2023 Most Focused Doctor’s Degree Colleges for Natural Resources & Conservation in Virginia

When it comes to choosing a college, students have a lot of options - but not all of them are good. One of our goals at College Factual is to give you as much information as we can - such as our “Schools for a Doctorate Highly Focused on Natural Resources & Conservation Major in Virginia” ranking - to help you make that decision.

Natural Resources & Conservation is the 25th most popular major in the country with 30,503 degrees awarded in 2020-2021. In 2019-2020, natural resources and conservation graduates who were awarded their degree in 2017-2019, earned an average of $35,158 and had an average of $23,267 in loans still to pay off.

Across Virginia, there were 873 natural resources and conservation graduates with average earnings and debt of $35,358 and $23,435 respectively. At the doctor’s degree level specifically, there were 24 natural resources and conservation graduates with average earnings and debt of $75,633 and $0 respectively.

This year’s “Schools for a Doctorate Highly Focused on Natural Resources & Conservation Major in Virginia” ranking looked at 3 colleges that offer degrees in a bachelor’s in natural resources and conservation. This a ranking of the schools where the largest percentage of students has enrolled in natural resources and conservation.

Check out our ranking methodology for more information.

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 “Schools for a Doctorate Highly Focused on Natural Resources & Conservation Major in Virginia” ranking, along with many other major-related rankings, to help you make that decision.

To further help you make the college decision, we’ve developed a unique tool called College Combat that allows you to compare schools based on the factors that matter the most to 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.

Schools for a Doctorate Highly Focused on Natural Resources & Conservation Major in Virginia

The following schools top our list of the Best “Schools for a Doctorate Highly Focused on Natural Resources & Conservation Major in Virginia”.

Top 3 Most Focused Doctor’s Degree Colleges for Natural Resources & Conservation in Virginia

1

Virginia Tech
Blacksburg, Virginia

#2 overall quality in Virginia

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend Virginia Tech. It ranked #1 on our 2023 Schools for a Doctorate Highly Focused on Natural Resources & Conservation Major in Virginia list. Located in Blacksburg, Virginia, this large public school handed out 12 diplomas to qualified doctorate’s natural resources and conservation students in 2020-2021.

The low undergrad student loan default rate of 1.2% 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 93%.

Full Virginia Tech Natural Resources & Conservation Report

2

George Mason University
Fairfax, Virginia

#5 overall quality in Virginia

You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around if you attend George Mason University. The school came in at #2 for the Schools for a Doctorate Highly Focused on Natural Resources & Conservation Major in Virginia. GMU is located in Fairfax, Virginia and, has a large student population. In 2020-2021, this school awarded 7 doctorate’s natural resources and conservation degrees to qualified students.

The undergrad student loan default rate at the school is 2.5%, which is quite low when compared to the national default rate of 10.1%. The school has an excellent freshman retention rate of 86%, which means students like the school well enough to return for a second year.

Read full report on Natural Resources & Conservation at GMU

3

University of Virginia - Main Campus
Charlottesville, Virginia

#1 overall quality in Virginia

Out of the 3 schools in the Schools for a Doctorate Highly Focused on Natural Resources & Conservation Major in Virginia that were part of this year’s ranking, University of Virginia - Main Campus landed the #3 spot on the list. University of Virginia - Main Campus is a public institution located in Charlottesville, Virginia. The school has a large population, and it awarded 5 doctorate’s degrees in 2020-2021.

With a freshman retention rate of 97%, the school does an excellent job of retaining its undergraduate students. The undergrad student loan default rate at the school is 0.7%, which is quite low when compared to the national default rate of 10.1%.

Read full report on Natural Resources & Conservation at University of Virginia

• Most Focused Doctor’s Degree Colleges for Natural Resources & Conservation in the Southeast Region
• Most Focused Doctor’s Degree Colleges for Natural Resources & Conservation

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.

Credits

• Credit for the banner image above goes to Lynn Betts.