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2022 Best Value Operations Research Schools for a Bachelor’s For Those Getting Aid

5 Ranked Colleges
471 Degrees Awarded
$25,300 Avg Net Price*
Best Value Operations Research Schools for a Bachelor's For Those Getting Aid

Students have lots of options to chooose from today when trying to decide which college to attend. 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 Operations Research Schools for a Bachelor’s For Those Getting Aid” ranking is part of that endeavor.

Operations Research is the 198th most popular major in the country with 1,760 degrees awarded in 2019-2020. In 2017-2018, operations research graduates who were awarded their degree in 2015-2017, earned an average of $79,967 and had an average of $28,139 in loans still to pay off.

At the bachelor’s degree level specifically, there were 471 operations research graduates with average earnings and debt of $38,303 and $24,501 respectively.

This year’s “Best Value Operations Research Schools for a Bachelor’s For Those Getting Aid” ranking analyzed 5 colleges that offered a degree in operations research. The schools that top this list are recognized because they have great operations research programs and cost less that schools of similar quality.

When determining these rankings, we looked at things such as overall quality of the operations research program at the school and the cost to attend the school once aid has been awarded. For more information, check out our ranking methodology.

More Ways to Rank Operations Research Schools

The operations research 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 “Best Value Operations Research Schools for a Bachelor’s For Those Getting Aid”.

One of our other unique offerings is College Combat. This tool lets you build your own customized comparisons utilizing the factors that are most important to you. We encourage you to try it out and pit your favorite colleges and universities head to head! If you don’t have time right now, you can bookmark it for later.

Best Value Operations Research Schools for a Bachelor’s For Those Getting Aid

The following schools top our list of the Best Best Value Operations Research Schools for a Bachelor’s For Those Getting Aid.

Top 5 Best Value Bachelor’s Degree Colleges for Operations Research (With Aid)

#1

Princeton University

Princeton, New Jersey

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend Princeton University. It ranked #1 on our 2022 Best Value Operations Research Schools for a Bachelor’s For Those Getting Aid list. This medium-sized school is located in Princeton, New Jersey, and it awarded 69 bachelors’s operations research degrees in 2019-2020.

Princeton also made our “Best Operations Research Bachelor’s Degree Schools” list, coming in at #1. The yearly cost to attend Princeton University is $11,317 for bachelor’s degree operations research students with aid.

The student loan default rate at the school is 0.9%, which is quite low when compared to the national default rate of 10.1%. Since the school has a student-to-faculty ratio of 4 to 1, those pursuing a degree will have more opportunities to interact with their professors.

Full Princeton University Operations Research Report

#3 in overall quality

You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around if you attend University of California - Berkeley. The school came in at #2 for the Best Value Operations Research Schools for a Bachelor’s For Those Getting Aid. Berkeley, California is the setting for this large institution of higher learning. The public school handed out bachelors’s operations research degrees to 58 students in 2019-2020.

As a testament to the quality of education offered at UC Berkeley, the school also landed the #3 spot in our “Best Operations Research Bachelor’s Degree Schools” ranking. The yearly cost to attend University of California - Berkeley is $15,329 for bachelor’s degree operations research students with aid.

The student loan default rate at the school is 1.7%, which is quite low when compared to the national default rate of 10.1%. The school has an excellent freshman retention rate of 96%, which means students like the school well enough to return for a second year.

Read more about Operations Research at University of California - Berkeley

Out of the 5 schools in the Best Value Operations Research Schools for a Bachelor’s For Those Getting Aid that were part of this year’s ranking, Columbia University in the City of New York landed the #3 spot on the list. Columbia is located in New York, New York and, has a large student population. In 2019-2020, this school awarded 77 bachelors’s operations research degrees to qualified students.

In addition to being on our bachelor’s degree operations research students with aid list, Columbia has also earned the #2 rank in our “Best Operations Research Bachelor’s Degree Schools” ranking. The yearly cost to attend Columbia University in the City of New York is $23,306 for Bachelor’s Degree Operations Research students with aid.

The low student loan default rate of 2.1% 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%. Students who start out at the school are likely to stick around. The freshman retention rate is 95%. The student-to-faculty ratio of 6 to 1 is a sign that students will have more opportunities to engage with their professors one-on-one.

Read full report on Operations Research at Columbia

#4

Cornell University

Ithaca, New York

Out of the 5 schools in the Best Value Operations Research Schools for a Bachelor’s For Those Getting Aid that were part of this year’s ranking, Cornell University landed the #4 spot on the list. Located in Ithaca, New York, this large private not-for-profit school awarded 89 diplomas to qualified bachelors’s operations research students in 2019-2020.

Cornell also took the #4 spot in our “Best Operations Research Bachelor’s Degree Schools” ranking. The estimated yearly cost for Cornell University is $40,126 for bachelor’s degree operations research students with aid.

The low student loan default rate of 1.1% 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%. With a freshman retention rate of 96%, the school does an excellent job of retaining its students. With a student-to-faculty ratio of 9 to 1, it’s easy to see that the school is committed to helping their undergraduates succeed.

Read more about Operations Research at Cornell University

Out of the 5 schools in the Best Value Operations Research Schools for a Bachelor’s For Those Getting Aid that were part of this year’s ranking, Southern Methodist University landed the #5 spot on the list. Located in Dallas, Texas, this fairly large private not-for-profit school handed out 37 diplomas to qualified bachelors’s operations research students in 2019-2020.

As a testament to the quality of education offered at SMU, the school also landed the #5 spot in our “Best Operations Research Bachelor’s Degree Schools” ranking. The estimated yearly cost for SMU is $36,222 for bachelor’s degree operations research students with aid.

The low student loan default rate of 4.3% 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 90%, which means students like the school well enough to return for a second year.

Read more about Operations Research at SMU

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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.

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