2023 Most Focused Master’s Degree Colleges for Operations Research in California

With all of the options students have for higher education today, it can be tough to choose which direction to take. At College Factual, we’re committed to helping you make that decision by providing information such as that found in our “Schools for a Master’s Highly Focused on Operations Research Major in California” ranking.

Operations Research is the 203rd most popular major in the country with 1,698 degrees awarded in 2020-2021. In 2019-2020, operations research graduates who were awarded their degree in 2017-2019, earned an average of $84,787 and had an average of $14,538 in loans still to pay off.

Across California, there were 368 operations research graduates with average earnings and debt of $45,988 and $16,250 respectively. At the master’s degree level specifically, there were 202 operations research graduates with average earnings and debt of $62,974 and $0 respectively.

For this year’s “Schools for a Master’s Highly Focused on Operations Research Major in California” ranking, we looked at 3 colleges that offer a degree in operations research. This a ranking of the schools where the largest percentage of students has enrolled in operations research.

For more information, check out our ranking methodology.

One Size Does Not Fit All

Since the program you select can have a significant impact on your future, we’ve developed a number of rankings, including this “Schools for a Master’s Highly Focused on Operations Research Major in California” list, to help you choose the best school for you.

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. 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.

Schools for a Master’s Highly Focused on Operations Research Major in California

The following schools top our list of the Best “Schools for a Master’s Highly Focused on Operations Research Major in California”.

Top 3 Most Focused Master’s Degree Colleges for Operations Research in California

1

Naval Postgraduate School
Monterey, California

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend Naval Postgraduate School. It ranked #1 on our 2023 Schools for a Master’s Highly Focused on Operations Research Major in California list. Monterey, California is the setting for this small institution of higher learning. The public school handed out masters’s operations research degrees to 85 students in 2020-2021.

Read full report on Operations Research at Naval Postgraduate School

2

University of California - Berkeley
Berkeley, California

#3 overall quality in California

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend University of California - Berkeley. It ranked #2 on our 2023 Schools for a Master’s Highly Focused on Operations Research Major in California list. Located in Berkeley, California, this large public school awarded 111 diplomas to qualified masters’s operations research students in 2020-2021.

Students who start out at the school are likely to stick around. The freshman retention rate is 96%. The low undergrad student loan default rate of 1.8% 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%.

Read more about Operations Research at UC Berkeley

3

University of Southern California
Los Angeles, California

#4 overall quality in California

You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around if you attend University of Southern California. The school came in at #3 for the Schools for a Master’s Highly Focused on Operations Research Major in California. This large school is located in Los Angeles, California, and it awarded 6 masters’s operations research degrees in 2020-2021.

Since the school has a undergrad student-to-faculty ratio of 9 to 1, those pursuing a degree will have more opportunities to interact with their professors. With a freshman retention rate of 91%, the school does an excellent job of retaining its undergraduate students. The low undergrad student loan default rate of 1.3% 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%.

Full University of Southern California Operations Research Report

• Most Focused Master’s Degree Colleges for Operations Research in the Far Western US Region
• Most Focused Master’s Degree Colleges for Operations Research

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

• *Avg Salary and Avg 4-Year Grad Rate 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.