If you plan on getting your associate degree in general physical sciences, you won't be alone since the degree program is ranked #43 in the country in terms of popularity. As a result, there are many college that offer the degree, making your choice of school a hard one.
College Factual looked at 3 colleges and universities when compiling its 2024 Best General Physical Sciences Associate Degree Schools in the Southwest Region ranking. When you put them all together, these colleges and universities awarded 862 associate degrees in general physical sciences during the 2020-2021 academic year.
Choosing a Great General Physical Sciences School for Your Associate Degree
The physical science associate degree program you select can have a big impact on your future. This section explores some of the factors we include in our ranking and how much they vary depending on the school you select. To make it into this list, a school must excel in the following areas.
A Great Overall School
The overall quality of a associate degree school is important to ensure a good education, not just how well they do in a particular major. To make it into this list a school must rank well in our overall Best Colleges ranking. This ranking considered factors such as graduation rates, overall graduate earnings and other educational resources to identify great colleges and universities.
Early-Career Earnings
Average early-career salary of those graduating with their associate degree is one indicator we use in our analysis to find the schools that offer the highest-quality education. That is, everyone wants their associate degree to be worth something, and salaries are one measure of determining that.
Other Factors We Consider
In addition to the above, you should consider some of the following factors:
Major Focus - How much a school focuses on general physical sciences students vs. other majors.
Major Demand - How many other general physical sciences students want to attend this school to pursue a associate degree.
Educational Resources - The amount of money and other resources allocated to students while they are pursuing their degree. These resources include such things as number of students per instructor and education expenditures per student.
Student Debt - How easy is it for general physical sciences to pay back their student loans after receiving their associate degree.
Accreditation - Whether a school is regionally accredited and/or accredited by a recognized general physical sciences related body.
Our full ranking methodology documents in more detail how we consider these factors to identify the best colleges for general physical sciences students working on their associate degree.
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 Best General Physical Sciences Associate Degree Schools in the Southwest Region list to help you make the college decision.
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Featured General Physical Sciences Programs
Learn about start dates, transferring credits, availability of financial aid, and more by contacting the universities below.
Every student who is interested in an associate degree in general physical sciences has to look into University of New Mexico - Gallup Campus. UNM Gallup is a small public university located in the rural area of Gallup.
Soon after graduating, physical science associate recipients typically earn about $19,802 in their early careers.
It is difficult to beat University of New Mexico - Taos Campus if you want to pursue an associate degree in general physical sciences. Located in the rural area of Ranchos de Taos, UNM Taos is a public university with a small student population.
After graduating, physical science associate recipients typically earn about $19,802 at the beginning of their careers.
University of New Mexico - Valencia County Campus is one of the finest schools in the United States for getting an associate degree in general physical sciences. Located in the rural area of Los Lunas, UNM Valencia is a public university with a small student population.
Soon after graduation, physical science associate recipients generally make about $19,802 in their early careers.
The bars on the spread charts above show the distribution of the schools on this list +/- one standard deviation from the mean.
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 the rest of our data about colleges.