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.
College Factual reviewed 149 schools in the United States to determine which ones were the best for bachelor's degree seekers in the field of physics. When you put them all together, these colleges and universities awarded 7,942 bachelor's degrees in physics during the 2021-2022 academic year.
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 colleges for physics students working on their bachelor's degree.
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 20% of all the schools we analyze get awarded with a place on this list.
Massachusetts Institute of Technology is a great option for individuals interested in a bachelor's degree in physics. Located in the midsize city of Cambridge, MIT is a private not-for-profit school with a fairly large student population.
Those physics students who get their bachelor's degree from Massachusetts Institute of Technology make $8,330 more than the standard physics student.
University of Notre Dame is a wonderful choice for individuals pursuing a bachelor's degree in physics. Located in the large suburb of Notre Dame, Notre Dame is a private not-for-profit university with a large student population.More information about a bachelor’s in physics from University of Notre Dame
University of Michigan - Ann Arbor is a good decision for individuals interested in a bachelor's degree in physics. U-M is a fairly large public university located in the midsize city of Ann Arbor.
Bachelor's recipients from the physics major at University of Michigan - Ann Arbor get $6,576 above the average college grad with the same degree when they enter the workforce.
RPI is a moderately-sized private not-for-profit school located in the small city of Troy.
Bachelor's recipients from the physics program at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute earn $13,905 more than the typical college grad with the same degree when they enter the workforce.
UCSD is a fairly large public university located in the city of La Jolla.
Physics bachelor's degree recipients from University of California - San Diego receive an earnings boost of approximately $2,508 over the average income of physics graduates.
Cornell is a very large private not-for-profit university located in the city of Ithaca.
Bachelor's recipients from the physics program at Cornell University earn $4,490 more than the standard graduate with the same degree when they enter the workforce.
Located in the suburb of Santa Barbara, UCSB is a public university with a fairly large student population.
Those physics students who get their bachelor's degree from University of California - Santa Barbara earn $7,154 more than the standard physics student.
UNC Chapel Hill is a fairly large public university located in the small city of Chapel Hill.
Physics bachelor's degree recipients from University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill receive an earnings boost of about $16,204 above the average earnings of physics graduates.
Located in the city of Minneapolis, UMN Twin Cities is a public university with a very large student population.
Physics bachelor's degree recipients from University of Minnesota - Twin Cities get an earnings boost of about $7,907 over the typical income of physics graduates.
Located in the city of Los Angeles, UCLA is a public university with a fairly large student population.
Bachelor's recipients from the physics degree program at University of California - Los Angeles make $14,052 more than the typical college graduate with the same degree when they enter the workforce.
Located in the city of Champaign, UIUC is a public university with a fairly large student population.
Physics bachelor's degree recipients from University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign receive an earnings boost of approximately $4,576 over the typical income of physics majors.
These are some additional schools worth mentioning that are also great but just didn't quite make the cut to earn our top Best Physics 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).
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.
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