2022 Best Value Bachelor’s Degree Colleges for Optics/Optical Sciences

When it comes to choosing a college, students have a lot of options - but not all of them are good. Our mission at College Factual is to arm you with as much information as we can to help you make that decision. Our “Best Value Optics/Optical Sciences Schools for a Bachelor’s” ranking is one tool we have developed to help in this regard.

In 2019-2020, 189 people earned their degree in optics/optical sciences, making the major the 783rd most popular in the United States.

At the bachelor’s degree level specifically, there were 39 optics/optical sciences graduates with average earnings and debt of $38,303 and $24,501 respectively.

For this year’s “Best Value Optics/Optical Sciences Schools for a Bachelor’s” ranking, we looked at 2 colleges that offer a degree in optics/optical sciences. The schools that top this list are recognized because they have great optics/optical sciences programs and cost less that schools of similar quality.

When determining these rankings, we looked at things such as overall quality of the optics/optical sciences program at the school and the cost to attend the school once aid has been awarded. See our ranking methodology to learn more.

More Ways to Rank Optics/Optical Sciences Schools

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 Value Optics/Optical Sciences Schools for a Bachelor’s” list to help you make the college decision.

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. Go ahead and give it a try, or bookmark the link so you can check it out later.

Best Value Optics/Optical Sciences Schools for a Bachelor’s

The colleges and universities below are the best for bachelor’s degree optics/optical sciences students.

Top 2 Best Value Bachelor’s Degree Colleges for Optics/Optical Sciences

#1

University of Arizona

Tucson, Arizona

#2 in overall quality

$15,016 Average Net Price

You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around if you attend University of Arizona. The school came in at #1 for the Best Value Optics/Optical Sciences Schools for a Bachelor’s. Located in Tucson, Arizona, this large public school awarded 35 diplomas to qualified bachelors’s optics/optical sciences students in 2019-2020.

University of Arizona also took the #2 spot in our “Best Optics/Optical Sciences Bachelor’s Degree Schools” ranking. The yearly cost to attend University of Arizona is $15,016 for bachelor’s degree optics/optical sciences students.

Students who start out at the school are likely to stick around. The freshman retention rate is 85%.

Full University of Arizona Optics/Optical Sciences Report

#2

University of Rochester

Rochester, New York

#1 in overall quality

$29,522 Average Net Price

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend University of Rochester. It ranked #2 on our 2022 Best Value Optics/Optical Sciences Schools for a Bachelor’s list. University of Rochester is located in Rochester, New York and, has a fairly large student population. In 2019-2020, this school awarded 4 bachelors’s optics/optical sciences degrees to qualified students.

As a testament to the quality of education offered at University of Rochester, the school also landed the #1 spot in our “Best Optics/Optical Sciences Bachelor’s Degree Schools” ranking. The yearly cost to attend University of Rochester is $29,522 for Bachelor’s Degree Optics/Optical Sciences students.

The school has an excellent freshman retention rate of 92%, which means students like the school well enough to return for a second year. Since the school has a student-to-faculty ratio of 10 to 1, those pursuing a degree will have more opportunities to interact with their professors. The low 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%.

Read full report on Optics/Optical Sciences at University of Rochester

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

• *Average salary, average net price, and average tuition and fees 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 A. T. Service.

Featured Physical Sciences Schools

Request Info

Southern New Hampshire University You have goals. Southern New Hampshire University can help you get there. Whether you need a bachelor's degree to get into a career or want a master's degree to move up in your current career, SNHU has an online program for you. Find your degree from over 200 online programs ... Learn More >