2023 Most Focused Master’s Degree Colleges for Natural Resources & Conservation in North Carolina

Students have lots of options to chooose from today when trying to decide which college to attend. 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 Natural Resources & Conservation Major in North Carolina” ranking.

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 North Carolina, there were 1,321 natural resources and conservation graduates with average earnings and debt of $33,893 and $21,587 respectively. At the master’s degree level specifically, there were 256 natural resources and conservation graduates with average earnings and debt of $56,453 and $0 respectively.

For this year’s “Schools for a Master’s Highly Focused on Natural Resources & Conservation Major in North Carolina” ranking, we looked at 5 colleges that offer a degree in natural resources and conservation. The colleges and universities that top this list are recognized because their natural resources and conservation program is one of the largest majors offered at the school.

For more information, check out our ranking methodology.

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 “Schools for a Master’s Highly Focused on Natural Resources & Conservation Major in North Carolina” list to help you make the college decision.

We’ve created a tool called College Combat that lets you create your own customized comparisons based on the factors that matter the most to you. Go ahead and give it a try, or bookmark the link so you can check it out later.

Schools for a Master’s Highly Focused on Natural Resources & Conservation Major in North Carolina

The following schools top our list of the Best “Schools for a Master’s Highly Focused on Natural Resources & Conservation Major in North Carolina”.

Top 5 Most Focused Master’s Degree Colleges for Natural Resources & Conservation in North Carolina

1

Duke University
Durham, North Carolina

#1 overall quality in North Carolina

Out of the 5 schools in the Schools for a Master’s Highly Focused on Natural Resources & Conservation Major in North Carolina that were part of this year’s ranking, Duke University landed the #1 spot on the list. Duke University is located in Durham, North Carolina and, has a fairly large student population. In 2020-2021, this school awarded 153 masters’s natural resources and conservation degrees to qualified students.

Students who start out at the school are likely to stick around. The freshman retention rate is 97%. The school has an impressive undergrad student loan default rate. It’s only 0.3%, which is much lower than the national rate of 10.1%. The undergraduate 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 more about Natural Resources & Conservation at Duke University

2

North Carolina State University
Raleigh, North Carolina

#5 overall quality in North Carolina

You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around if you attend North Carolina State University. The school came in at #2 for the Schools for a Master’s Highly Focused on Natural Resources & Conservation Major in North Carolina. North Carolina State University is located in Raleigh, North Carolina and, has a large student population. In 2020-2021, this school awarded 74 masters’s natural resources and conservation degrees to qualified students.

The low undergrad student loan default rate of 2.0% 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 94%, which means students like the school well enough to return for a second year.

Read more about Natural Resources & Conservation at North Carolina State University

3

University of North Carolina at Wilmington
Wilmington, North Carolina

#9 overall quality in North Carolina

You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around if you attend University of North Carolina at Wilmington. The school came in at #3 for the Schools for a Master’s Highly Focused on Natural Resources & Conservation Major in North Carolina. University of North Carolina at Wilmington is a public institution located in Wilmington, North Carolina. The school has a fairly large population, and it awarded 18 masters’s degrees in 2020-2021.

The school has an impressive undergrad student loan default rate. It’s only 3.1%, which is much lower than the national rate of 10.1%.

Read more about Natural Resources & Conservation at University of North Carolina at Wilmington

4

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Chapel Hill, North Carolina

#2 overall quality in North Carolina

Out of the 5 schools in the Schools for a Master’s Highly Focused on Natural Resources & Conservation Major in North Carolina that were part of this year’s ranking, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill landed the #4 spot on the list. This large school is located in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, and it awarded 11 masters’s natural resources and conservation degrees in 2020-2021.

The undergrad student loan default rate at the school is 1.4%, which is quite low when compared to the national default rate of 10.1%. The school has an excellent freshman retention rate of 95%, which means students like the school well enough to return for a second year.

Read more about Natural Resources & Conservation at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

5

University of North Carolina at Greensboro
Greensboro, North Carolina

#11 overall quality in North Carolina

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend University of North Carolina at Greensboro. It ranked #5 on our 2023 Schools for a Master’s Highly Focused on Natural Resources & Conservation Major in North Carolina list. UNC Greensboro is a public institution located in Greensboro, North Carolina. The school has a fairly large population, and it awarded 11 masters’s degrees in 2020-2021.

Read full report on Natural Resources & Conservation at UNC Greensboro

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