2023 Most Well Attended Operations Research Major in the Southwest Region

It’s not easy to decide which college to attend when there so many options available for students. At College Factual, we’re committed to helping you make that decision by providing information such as that found in our “Most Well Attended Operations Research Major in the Southwest Region” ranking.

In 2020-2021, 1,698 people earned their degree in operations research, making the major the 203rd most popular in the United States. 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 the Southwest region, there were 70 operations research graduates with average earnings and debt of $0 and $0 respectively.

For this year’s “Most Well Attended Operations Research Major in the Southwest Region” ranking, we looked at 2 colleges that offer a degree in operations research. To top this list, a school must have a successful operations research program that graduates more students in the field than other colleges that offer the same major.

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 “Most Well Attended Operations Research Major in the Southwest Region” 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. 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.

Most Well Attended Operations Research Major in the Southwest Region

The following schools top our list of the Best “Most Well Attended Operations Research Major in the Southwest Region”.

Top 2 Most Popular Colleges for Operations Research in the Southwest Region

1

Southern Methodist University
Dallas, Texas

#10 overall quality in Southwest

$62,901 Average Early-Career Earnings

$21,548 Average Student Debt

Out of the 2 schools in the Most Well Attended Operations Research Major in the Southwest Region that were part of this year’s ranking, Southern Methodist University landed the #1 spot on the list. This fairly large school is located in Dallas, Texas, and it awarded 43 ’s operations research degrees in 2020-2021.

The undergrad student loan default rate at the school is 2.1%, which is quite low when compared to the national default rate of 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

2

Rice University
Houston, Texas

#1 overall quality in Southwest

$64,867 Average Early-Career Earnings

$11,733 Average Student Debt

Out of the 2 schools in the Most Well Attended Operations Research Major in the Southwest Region that were part of this year’s ranking, Rice University landed the #2 spot on the list. This medium-sized school is located in Houston, Texas, and it awarded 12 ’s operations research degrees in 2020-2021.

The undergrad student loan default rate at the school is 0.2%, which is quite low when compared to the national default rate of 10.1%. Since the school has a undergrad student-to-faculty ratio of 6 to 1, those pursuing a degree will have more opportunities to interact with their professors. With a freshman retention rate of 97%, the school does an excellent job of retaining its undergraduate students.

Read more about Operations Research at Rice

• Most Popular 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.