The best chemistry research universities 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 Americans 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.
Chemistry 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.
Once 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.
If you think a liberal arts college may be a better fit for you, see our ranking of the best liberal arts colleges 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
$54K
Acceptance
5%
Graduation
98%
Student body
25K
Median SAT/ACT
1515/34
View profile
Harvard University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$53K
Acceptance
7%
Graduation
96%
Student body
14K
Median SAT/ACT
1540/35
View profile
Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Chemistry/Flex Concentrations
Tuition + fees
$56K
Acceptance
5%
Graduation
95%
Student body
15K
Median SAT/ACT
1505/33
View profile
Stanford University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$14K
Acceptance
17%
Graduation
92%
Student body
43K
Median SAT/ACT
1430/33
View profile
University of California, Berkeley’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$57K
Acceptance
7%
Graduation
92%
Student body
2K
Median SAT/ACT
1545/35
View profile
California Institute of Technology’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$61K
Acceptance
7%
Graduation
96%
Student body
28K
Median SAT/ACT
1505/34
View profile
Columbia University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
BS Chemistry Research Fields:
Tuition + fees
$58K
Acceptance
7%
Graduation
96%
Student body
16K
Median SAT/ACT
1515/34
View profile
Yale University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$59K
Acceptance
11%
Graduation
95%
Student body
26K
Median SAT/ACT
1480/33
View profile
Cornell University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$60K
Acceptance
9%
Graduation
96%
Student body
28K
Median SAT/ACT
1505/34
View profile
University of Pennsylvania’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$49K
Acceptance
6%
Graduation
98%
Student body
7K
Median SAT/ACT
1515/34
View profile
Princeton University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$59K
Acceptance
7%
Graduation
96%
Student body
13K
Median SAT/ACT
1535/34
View profile
University of Chicago’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$13K
Acceptance
14%
Graduation
91%
Student body
45K
Median SAT/ACT
1415/32
View profile
University of California, Los Angeles’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Chemistry Majors:
Chemistry Concentrations & Specializations:
Tuition + fees
$17K
Acceptance
26%
Graduation
93%
Student body
45K
Median SAT/ACT
1435/32
View profile
University of Michigan’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$59K
Acceptance
9%
Graduation
95%
Student body
19K
Median SAT/ACT
1495/34
View profile
Northwestern University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$54K
Acceptance
11%
Graduation
94%
Student body
26K
Median SAT/ACT
1510/34
View profile
Johns Hopkins University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$13K
Acceptance
21%
Graduation
91%
Student body
31K
Median SAT/ACT
1405/31
View profile
Georgia Tech’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
BS Chemistry Specializations:
BS Biochemistry Tracks:
Tuition + fees
$51K
Acceptance
11%
Graduation
94%
Student body
8K
Median SAT/ACT
1520/34
View profile
Rice University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$58K
Acceptance
8%
Graduation
96%
Student body
15K
Median SAT/ACT
1525/34
View profile
Duke University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$11K
Acceptance
32%
Graduation
88%
Student body
44K
Median SAT/ACT
1355/30
View profile
University of Texas at Austin’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Emphasis options
Tuition + fees
$60K
Acceptance
16%
Graduation
92%
Student body
40K
Median SAT/ACT
1445/32
View profile
University of Southern California’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$58K
Acceptance
19%
Graduation
97%
Student body
13K
Median SAT/ACT
1475/33
View profile
University of Notre Dame’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Combination programs
Tuition + fees
$58K
Acceptance
17%
Graduation
93%
Student body
17K
Median SAT/ACT
1510/34
View profile
Carnegie Mellon University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$6K
Acceptance
31%
Graduation
89%
Student body
47K
Median SAT/ACT
1390/30
View profile
University of Florida’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$61K
Acceptance
8%
Graduation
95%
Student body
10K
Median SAT/ACT
1505/34
View profile
Brown University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$9K
Acceptance
25%
Graduation
91%
Student body
25K
Median SAT/ACT
1405/30
View profile
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
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