The best chemistry liberal arts colleges are those with rich histories of influence, proven through the work produced by the program’s faculty and alumni. Beyond demonstrating scholarly impact in the field, the best chemistry degree programs maximize your opportunities to interact with outstanding chemistry faculty.
A bachelor’s degree in chemistry is an excellent starting point for a career in engineering, pharmacology, environmental science, food science, forensics, and a host of other promising fields. As a chemistry major, you’ll study the matter and processes that make up the universe and everything within, living and nonliving. Your chemistry degree will incorporate major life sciences like biology and physics as well as foundational courses in organic chemistry, inorganic chemistry, and molecular chemistry. The best schools for chemistry are those which are regionally accredited, which offer a full array of chemistry concentrations, and which give you the chance to work with the best and most influential professors and classmates.
Degree popularity: Chemistry bachelor’s degrees are among the top 50 most popular undergraduate degrees across all student demographics. It’s slightly more popular among men, and ranks the 23th most popular degree among Asian American and Pacific Islanders, according to the number of degree earners reported by the National Center for Educational Statistics.
Earning a bachelor’s degree in chemistry can open numerous professionals doors. You could work with advanced microscopic technology in a laboratory setting, travel the globe in search of solutions to major ecological threats, or join a team of brilliant pharmacologists working on cures to our greatest medical challenges. Learning, discovery, and experimentation are a regular part of the job for chemistry majors. The best schools for chemistry will put you in a position to become an innovator and a leader in this exciting field.
Indeed, the leading chemists help us better understand our own world, advancing our ability to face major global challenges like food scarcity, disease, and climate change. Today, top influencers in chemistry are breaking new ground in biochemistry, nanotechnology, molecular chemistry, and much more.
Back to TopChemistry is a popular major because it can provide a pathway into countless fields and career opportunities. If you’re looking for a well-paying and secure job, a chemistry degree is a great place to start. Chemists study the elements that make up the universe and everything within, including humans, animals, synthetic materials, the Earth, and even other planets. Chemistry majors bring strong analytical skills, research experience, and technical knowledge to a wide range of employment settings.
Chemistry majors can work in numerous specialized fields, many of which are focused on solving the greatest problems of our times. Chemists can pioneer efficient and inexpensive ways to produce life-saving medications, develop alternative textiles that reduce our negative environmental impact and make housing more available and affordable, or analyze and improve the nutritional content of processed foods. Though often working “behind the scenes,” chemistry professionals have a great effect on how we live.
Back to TopOnce you’ve declared your major in chemistry, you will likely be required to complete a set of core courses in STEM-related subject areas. While your concentration will give you a chance to choose from a wide range of highly-specialized chemistry electives, there are a number of common courses that most chemistry majors will be required to take, including:
Earning a degree in chemistry can qualify you for a number of well-paying jobs. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), the number of jobs for chemistry majors is expected to grow at a rate of 5 percent between now and 2029, which is faster than the average for all occupations. And earnings are far higher than the average for all occupations, with chemists earning a median annual wage of $77,630 in 2019 and materials scientists earning a median pay of $96,810. The following are among the most popular jobs for chemistry majors:
In pursuing a bachelor’s degree, you will need to choose between three kinds of schools: research universities, liberal arts colleges, and online colleges.
Research universities are colleges and universities whose faculty are active in research and publishing. These schools offer a wide array of doctoral programs, especially in the sciences. They tend to be big, with tens of thousands of students.
Do you prefer a larger university setting, such as largest public university in your state? Research universities are typically big, offering degrees in many different disciplines. Is a big high-powered research environment the thing for you. If not, you should think about a liberal arts college. In deciding on an undergraduate institution, ask yourself what sort of environment will best help you to be happy and excel.
Often referred to as “teaching colleges” liberal arts colleges put a premium on undergraduate studies and offers a broad range of subjects for students to study. A college of liberal arts typically provides smaller class sizes, more direct engagement with professors, and, most importantly, the opportunity to sample a wide range of subject areas on the way to a bachelor’s degree.
Online colleges are typically the same colleges and universities you could attend in-person, but for certain degree programs the college or unviersity has made the degree programs available to be completed online. For over 5 million students, online degree programs allow students to earn their degrees in the most flexible format available. Online degrees are as respected as the on-campus degress you could earn from the same schools. There’s usually no disctinction between the two degrees, and your degree and transcript will not say that the degree was earned online. Online degree programs are offered by a vast majority of colleges and universities, and the number of offering continues to grow. Whehter you are searching for an associate, bachelor’s, master’s, or doctorate, there’s a good chance you can earn your degree online from a respectable online college.
If you interested in an online bachelor’s degree, check out what the best online colleges offer, or search our online degrees for the exact program that interests you. In either case, you will find well respected colleges and universities that offer online degrees.
Back to TopIf you think a research university may be a better fit for you, see our ranking of the best research universities for a bachelor’s in chemistry.
The people affiliated with a school are ultimately what make it great. This is why we rank the best colleges and universities based on what we call “Influence”.
The influence of a college or university is based on the schools’ top academic influencers related to the discipline in this ranking. We track the influence of faculty and alumni affialiate with these school counting not only the publicaitons and citations of the school’s affiliated people, but we also consider the overall web presense of the faculty and alumni. The greater the citations, authority of web links, web searches, and pageviews, the greater the individuals’ influence. Those combined make up the departments’ influence in the field of study. We believe tracking the academic influence of the people affiliated with a school is the best indicator of academic excellence.
If you are serious about finding the best colleges and universities, you should be asking where the most influential professors are teaching, and whether their graduates themselves are advancing the school’s reputation for academic excellence. Most ranking sites rely on an opaque combination of reputation surveys and misuesed performance metrics. Influence, as measured by our InfluenceRanking engine, provides a ranking that is more insulated from manipulation, and more reflective of real-world educational outcomes.
Tuition + fees
$57K
Acceptance
9%
Graduation
94%
Student body
2K
Median SAT/ACT
1465/33
Pomona College’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$61K
Acceptance
12%
Graduation
95%
Student body
2K
Median SAT/ACT
1415/32
Amherst College’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$62K
Acceptance
21%
Graduation
91%
Student body
4K
Wesleyan University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
BA Chemistry Tracks:
Tuition + fees
$56K
Acceptance
9%
Graduation
97%
Student body
2K
Median SAT/ACT
1460/33
Swarthmore College’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$58K
Acceptance
9%
Graduation
95%
Student body
2K
Bowdoin College’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$60K
Acceptance
15%
Graduation
96%
Student body
2K
Median SAT/ACT
1480/33
Williams College’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Focus Areas:
Tuition + fees
$61K
Acceptance
18%
Graduation
93%
Student body
1K
Median SAT/ACT
1530/34
Harvey Mudd College’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Common emphases:
Acceptance
9%
Graduation
85%
Student body
6K
Median SAT/ACT
1270/27
United States Military Academy’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$58K
Acceptance
13%
Graduation
92%
Student body
1K
Median SAT/ACT
1435/32
Claremont McKenna College’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$60K
Acceptance
22%
Graduation
94%
Student body
3K
Median SAT/ACT
1445/33
Middlebury College’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Focus Areas:
Tuition + fees
$61K
Acceptance
20%
Graduation
94%
Student body
3K
Median SAT/ACT
1445/32
Wellesley College’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$10K
Acceptance
38%
Graduation
83%
Student body
21K
Median SAT/ACT
1340/29
California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$55K
Acceptance
20%
Graduation
93%
Student body
2K
Median SAT/ACT
1397/31
Davidson College’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$60K
Acceptance
14%
Graduation
90%
Student body
3K
Median SAT/ACT
1430/32
Barnard College’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
5 year Masters Program:
Tuition + fees
$62K
Acceptance
27%
Graduation
91%
Student body
3K
Median SAT/ACT
1415/32
Colgate University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$63K
Acceptance
37%
Graduation
89%
Student body
2K
Median SAT/ACT
1365/31
Kenyon College’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$61K
Acceptance
18%
Graduation
93%
Student body
1K
Median SAT/ACT
1460/33
Haverford College’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$63K
Acceptance
42%
Graduation
77%
Student body
1K
Median SAT/ACT
1422/32
Reed College’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$60K
Acceptance
35%
Graduation
86%
Student body
3K
Median SAT/ACT
1380/31
Oberlin College’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$59K
Acceptance
19%
Graduation
87%
Student body
2K
Median SAT/ACT
1450/32
Grinnell College’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$60K
Acceptance
21%
Graduation
94%
Student body
2K
Median SAT/ACT
1450/32
Carleton College’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Acceptance
13%
Graduation
87%
Student body
5K
Median SAT/ACT
1335/30
United States Air Force Academy’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$56K
Acceptance
38%
Graduation
85%
Student body
2K
Bryn Mawr College’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Concentrations:
Tuition + fees
$56K
Acceptance
37%
Graduation
87%
Student body
3K
Smith College’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
If you want to know more about chemistry, then check out our related content:
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