2024 Best Colleges for Environmental Studies

SUMMARY

Going to school for Environmental Studies is a valuable choice and usually an essential first step for undergrads planning to enter a career as an environmental policy specialist, an urban planner, or a sustainability specialist. In fact, environmental studies is somewhat popular ranking as the 64th most popular area of study. Last academic year, there were 7,421 environmental studies degrees conferred. In-state tuition for environmental studies at private universities is, on average, 4.4 times more pricey than their public equivalents.

There are 446 institutions that offer environmental studies. 446 universities is on par with other majors offered in the United States. If you are looking to surround yourself with other environmental studies students, consider looking at schools in California which have the most undergraduates admitted to environmental studies annually. More generally, the best region to pursue environmental studies is in the Far West region with University of California-Berkeley, University of California-Santa Barbara, and University of California-Santa Cruz best representing the region. Interestingly, our selection of the best conference to study environmental studies is the Pacific-12 Conference with Arizona State University-Tempe, University of California-Berkeley, and University of Colorado Boulder representing the conference. That said, our choice for the best college for environmental studies is Harvard University, and here you can find our comprehensive list for the best colleges.

The objectively 'best' school does not have to be the best school for you. There are tons of angels to think about when choosing college. Stuff like campus amenities, transportation services, and food would alter your feelings of where to go to university. At authority.org, we've examined the pros and cons for you. If, as an example, you are interested in which environmental studies university boasts the top campus, the answer is Harvard University. If, for example, you are very interested in which college has the top campus, we have a whole list dedicated to that. We have carefully pored through professor reviews, student reviews, government databases, and more in order to evaluate every major in the United States in an unbiased and informative way. Here you can explore our well researched list for the schools with the best student life&nbspand, from that list, our choice for the university with the best student life for environmental studies is University of Michigan-Ann Arbor. Are you curious why? Continue reading to learn more about Authority's top selections. Many of our decisions might surprise you.

If cost is a significant deciding factor in your decisions, you might consider avoiding Colgate University. Colgate University&nbspappears to be our most expensive school for environmental studies, at least for out of state students. That being said, we have an entire list of the most expensive&nbspuniversities that might put the expense at Colgate University&nbspinto perspective. Additionally, you may want to know that environmental studies is the 3rd most expensive major in the United States, with an average expense of $55,400. On a broader scale, the most expensive state for environmental studies on our list is Maine with costs at the main three colleges Bates College at $55,683, Bowdoin College of $55,822, and costs at Colby College of $55,822. Even more broadly, the most costly region for environmental studies is the New England region which is best demonstrated with Amherst College with a cost of $57,640, Tufts University with a cost of $57,324, and Brown University with a cost of $57,112.

Our cheapest region for environmental studies is the Rocky Mountains region which is represented by Fort Lewis College with a cost of $17,712, Western Colorado University with a cost of $18,096, and University of Wyoming with a cost of $13,392. More optimistically, the most affordable college for environmental studies is University of Wisconsin-Madison. Authority.org's full list of the most affordable colleges can be explored here.

In-state students can anticipate paying about $10,800 for a degree in environmental studies. The price grows substantially to a median of $25,500 for an out-of-state public-school undergraduate. Our pick for the university constituting the best value for environmental studies: Duke University. On this page you can see our comprehensive list on the schools we believe to be the best value&nbspin general. Do know, this section is predicated on out-of-state tuition costs. A discussion of value changes when in-state tuition is considered, but as we do not know what state(s) you might qualify for in-state tuition, we are approaching this discussion through out-of-state tuition costs.

Earnings for environmental studies majors range widely, but two-years after graduation students will often make around $44,900. While there is much variation in earnings potential; highest paid earners can enjoy pay up to $78,100. Straight out of college, the lowest end positions within the environmental studies field make $25,900, which isn't that bad. The highest earning grads from environmental studies have come from Duke University&nbspand if you are looking for colleges with all of the highest earning graduates, Authority has that too.

The general diversity of environmental studies ranks on the higher end, coming within the 57th percentile of majors nationally. The school with the highest composite diversity for environmental studies is Swarthmore College&nbspand here you can find our general list of the universities with the most diversity. The overall financial diversity of Environmental Studies only is within the 19th percentile compared to all other majors. Racial diversity is actually above financial diversity, ranking in the 45th percentile. White undergraduates compose the largest share, 63%, of students majoring in environmental studies. Additionally, 62% of undergraduates seeking an environmental studies major are women.

The median score of environmental studies professors is 4 stars, a ranking which is surprisingly the median for every major; which is a fine. If you are interested in the most popular environmental studies instructor in the nation, take a look at Jeffrey Wilson at The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley. It might surprise you, but the top rated environmental studies instructors according to students come from University of California-Berkeley. If we incorporate information beyond basic rankings we find that the college with comprehensively the best instructors for environmental studies is Harvard University. You will find more detail on our ever evolving ranking methodology for the best overall professors here, as well as many of the best examples of instructors nationwide.

Finally, the hardest university to get into for environmental studies is Harvard University. While we are unsure why you would be interested, we do have a general list of the hardest colleges to get into. But, we hope you believe that considering the education process from context primarily formed from superlatives can create issues. We encourage you to read our more focused pages on different topics and peruse a few of our background articles on important details to consider as your university search continues.