2024 Best Colleges for Earth Sciences

SUMMARY

A degree in Earth Sciences is a valuable choice and generally a necessary first step for undergraduates intending to enter a career as a geophysicists, a seismologist, or a mineralogist. In fact, nationally, earth sciences is of average popularity coming in at the 70th most popular major. Last year, there were 6,574 earth sciences diplomas received. In-state tuition for earth sciences at private colleges is, on average, 4.9 times more spendy than their public fellows.

There are 456 institutions which offer earth sciences. This number of universities is fairly average in terms of the number of institutions which offer each degree. If you're looking to surround yourself with other earth sciences students, consider looking at colleges in California which have the most undergrads admitted to earth sciences annually. Zooming out, the top region to study earth sciences is in the Far West region with Washington State University, University of Washington-Seattle Campus, and Western Washington University best representing the region. Interestingly, our selection of the best conference to study earth sciences is the Pacific-12 Conference with University of Colorado Boulder, Washington State University, and University of Washington-Seattle Campus representing the conference. From our comprehensive list of the best colleges, our choice for the best university for earth sciences is Stanford University.

The objectively 'best' school does not have to be the 'best' school for you. There might be tons more angels to consider when selecting school. External stuff like campus amenities, transportation services, and food might definitely impact one's thoughts on where to go to university. Here at authority.org, we have evaluated the pros and cons for you. If, for example, you are interested in which earth sciences school boasts the best campus, the answer is Stanford University. If, for example, you are mostly interested in which school boasts the top campus, we have an entire list dedicated to that. We have carefully pored through government databases, student reviews, professor reviews, and more so we can compare all U.S. majors in an unbiased and informative way. You can find our well researched list for the universities with the best student life&nbsphere and, from that list, our pick of the school with the best student life for earth sciences is Cornell University. Are you curious why? Continue scrolling to learn more about Authority's top selections. Many of our picks will probably shock you.

If cost is a primary factor in your decisions, you might be cautious about Columbia University in the City of New York. Columbia University in the City of New York&nbspis our most expensive university for earth sciences, at least regarding out of state attendance. That being said, we have an entire list of the most expensive&nbspcolleges that could put the expense at Columbia University in the City of New York&nbspinto perspective. Additionally, you may care to know that earth sciences is the 38th most expensive degree in the nation, with an average associated cost of $50,900. To zoom out a little, the most costly state for earth sciences in the country is Vermont with expenses at the main two colleges Middlebury College and University of Vermont of $55,790 and $41,280 respectively. Even more broadly, the most expensive region of the U.S. for earth sciences is the New England region which is best demonstrated with Tufts University with a cost of $57,324, Williams College with a cost of $56,970, and Brown University with a cost of $57,112.

Our cheapest region for earth sciences is the Rocky Mountains region which is represented by Brigham Young University-Idaho with a cost of $4,208, Brigham Young University-Provo with a cost of $5,790, and Weber State University with a cost of $14,973. In better news, the most affordable school for earth sciences is Mississippi State University. Authority.org's full list of the most affordable schools can be explored here.

In-state learners can expect to pay around $10,200 for a degree in earth sciences. That price swells intensely to a median of $24,400 for the out-of-state public-school student. Our pick for the school representing the best value for earth sciences: Stanford University. Here you will see our comprehensive list of the colleges we see as being the best value&nbspin general. Bear in mind, this discussion is based on being an out-of-state student. A discussion of value changes when it comes to in-state tuition, but we do not know where you live (and are not trying to collect that kind of data).

Earnings for earth sciences students can cover a wide range, but two-years after graduation graduates will typically make in the neighborhood of $56,000. While there is a lot of variation in earnings potential; highest paid earners can bring in up to $110,200. Even right out of college, the lowest end positions within the earth sciences field earn $28,000, which is an alright wage. The highest earning graduates for earth sciences studied at Stanford University&nbspand if you want to find the colleges with all of the highest earning graduates, Authority has that too.

The overall diversity of earth sciences sits subpar, being within the 48th percentile of all programs. The school with the highest composite diversity for earth sciences is Brown University&nbspand here you can find our comprehensive list of the schools with the most diversity. The financial diversity of Earth Sciences ranks only in the 44th percentile compared to all other majors. Racial diversity is even lower in the 40th percentile. White undergraduates make up the largest share, 65%, of those majoring in earth sciences. Additionally, 56% of undergrads pursuing an earth sciences degree are men.

The median ranking for earth sciences professors is 3.9 stars, which is 2% worse than the average across all majors; which is a subpar ranking. If you want the most popular earth sciences professor in the country, consider looking up Isabelle Sacramentogrilo from San Diego State University. It might surprise you, but the highest ranked earth sciences professors from student rankings come from Santa Monica College. If we incorporate data other than simply rankings it becomes clear that the college possessing comprehensively the best professors for earth sciences is Stanford University. One can find more detail on our ever evolving ranking methodology of the best overall professors here, along with many of the best examples of professors in the country.

Finally, the hardest school to get into for earth sciences is Stanford University. While we are unsure why you would be interested, we have a comprehensive list of the hardest colleges to get into. That being said, we do hope you believe that considering college from examples primarily shaped by superlatives could be said to be the root of many of higher education's fundamental issues. We hope you look at some of our other pages on different topics and read a couple of our background pages on useful things to look out for as you continue your school search.