2023 Most Focused Doctor’s Degree Colleges for Astronomy & Astrophysics in California
4
Ranked Colleges
28
Degrees Awarded
$40,500
Avg Cost*
When it comes to choosing a college, students have a lot of options - but not all of them are good. College Factual was founded, in part, to help students make the decision as to what would be the best school for them. Our “Schools for a Doctorate Highly Focused on Astronomy Major in California” ranking is part of that endeavor.
In 2020-2021, 1,375 people earned their degree in astronomy and astrophysics, making the major the 219th most popular in the United States. In 2019-2020, astronomy and astrophysics graduates who were awarded their degree in 2017-2019, earned an average of $31,221 and had an average of $24,484 in loans still to pay off.
Across California, there were 252 astronomy and astrophysics graduates with average earnings and debt of $0 and $19,734 respectively. At the doctor’s degree level specifically, there were 28 astronomy and astrophysics graduates with average earnings and debt of $75,525 and $0 respectively.
For this year’s “Schools for a Doctorate Highly Focused on Astronomy Major in California” ranking, we looked at 4 colleges that offer a degree in astronomy and astrophysics. The colleges and universities that top this list are recognized because their astronomy and astrophysics 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 Doctorate Highly Focused on Astronomy Major in California” 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. If you’re torn between two schools, you can use it to help you see how they stack up against one another. Bookmark it so you can compare any new schools that might interest you.
Schools for a Doctorate Highly Focused on Astronomy Major in California
The following schools top our list of the Best “Schools for a Doctorate Highly Focused on Astronomy Major in California”.
Top 4 Most Focused Doctor’s Degree Colleges for Astronomy & Astrophysics in California
Out of the 4 schools in the Schools for a Doctorate Highly Focused on Astronomy Major in California that were part of this year’s ranking, California Institute of Technology landed the #1 spot on the list. California Institute of Technology is a small private not-for-profit school situated in Pasadena, California. It awarded 7 doctorate’s astronomy degrees in 2020-2021.
Since the school has a undergrad student-to-faculty ratio of 3 to 1, those pursuing a degree will have more opportunities to interact with their professors. With a freshman retention rate of 94%, the school does an excellent job of retaining its undergraduate students.
Read more about Astronomy & Astrophysics at Caltech
Out of the 4 schools in the Schools for a Doctorate Highly Focused on Astronomy Major in California that were part of this year’s ranking, University of California - Santa Cruz landed the #2 spot on the list. UC Santa Cruz is a fairly large school located in Santa Cruz, California that handed out 6 doctorate’s astronomy degrees in 2020-2021.
With a freshman retention rate of 85%, the school does an excellent job of retaining its undergraduate students. The school has an impressive undergrad student loan default rate. It’s only 2.9%, which is much lower than the national rate of 10.1%.
Read more about Astronomy & Astrophysics at UC Santa Cruz
You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend University of California - Los Angeles. It ranked #3 on our 2023 Schools for a Doctorate Highly Focused on Astronomy Major in California list. Los Angeles, California is the setting for this large institution of higher learning. The public school handed out doctorate’s astronomy degrees to 10 students in 2020-2021.
The low undergrad student loan default rate of 1.6% 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 96%, which means students like the school well enough to return for a second year.
Read more about Astronomy & Astrophysics at UCLA
Out of the 4 schools in the Schools for a Doctorate Highly Focused on Astronomy Major in California that were part of this year’s ranking, University of California - Berkeley landed the #4 spot on the list. UC Berkeley is a large school located in Berkeley, California that handed out 5 doctorate’s astronomy degrees in 2020-2021.
Students who start out at the school are likely to stick around. The freshman retention rate is 96%. The school has an impressive undergrad student loan default rate. It’s only 1.8%, which is much lower than the national rate of 10.1%.
Read more about Astronomy & Astrophysics at University of California - Berkeley
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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
- *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.
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