If you plan on getting your bachelor's degree in geological & earth sciences, you won't be alone since the degree program is ranked #80 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 reviewed 144 schools in the United States to determine which ones were the best for bachelor's degree seekers in the field of geological & earth sciences. Combined, these schools handed out 5,022 bachelor's degrees in geological & earth sciences to qualified students.
Choosing a Great Geological & Earth Sciences School for Your Bachelor's Degree
Your choice of geological & earth sciences for getting your bachelor's degree school matters. 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
A school that excels in educating for a particular major and degree level must be a great school overall as well. 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
One measure we use to determine the quality of a school is to look at the average salary of bachelor's graduates during the early years of their career. That is, everyone wants their bachelor's 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 geological & earth sciences students vs. other majors.
Major Demand - How many other geological & earth sciences students want to attend this school to pursue a bachelor's 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 geological & earth sciences to pay back their student loans after receiving their bachelor's degree.
Accreditation - Whether a school is regionally accredited and/or accredited by a recognized geological & earth sciences related body.
Our full ranking methodology documents in more detail how we consider these factors to identify the best colleges for geological & earth sciences students working on their bachelor's degree.
Since the program you select can have a significant impact on your future, we've developed a number of rankings, including this Best Geological & Earth Sciences Bachelor's Degree Schools list, to help you choose the best school for you.
In addition to our rankings, you can take two colleges and compare them based on the criteria that matters most to you in our unique tool, College Combat.
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.
Best Schools for Bachelor’s Students to Study Geological & Earth Sciences in the United States
Below you'll see a list of the best colleges and universities for pursuing a bachelor's degree in geological & earth sciences. Only those schools that rank in the top 20% of all the schools we analyze get awarded with a place on this list.
Texas A&M University - College Station is a good option for students interested in a bachelor's degree in geological & earth sciences. Located in the medium-sized city of College Station, Texas A&M College Station is a public university with a fairly large student population.
Bachelor's recipients from the geological & earth sciences major at Texas A&M University - College Station make $4,502 more than the typical college grad in this field shortly after graduation.
University of Washington - Seattle Campus is a good option for students interested in a bachelor's degree in geological & earth sciences. Located in the city of Seattle, UW Seattle is a public university with a fairly large student population.
Bachelor's graduates who receive their degree from the geology program earn around $29,724 in their early career salary.
Located in the city of Madison, UW - Madison is a public university with a very large student population.
Those geological & earth sciences students who get their bachelor's degree from University of Wisconsin - Madison receive $2,985 more than the standard geology student.
U-M is a very large public university located in the midsize city of Ann Arbor.
Geological & Earth Sciences bachelor's degree recipients from University of Michigan - Ann Arbor earn a boost of around $5,891 above the average earnings of geological & earth sciences majors.
Located in the small suburb of Davis, UC Davis is a public university with a fairly large student population.
Bachelor's recipients from the geological & earth sciences degree program at University of California - Davis earn $3,379 above the average college grad in this field when they enter the workforce.
UC Santa Cruz is a large public university located in the small city of Santa Cruz.
Bachelor's recipients from the geological & earth sciences major at University of California - Santa Cruz earn $3,279 above the typical college grad in this field shortly after graduation.
U of U is a fairly large public university located in the city of Salt Lake City.
Bachelor's recipients from the geological & earth sciences major at University of Utah earn $9,363 more than the standard college graduate in this field shortly after graduation.
UW is a fairly large public university located in the remote town of Laramie.
Geological & Earth Sciences bachelor's degree recipients from University of Wyoming receive an earnings boost of about $5,675 above the typical income of geological & earth sciences graduates.
Located in the city of Minneapolis, UMN Twin Cities is a public university with a fairly large student population.
Bachelor's recipients from the geological & earth sciences degree program at University of Minnesota - Twin Cities make $4,742 more than the average college grad with the same degree shortly after graduation.
Here are some additional great schools for Geological & Earth Sciences students that almost earned our Best Geological & Earth Sciences Bachelor's Degree Schools award.
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.
Some other college data, including much of the graduate earnings data, comes from the U.S. Department of Education’s (College Scorecard).