2024 Best Physics Bachelor's Degree Schools
a bachelor's degree in
physics is more popular than many other degrees. In fact, it ranks #62 out of 363 on popularity of all such degrees in the nation. As a result, there are many college that offer the degree, making your choice of school a hard one.
In 2024, College Factual analyzed 214 schools in order to identify the top ones for its Best Physics Bachelor's Degree Schools ranking. When you put them all together, these colleges and universities awarded 8,290 bachelor's degrees in physics during the 2020-2021 academic year.
Jump to one of the following sections: * Our Methodology
Choosing a Great Physics School for Your Bachelor's Degree
The physics bachelor's degree program you select can have a big impact on your future. Important measures of a quality physics program can vary widely even among the top schools. 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 many resources a school devotes to physics students as compared to other majors.
- Major Demand - How many other physics 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 physics 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 physics related body.
Our full ranking methodology documents in more detail how we consider these factors to identify the best schools for physics students working on their bachelor's degree.
One Size Does Not Fit All
Since picking the right college can be one of the most important decisions of your life, we've developed the Best Physics Bachelor's Degree Schools ranking, along with many other major-related rankings, to help you make that 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.
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 Physics in the United States
Below you'll see a list of the best colleges and universities for pursuing a bachelor's degree in physics. Only those schools that rank in the top 15% of all the schools we analyze get awarded with a place on this list.
25 Top Schools for a Bachelor's in Physics
Stanford University is a wonderful decision for individuals pursuing a bachelor's degree in physics. Stanford is a large private not-for-profit university located in the suburb of Stanford.More information about a bachelor’s in physics from Stanford University
Any student pursuing a degree in a bachelor's degree in physics has to look into University of Chicago. Located in the city of Chicago, UChicago is a private not-for-profit university with a fairly large student population.
Physics bachelor's degree recipients from University of Chicago earn a boost of around $13,318 over the typical income of physics graduates.
More information about a bachelor’s in physics from University of Chicago
Any student pursuing a degree in a bachelor's degree in physics needs to look into Northwestern University. Northwestern is a very large private not-for-profit university located in the small city of Evanston.More information about a bachelor’s in physics from Northwestern University
University of California - Los Angeles is one of the best schools in the United States for getting a bachelor's degree in physics. Located in the large city of Los Angeles, UCLA is a public university with a fairly large student population.
Physics bachelor's degree recipients from University of California - Los Angeles earn a boost of approximately $3,605 above the average income of physics majors.
More information about a bachelor’s in physics from University of California - Los Angeles
Cornell is a very large private not-for-profit university located in the small city of Ithaca.
Bachelor's students who receive their degree from the physics program make an average of $38,630 in the first couple years of their career.
More information about a bachelor’s in physics from Cornell University