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2022 Best Value Bachelor’s Degree Colleges for Operations Research

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

Students have lots of options to chooose from today when trying to decide which college to attend. Our mission at College Factual is to arm you with as much information as we can to help you make that decision. Our “Best Value Operations Research Schools for a Bachelor’s” ranking is one tool we have developed to help in this regard.

In 2019-2020, 1,760 people earned their degree in operations research, making the major the 198th most popular in the United States. 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.

For this year’s “Best Value Operations Research Schools for a Bachelor’s” ranking, we looked at 5 colleges that offer a degree in operations research. Not only do the schools that top this list have excellent operations research programs, but they also cost less that schools of similar quality.

Some of the factors we look at when determining these rankings are overall quality of the operations research program at the school and the cost of the school after aid is awarded among other things. See our ranking methodology to learn more.

One Size Does Not Fit All

When choosing the right school for you, it’s important to arm yourself with all the facts you can. To that end, we’ve created a number of major-specific rankings, including this “Best Value Operations Research Schools for a Bachelor’s” list to help you make the college 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. Test it out by comparing your favorite schools against others you are considering, or bookmark the tool so you can experiment with it later.

Best Value Operations Research Schools for a Bachelor’s

The colleges and universities below are the best for bachelor’s degree operations research students.

Top 5 Best Value Bachelor’s Degree Colleges for Operations Research

#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 list. Princeton is a private not-for-profit institution located in Princeton, New Jersey. The school has a medium-sized population, and it awarded 69 bachelors’s degrees in 2019-2020.

Princeton not only placed well in this ranking. It is also #1 on our “Best Operations Research Bachelor’s Degree Schools” list. It costs about $11,317 for bachelor’s degree operations research students per year to attend Princeton.

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%. With a student-to-faculty ratio of 4 to 1, it’s easy to see that the school is committed to helping their undergraduates succeed.

Read more about Operations Research at Princeton University

#3 in overall quality

Out of the 5 schools in the Best Value Operations Research Schools for a Bachelor’s that were part of this year’s ranking, University of California - Berkeley landed the #2 spot on the list. This large school is located in Berkeley, California, and it awarded 58 bachelors’s operations research degrees in 2019-2020.

UC Berkeley did well in our major quality rankings, too. It placed #3 on our “Best Operations Research Bachelor’s Degree Schools” list. The estimated yearly cost for UC Berkeley is $15,329 for Bachelor’s Degree Operations Research 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%. Students who start out at the school are likely to stick around. The freshman retention rate is 96%.

Read full report on Operations Research at UC Berkeley

Out of the 5 schools in the Best Value Operations Research Schools for a Bachelor’s that were part of this year’s ranking, Columbia University in the City of New York landed the #3 spot on the list. New York, New York is the setting for this large institution of higher learning. The private not-for-profit school handed out bachelors’s operations research degrees to 77 students in 2019-2020.

Columbia did well in our major quality rankings, too. It placed #2 on our “Best Operations Research Bachelor’s Degree Schools” list. The yearly cost to attend Columbia University in the City of New York is $23,306 for Bachelor’s Degree Operations Research students.

The school has an impressive student loan default rate. It’s only 2.1%, which is much lower than the national rate of 10.1%. With a freshman retention rate of 95%, the school does an excellent job of retaining its students. 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.

Full Columbia Operations Research Report

#4

Cornell University

Ithaca, New York

You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around if you attend Cornell University. The school came in at #4 for the Best Value Operations Research Schools for a Bachelor’s. Located in Ithaca, New York, this large private not-for-profit school awarded 89 degrees to qualified bachelors’s operations research students in 2019-2020.

Cornell did well in our major quality rankings, too. It placed #4 on our “Best Operations Research Bachelor’s Degree Schools” list. The yearly cost to attend Cornell is $40,126 for bachelor’s degree operations research students.

The school has an impressive student loan default rate. It’s only 1.1%, which is much lower than the national 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. 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.

Full Cornell Operations Research Report

You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around if you attend Southern Methodist University. The school came in at #5 for the Best Value Operations Research Schools for a Bachelor’s. SMU is a fairly large private not-for-profit school situated in Dallas, Texas. It awarded 37 bachelors’s operations research degrees in 2019-2020.

SMU did well in our major quality rankings, too. It placed #5 on our “Best Operations Research Bachelor’s Degree Schools” list. The estimated yearly cost for SMU is $36,222 for Bachelor’s Degree Operations Research students.

Students who start out at the school are likely to stick around. The freshman retention rate is 90%. The student loan default rate at the school is 4.3%, which is quite low when compared to the national default rate of 10.1%.

Read full report on 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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