2024 Best Colleges for Environmental Science

SUMMARY

Choosing to study Environmental Science is a valuable choice and often an obligatory first step for undergrads intending to pursue a career as a climatologist, an environmental research scientist, or an environmental geologist. In fact, environmental science is fairly popular ranking as the 66th most popular degree. In the last year, there were 7,289 environmental science graduates. In-state tuition for environmental science at private colleges is, on average, 4.4 times more costly than their public peers.

There are 496 institutions which offer environmental science. This number of colleges is on par with other majors offered in the United States. If you are looking to surround yourself with other environmental science majors, look at colleges in California which have more undergraduates admitted to environmental science than any other state. More generally, the best region to major in environmental science is in the Far West region with Humboldt State University, University of Washington-Seattle Campus, and Western Washington University best representing the region. Interestingly, our pick of the top conference to study environmental science is the Pacific-12 Conference with University of California-Berkeley, University of California-Los Angeles, and University of Washington-Seattle Campus representing the conference. That said, our belief is that the best school for environmental science is Columbia University in the City of New York. You may also want to check out our list of the best colleges.

The overall 'best' school does not mean it is the best school for you. There can be lots more factors to think about when selecting school. Features such as campus amenities, transportation services, and food would definitely modify your thoughts of which school to attend. At Authority, we have examined the pros and cons for you. If, for example, you are interested in which environmental science school has the best campus, the answer is Northeastern University. If you are mostly interested in which school has the best campus, then we have an entire list dedicated to that. We have carefully pored through government databases, professor reviews, student reviews, and more so we can compare every U.S. major in an unbiased and informative way. You can find our comprehensive list for the schools with the best student life&nbsphere and from that list, our pick of the university with the best student life for environmental science is Barnard College. Are you curious why? Continue scrolling to learn more about Authority's top selections. Some of our picks might surprise you.

If expense is a primary influence in your decisions, you might consider avoiding Columbia University in the City of New York. Columbia University in the City of New York&nbspis our most expensive college for environmental science, at least regarding out of state enrollment. We do have a page for the most expensive&nbspcolleges that could put the expense of Columbia University in the City of New York&nbspinto perspective. Additionally, you may want to know that environmental science is the 60th most expensive program in the nation, with an average expense of $46,600. On a broader scale, the most costly state for environmental science on our list is District of Columbia demonstrated with a cost of $49,070 at the main university in District of Columbia American University. Even more broadly, the most expensive region for environmental science is the Mid East region which is best demonstrated with Columbia University in the City of New York with a cost of $57,763, Bucknell University with a cost of $57,882, and Franklin and Marshall College with a cost of $58,615.

Our cheapest region for environmental science is the Southeast region which is represented by University of North Carolina at Pembroke with a cost of $5,000, Western Carolina University with a cost of $5,000, and American Public University System with a cost of $6,804. On the bright side, the most affordable school for environmental science is SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry. Authority's comprehensive list of the most affordable colleges can be explored here.

In-state attendees can anticipate paying in the neighborhood of $10,100 for a degree in environmental science. That cost grows substantially to a median of $24,600 for an out-of-state public-school student. On that note, our pick for the school with the best value for environmental science: Columbia University in the City of New York. Through this link you will see our comprehensive list of the universities we see as being the best value&nbspoverall. Bear in mind, this list is predicated on being an out-of-state student. The value proposition changes when in-state tuition is considered, but we do not know where you live (and are not trying to collect that kind of data).

Earnings for environmental science students vary widely, but within two years completing the major students will regularly make in the neighborhood of $44,900. While there is a lot of variation in pay; top earners can experience pay up to $78,200. Even right out of university, the lowest end opportunities within the environmental science space earn $26,000, which is an alright wage. The highest earning grads from environmental science graduated from Columbia University in the City of New York&nbspand if you are looking for universities with all of the highest earning graduates, Authority has that too.

The general diversity of environmental science ranks subpar, arriving in the 45th percentile of all majors. The university with the highest composite diversity for environmental science is Brown University&nbspand here you can find our general list for the universities with the most diversity. The overall financial diversity of the Environmental Science major is only within the 37th percentile compared to all other majors. Racial diversity is even less in the 37th percentile. White undergraduates compose the largest share at 67% of those majoring in environmental science. Additionally, 59% of undergrads seeking an environmental science degree are women.

The median rating of environmental science professors is 3.3 stars, a ranking that is 18% below the median across all majors; this is a subpar score. If you are looking for the most popular environmental science instructor in the country, consider looking up We have insufficient professors data for environmental science to make the conclusions we normally would have made in this sentence. If we incorporate data other than just rankings it becomes clear that the college with the overall best instructors for environmental science is Columbia University in the City of New York. You can find more detail on our ever evolving ranking methodology of the best overall professors here, as well as some of the finest professors in the U.S.

Finally, the hardest college to get into for environmental science is Columbia University in the City of New York. While we are unsure why you would be interested, we do have a detailed page of the hardest colleges to get into. Although, we do hope you understand that looking at higher education with a perspective mainly formed from superlatives might create issues. We encourage you to look at some of our other pages on individual schools and read some of Authority's informative background articles on essential things to look out for as you continue your college search.