Interested in attending a STEM school in Tennessee? Our ranking of top research universities for bachelor’s degrees displays schools that will best prepare you for STEM careers.
About one third of the higher learning institutes in Tennessee are public schools. Students who attend these schools can expect to pay anywhere between $4,000 to $13,000 in tuition and have the option to pursue degrees in fields such as economics, history, nursing, literature, education, and criminal justice. Tennessee’s largest public school, the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, boasts some impressive alumni, including Oprah Winfrey, Kurt Vonnegut, and Cormac McCarthy. The private school alumni are equally as notable. For example, author James Patterson and Nobel Peace Prize recipient Muhammad Yunus both attended Vanderbilt University in Nashville.
Find college admissions consultants in your state.
Tennessee also offers nearly 30 religiously affiliated schools, the largest being Belmont University in Nashville, located just blocks from the famous Music Row. Here, students can study a wide range of fields including Christian leadership, audio engineering technology, and biophysics. Additionally, Tennessee offers students several loan forgiveness programs. Math and science teachers, minority teachers, and registered nurses interested in becoming teachers or administrators who meet certain requirements may be eligible.
Tennessee is home to mouthwatering barbecues, electrified blues, and the sweeping majesty of the Smoky Mountains National Park. And with access to countless historic sites, unique museums, and lush green spaces, students attending one of the more than 60 colleges and universities in The Volunteer State will have plenty to do and see in their downtime.
Discover more about the top programs and higher education learning opportunities available in Tennessee.
The people affiliated with a school are ultimately what make it great. This is why, at the undergraduate level, we rank the best colleges and universities based on what we call “Concentrated Influence”. Concentrated Influence takes the combined influence score of a college or university’s top academic influencers (including faculty and alums) and divides it by the school’s total number of undergraduates.
Using concentrated influence gives small and mid-sized schools an opportunity to shine by taking away the size advantage of larger universities. A small school with proportionately more influential faculty than a large school, whose influence in absolute terms may be bigger, will nonetheless score higher in a concentrated influence ranking. Our approach highlights undergraduate schools that truly rank for excellence, regardless of size.
If you are serious about finding the best colleges and universities for a bachelor’s degree, you should be asking where the most influential professors are teaching and whether their graduates are themselves advancing the school’s reputation for academic excellence.
Most ranking sites rely on an opaque combination of reputation surveys and arbitrary performance metrics. Concentrated Influence provides a ranking that is free from bias, insulated from manipulation, and reflective of real-world educational outcomes.
Related: Differences between research universities and teaching colleges
A research university is a great option for students interested in obtaining STEM degrees. Research universities invest heavily in research, which consequently provides meaningful and extensive opportunities for its students and faculty to participate in research. There are 14 research universities in Tennessee, all of which satisfy our criteria. The list below of the best research universities in the state satisfies the following four conditions:
Tuition + fees
$54K
Acceptance
12%
Graduation
93%
Student body
11K
Median SAT/ACT
1510/34
Vanderbilt University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$13K
Acceptance
78%
Graduation
71%
Student body
27K
Median SAT/ACT
1240/27
University of Tennessee’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$9K
Graduation
26%
Student body
7K
Tennessee State University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$9K
Acceptance
94%
Graduation
51%
Student body
18K
Median SAT/ACT
1135/23
Middle Tennessee State University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$10K
Acceptance
85%
Graduation
52%
Student body
17K
Median SAT/ACT
1120/22
University of Memphis’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$23K
Acceptance
69%
Graduation
53%
Student body
3K
Median SAT/ACT
1100/22
Lincoln Memorial University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$30K
Acceptance
79%
Graduation
52%
Student body
3K
Median SAT/ACT
1050/24
Carson–Newman University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$10K
Acceptance
83%
Graduation
50%
Student body
10K
Median SAT/ACT
1130/23
University of Tennessee at Chattanooga’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$35K
Acceptance
62%
Graduation
69%
Student body
4K
Median SAT/ACT
1185/26
Lipscomb University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$23K
Acceptance
58%
Graduation
66%
Student body
3K
Median SAT/ACT
1170/26
Union University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$10K
Acceptance
80%
Graduation
57%
Student body
9K
Median SAT/ACT
1125/24
Tennessee Technological University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$9K
Acceptance
78%
Graduation
50%
Student body
12K
Median SAT/ACT
1075/23
East Tennessee State University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$27K
Acceptance
63%
Graduation
56%
Student body
3K
Median SAT/ACT
1179/23
Trevecca Nazarene University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$37K
Acceptance
83%
Graduation
71%
Student body
8K
Median SAT/ACT
1225/26
Belmont University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
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