the major the 171st most popular in the United States. In 2017-2018, biotechnology graduates who were awarded their degree in 2015-2017, earned an average of $50,092 and had an average of $32,815 in loans still to pay off.

Across California, there were 246 biotechnology graduates with average earnings and debt of $51,667 and $25,718 respectively. At the bachelor’s degree level specifically, there were 127 biotechnology graduates with average earnings and debt of $37,907 and $21,546 respectively.

This year’s “Best Value Biotech Schools for a Bachelor’s in California” ranking looked at 3 colleges that offer degrees in a bachelor’s in biotechnology. The schools that top this list are recognized because they have great biotechnology programs and cost less that schools of similar quality.

Some of the factors we look at when determining these rankings are overall quality of the biotechnology program at the school and the cost of the school after aid is awarded among other things. For more information, check out our ranking methodology.

One Size Does Not Fit All

Since picking the right college can be one of the most important decisions of your life, we’ve developed the “Best Value Biotech Schools for a Bachelor’s in California” ranking, along with many other major-related rankings, to help you make that decision.

In addition to College Factual’s rankings, you may want to take a look at College Combat, our unique tool that lets you pit your favorite schools head-to-head and compare how they rate on factors that most interest you. Go ahead and give it a try, or bookmark the link so you can check it out later.

Best Value Biotech Schools for a Bachelor’s in California

The following schools top our list of the Best Best Value Biotech Schools for a Bachelor’s in California.

Top 3 Best Value Bachelor’s Degree Colleges for Biotechnology in California

#1

California State University - San Marcos

San Marcos, California

#3 in overall quality

$13,399 Average Net Price

$45,500 Average Early-Career Earnings

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend California State University - San Marcos. It ranked #1 on our 2022 Best Value Biotech Schools for a Bachelor’s in California list. California State University - San Marcos is a fairly large public school situated in San Marcos, California. It awarded 30 bachelors’s biotech degrees in 2019-2020.

CSUSM did well in our major quality rankings, too. It placed #3 on our “Best Biotechnology Bachelor’s Degree Schools in California” list. The yearly cost to attend CSUSM is $13,399 for california bachelor’s degree biotech students.

The school has an impressive student loan default rate. It’s only 4.2%, which is much lower than the national rate of 10.1%.

Read more about Biotechnology at CSUSM

#2

California State Polytechnic University - Pomona

Pomona, California

#2 in overall quality

$12,734 Average Net Price

$41,565 Average Early-Career Earnings

Out of the 3 schools in the Best Value Biotech Schools for a Bachelor’s in California that were part of this year’s ranking, California State Polytechnic University - Pomona landed the #2 spot on the list. California State Polytechnic University - Pomona is a large public school situated in Pomona, California. It awarded 41 bachelors’s biotech degrees in 2019-2020.

As a testament to the quality of education offered at Cal Poly Pomona, the school also landed the #2 spot in our “Best Biotechnology Bachelor’s Degree Schools in California” ranking. The yearly cost to attend Cal Poly Pomona is $12,734 for California Bachelor’s Degree Biotech students.

The low student loan default rate of 1.7% is a good sign that students have an easier time paying off their loans than they might at other schools. For comparison, the national default rate is 10.1%. The school has an excellent freshman retention rate of 87%, which means students like the school well enough to return for a second year.

Read more about Biotechnology at Cal Poly Pomona

#3

University of California - Davis

Davis, California

#1 in overall quality

$14,669 Average Net Price

$44,837 Average Early-Career Earnings

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend University of California - Davis. It ranked #3 on our 2022 Best Value Biotech Schools for a Bachelor’s in California list. University of California - Davis is a large public school situated in Davis, California. It awarded 56 bachelors’s biotech degrees in 2019-2020.

UC Davis also took the #1 spot in our “Best Biotechnology Bachelor’s Degree Schools in California” ranking. The yearly cost to attend UC Davis is $14,669 for california bachelor’s degree biotech students.

The student loan default rate at the school is 1.9%, which is quite low when compared to the national default rate of 10.1%. With a freshman retention rate of 93%, the school does an excellent job of retaining its students.

Full University of California - Davis Biotechnology Report

• Best Value Bachelor’s Degree Colleges for Biotechnology in the Far Western US Region
• Best Value Bachelor’s Degree Colleges for Biotechnology

Notes and References

References

• 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%.

Read more about our data sources and methodologies

Footnotes

• *Average salary, average net price, and average tuition and fees are for the top schools only.
• Some schools otherwise deserving of recognition may have been removed from this ranking in the event that new data identified post-publication warranted it, or at the request of the school.

Credits

• Credit for the banner image above goes to Henk Caspers/Naturalis Biodiversity Center.

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