2023 Most Focused Bachelor’s Degree Colleges for Geological & Earth Sciences in Iowa

When it comes to choosing a college, students have a lot of options - but not all of them are good. College Factual has developed its “Schools for a Bachelor’s Highly Focused on Geology Major in Iowa” ranking as one item you can use to help make this decision.

Geological & Earth Sciences is the 95th most popular major in the country with 7,821 degrees awarded in 2020-2021. In 2019-2020, geological and earth sciences graduates who were awarded their degree in 2017-2019, earned an average of $38,705 and had an average of $23,383 in loans still to pay off.

Across Iowa, there were 54 geological and earth sciences graduates with average earnings and debt of $40,315 and $25,400 respectively. At the bachelor’s degree level specifically, there were 32 geological and earth sciences graduates with average earnings and debt of $40,980 and $30,839 respectively.

This year’s “Schools for a Bachelor’s Highly Focused on Geology Major in Iowa” ranking looked at 4 colleges that offer degrees in a bachelor’s in geological and earth sciences. That schools that top this list have a program in geological and earth sciences in which the largest percentage of students at the school are enrolled.

Check out our ranking methodology for more information.

More Ways to Rank Geological & Earth Sciences Schools

The geology school you choose to invest your time and money in matters. To help you make the decision that is right for you, we’ve developed a number of major-specific rankings, including this list of “Schools for a Bachelor’s Highly Focused on Geology Major in Iowa”.

You can create your own custom comparison that focuses on the factors most important to you using our 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.

Schools for a Bachelor’s Highly Focused on Geology Major in Iowa

The following schools top our list of the Best “Schools for a Bachelor’s Highly Focused on Geology Major in Iowa”.

Top 4 Most Focused Bachelor’s Degree Colleges for Geological & Earth Sciences in Iowa

1

Cornell College
Mount Vernon, Iowa

Out of the 4 schools in the Schools for a Bachelor’s Highly Focused on Geology Major in Iowa that were part of this year’s ranking, Cornell College landed the #1 spot on the list. This small school is located in Mount Vernon, Iowa, and it awarded 3 bachelors’s geology degrees in 2020-2021.

The school has an impressive undergrad student loan default rate. It’s only 3.3%, which is much lower than the national rate of 10.1%.

Read more about Geological & Earth Sciences at Cornell College

2

University of Northern Iowa
Cedar Falls, Iowa

#4 overall quality in Iowa

Out of the 4 schools in the Schools for a Bachelor’s Highly Focused on Geology Major in Iowa that were part of this year’s ranking, University of Northern Iowa landed the #2 spot on the list. UNI is a public institution located in Cedar Falls, Iowa. The school has a medium-sized population, and it awarded 9 bachelors’s degrees in 2020-2021.

The school has an impressive undergrad student loan default rate. It’s only 2.8%, which is much lower than the national rate of 10.1%. Students who start out at the school are likely to stick around. The freshman retention rate is 86%.

Read full report on Geological & Earth Sciences at UNI

3

Iowa State University
Ames, Iowa

#1 overall quality in Iowa

$40,315 Average Early-Career Earnings

$25,400 Average Student Debt

Out of the 4 schools in the Schools for a Bachelor’s Highly Focused on Geology Major in Iowa that were part of this year’s ranking, Iowa State University landed the #3 spot on the list. Iowa State University is a large public school situated in Ames, Iowa. It awarded 12 bachelors’s geology degrees in 2020-2021.

Students who start out at the school are likely to stick around. The freshman retention rate is 89%. The undergrad student loan default rate at the school is 2.4%, which is quite low when compared to the national default rate of 10.1%.

Read more about Geological & Earth Sciences at Iowa State

4

University of Iowa
Iowa City, Iowa

#2 overall quality in Iowa

Out of the 4 schools in the Schools for a Bachelor’s Highly Focused on Geology Major in Iowa that were part of this year’s ranking, University of Iowa landed the #4 spot on the list. Iowa City, Iowa is the setting for this large institution of higher learning. The public school handed out bachelors’s geology degrees to 8 students in 2020-2021.

The school has an impressive undergrad student loan default rate. It’s only 2.2%, which is much lower than the national rate of 10.1%. Students who start out at the school are likely to stick around. The freshman retention rate is 88%.

Full University of Iowa Geological & Earth Sciences Report

• Most Focused Bachelor’s Degree Colleges for Geological & Earth Sciences in the Plains States Region
• Most Focused Bachelor’s Degree Colleges for Geological & Earth Sciences

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 Kelvinsong.