Is a research university right for me?–

Research universities are colleges and universities whose faculty are active in research and publishing. Research universities 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. Consider whether you are self motivated enough to be a face in the crowd for some classes and largely unknown on campus at a large university. Of course you can find clubs and friends at a large university, but often liberal arts colleges have a more personal quality to them. If you want the community feel, a research university may not fit you well. Are you interested in STEM fields? Research universities have that name for a reason – real research is happening there. This can create an exciting atmosphere for students interested in STEM. Attending a research university can give you a better chance of getting into better programs for graduate degrees, although a lot of that depends on your performance.

Is an online college right for me?–

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 degrees you could earn from the same schools. There’s usually no distinction 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. Whether 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. Are you a self-driven student? Perhaps the hardest aspect of obtaining an online degree is whether you will be disciplined enough to manage your time and course demands. Many online students report that online college made them more disciplined in all areas of their lives, but the flexible, self-paced learning that makes online colleges attractive can often be the same qualities that make it difficult. If you tend to be a procrastinator, you need to be honest with yourself. You can change your habits and propensities, or you can throw money down the drain. Do you need the flexibility of an online degree program? Most online students study online because of time demands of balancing work and life, or because the online college affords them the chance to attend a better school without moving. If you are serious about earning your degree for career advancement, online colleges make it possible. The most flexible options among online degrees are those that are asynchronous, meaning you don’t have scheduled times to meet with your class online. However, many students seek synchronous online degree programs so that they have some structure – set meeting times, scheduled exams, etc. The good news is that attending an online college doesn’t mean you will miss out on getting to know your professors and classmates. In fact, many online students who have experienced both online and on-campus courses report having easier access to their professors. Since most communication with your professor is expected to be in text – via email or your class learning management system – it makes asking your questions easier. The same students also report that they got to better know the thoughts of their classmates. While in-person course conversations can be dominated by a few extroverts, online courses that require online discussions make it so that you see all of your classmates’ thoughts and questions. If you’re 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.

Best Liberal Arts Colleges for Physics Degrees

Q: Is a liberal arts college right for me?–

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. Do you want your professors to know you? Liberal arts colleges strive to cultivate campus cultures that encourage tight bonds between professors and students. Professors at these schools will typically conduct original research. Yet the best of these schools offer their faculty reduced teaching loads so that they can both be productive researchers and still have plenty of time for students (both in and outside the classroom). Do you want to feel like you know everybody? One of the most enticing features of a liberal arts college is that in very little time, you can feel like you know who’s who, which can create strong friendships and make walks across campus more fun. While your sports teams may never be on ESPN, it’s more likely that you’ll know the athletes as your peers. Beyond student and faculty relationships, it’s not unusual for the school president and other administrators to learn who you are. When faced with problems with your student account or the need to switch classes, this can be comforting during a stressful moment.

Badge for BEST FOR PHYSICS LIBERAL ARTS COLLEGES

By Dr. Jed Macosko and Dr. James Barham
Reviewed By Jenn Finley

Published: Nov 8, 2021
Updated: Nov 8, 2024

Key Takeaways

The best liberal arts colleges for physics degrees offer a great education that will result in a well-rounded, educated person.
The best physics degrees from a liberal arts college offer smaller class sizes and more opportunities for interaction with professors.
The smaller, intimate environment present in the best liberal arts colleges help physics students to mature and go into their careers confident in the skills they’ve acquired.

Table of Contents

Top 10 Liberal Arts Colleges Physics Programs in 2025

Wesleyan University
+5
Amherst College
+1
Swarthmore College
–2
United States Military Academy
+9
Williams College
–3
Oberlin College
+18
Wellesley College
–3
Barnard College
+2
United States Naval Academy
+3
Vassar College
+12

2025 Ranking Update

Our Influence Ranking Engine™ leverages machine learning to track the real-world influence of colleges and universities over time. Below you’ll see which schools gained or lost ground for the 2025 school year.

Wesleyan University gained 5 positions to move up to the number 1 spot in our 2025 ranking of the best liberal arts colleges in physics degrees. There were 3 big movers in this ranking; the US Military Academy (9 spots), Oberlin College (18 spots), and Vassar College (12 spots).

The physics department at Wesleyan University has expanded research opportunities, including summer fellowships for undergraduates to engage in cutting-edge projects alongside faculty mentors. Additionally, the curriculum has been updated to include advanced courses in quantum computing and computational physics, reflecting the latest developments in the field.

The U.S. Military Academy will be completing its Cyber and Engineering Academic Center (CEAC) in 2025. The Center will provide state-of-the-art facilities, including advanced laboratories and collaborative spaces, fostering interdisciplinary research and innovation. Additionally, the Photonics Research Center offers unique opportunities for cadets to engage in cutting-edge research in areas such as lasers, fiber optics, and quantum information sciences.

Oberlin College now offers concentrations in astrophysics and materials physics, allowing students to tailor their studies to specific interests. Additionally, the curriculum has been updated to include advanced courses such as Quantum Mechanics and Statistical Mechanics.

Vassar College has expanded research opportunities, including the Undergraduate Summer Research Institute (URSI), where students collaborate on original projects in areas such as acoustics, optics, biophysics, and nanoscale condensed matter physics. Additionally, the curriculum has been updated to include advanced courses like Quantum Mechanics I and Electromagnetism II.

A bachelor’s degree in physics is an excellent starting point for a career in engineering, alternative energy, space exploration, and a host of other exciting and rapidly innovating fields. As a physics major, you’ll study subjects such as calculus, mechanics, and thermodynamics. Your degree will incorporate a variety of branches within math and physics, including astrophysics, biophysics, and quantum physics. The best schools for physics are those which are regionally accredited, which offer a full array of physics concentrations, and which give you the chance to work with the best and most influential professors and classmates.

If 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 physics.

How do we determine the best physics liberal arts colleges?

Methodology

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’s top academic influencers related to the discipline in this ranking. We track the influence of faculty and alumni affiliate with these school counting not only the publications and citations of the school’s affiliated people, but we also consider the overall web presence of the faculty and alumni. The greater the citations, authority of web links, web searches, and page views, the greater the individuals’s influence. Those combined make up the departments’s 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 misused 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.

Featured Programs

Best Liberal Arts Colleges for Physics Degrees

Career Outlook for Students with Physics Degree

Go to Degree Finder tool

Physics

Degree Level: Bachelor's

Location: The U.S. (Private Schools)
Avg. Cost of Degree*: $12,199
Avg. Expenses*: $18,049
Avg. Starting Salary*: $45,356
Avg. Salary after 4 Years*: $66,431
Avg. Cost Recoup Time**: 10 years
Job Growth: 0.23%
Number of Jobs: 1,210,300
* denotes ‘annually’
** denotes ‘at 15% of annual salary’

Career Salaries

Career	Job Growth	Avg. Salary
Natural Sciences Managers	7.49%	$157,740
Physicists	7.11%	$155,680
Physics Teachers, Postsecondary	3.95%	$98,020
Secondary School Teachers, Except Special and Career/Technical Education	-0.64%	$65,220

Top Industries

Industry	Avg. Salary
Natural Sciences Managers	$157,740
Physicists	$155,680
Physics Teachers, Postsecondary	$98,020
Secondary School Teachers, Except Special and Career/Technical Education	$65,220

Data from The Bureau of Labor Statistics, The Department of Education College Scorecard, The Department of Education NCES, and The Council for Community and Economic Research.

Frequently Asked Questions About Physics Bachelor’s Degrees

Earning a bachelor’s degree in physics can open numerous professional doors, particularly in the field of engineering. A physics degree can help prepare you for work as an engineering technician, data scientist, or geologist. It’s also a great starting point if you plan to eventually pursue a license to be a professional engineer (PE), or if you intend to continue into an advanced degree program and become a research scientist, physicist, or astronomer. The best schools for physics will put you in a position to become an innovator and a leader in this exciting and challenging field.

Today, top influencers in physics are breaking new ground in Mathematical Physics, Quantum Field Theory, Theoretical Physics, and much more.

Physics is a great major because it can serve as the starting point for a number of well-paying careers. For instance, physicists and astronomers earned a median of $122,220 per year in 2019; geoscientists earned a median salary of $92,040; and industrial engineers saw a median of $88,020 in the same year. A bachelor’s degree in physics gives you the chance to choose between these and a wide range of other pathways where salaries and the rate of job growth are much higher than the average for all professions.

Once you’ve declared your major in physics, you will likely be required to complete a set of core courses in a number of STEM-related subject areas. While your concentration will give you a chance to choose from a wide range of highly-specialized physics electives, there are several common courses that most physics majors will be required to take, including:

Classical Mechanics
Modern Physics
Calculus
Mathematical Physics
Thermodynamics
Differential Equations
Electricity and Magnetism
Waves and Optics
Statistical Physics
Quantum Mechanics
Atomic Physics

Earning a degree in physics can qualify you for a number of well-paying jobs. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), the number of jobs for physicists and astronomers is expected to grow at a rate of 5% by 2029, which is faster than the average for all occupations. For industrial engineers, that rate is even higher, at 10%. Depending on your concentration, a degree in physics could help you make the jump into one of these high-growth sectors. The following are among the most popular jobs for physics majors:

Frequently Asked Questions About Research Universities, Liberal Arts Colleges, Online Colleges

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. Research universities 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.

Consider whether you are self motivated enough to be a face in the crowd for some classes and largely unknown on campus at a large university. Of course you can find clubs and friends at a large university, but often liberal arts colleges have a more personal quality to them. If you want the community feel, a research university may not fit you well.
Are you interested in STEM fields? Research universities have that name for a reason – real research is happening there. This can create an exciting atmosphere for students interested in STEM. Attending a research university can give you a better chance of getting into better programs for graduate degrees, although a lot of that depends on your performance.

Learn more about research universities by reading about the best research universities in the US.

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.

Do you want your professors to know you? Liberal arts colleges strive to cultivate campus cultures that encourage tight bonds between professors and students.

Professors at these schools will typically conduct original research. Yet the best of these schools offer their faculty reduced teaching loads so that they can both be productive researchers and still have plenty of time for students (both in and outside the classroom).

Do you want to feel like you know everybody? One of the most enticing features of a liberal arts college is that in very little time, you can feel like you know who’s who, which can create strong friendships and make walks across campus more fun. While your sports teams may never be on ESPN, it’s more likely that you’ll know the athletes as your peers.

Beyond student and faculty relationships, it’s not unusual for the school president and other administrators to learn who you are. When faced with problems with your student account or the need to switch classes, this can be comforting during a stressful moment.

Learn more about liberal arts colleges by reading about the best liberal arts colleges in the US.

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 degrees you could earn from the same schools. There’s usually no distinction 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. Whether 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.

Are you a self-driven student? Perhaps the hardest aspect of obtaining an online degree is whether you will be disciplined enough to manage your time and course demands.

Many online students report that online college made them more disciplined in all areas of their lives, but the flexible, self-paced learning that makes online colleges attractive can often be the same qualities that make it difficult. If you tend to be a procrastinator, you need to be honest with yourself. You can change your habits and propensities, or you can throw money down the drain.

Do you need the flexibility of an online degree program? Most online students study online because of time demands of balancing work and life, or because the online college affords them the chance to attend a better school without moving.

If you are serious about earning your degree for career advancement, online colleges make it possible. The most flexible options among online degrees are those that are asynchronous, meaning you don’t have scheduled times to meet with your class online. However, many students seek synchronous online degree programs so that they have some structure – set meeting times, scheduled exams, etc.

The good news is that attending an online college doesn’t mean you will miss out on getting to know your professors and classmates. In fact, many online students who have experienced both online and on-campus courses report having easier access to their professors.

Since most communication with your professor is expected to be in text – via email or your class learning management system – it makes asking your questions easier. The same students also report that they got to better know the thoughts of their classmates. While in-person course conversations can be dominated by a few extroverts, online courses that require online discussions make it so that you see all of your classmates’ thoughts and questions.

If you’re 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.

Go to all Liberal Arts Colleges for Physics programs

The Best Physics Schools in Your State

Frequently Asked Questions About Physics Bachelor’s Degrees

Today, top influencers in physics are breaking new ground in Mathematical Physics, Quantum Field Theory, Theoretical Physics, and much more.

Classical Mechanics
Modern Physics
Calculus
Mathematical Physics
Thermodynamics
Differential Equations
Electricity and Magnetism
Waves and Optics
Statistical Physics
Quantum Mechanics
Atomic Physics

Do you have a question about this topic? Ask it here

Best Liberal Arts Colleges for Physics Degrees

Key Takeaways

Top 10 Liberal Arts Colleges Physics Programs in 2025

2025 Ranking Update

Featured Programs

Best Liberal Arts Colleges for Physics Degrees

Last Year’s Ranking:

Career Outlook for Physics degree at Wesleyan University

Most Influential Alumni

Wesleyan University Physics Major Tracks

Career Outlook for Physics degree at Amherst College

Most Influential Alumni

Amherst College Physics Majors

Career Outlook for Physics degree at Swarthmore College

Most Influential Alumni

Swarthmore College Physics Majors

Most Influential Alumni

United States Military Academy Physics Majors

Career Outlook for Physics degree at Williams College

Most Influential Alumni

Williams College Physics Majors

Career Outlook for Physics degree at Oberlin College

Most Influential Alumni

Oberlin College Physics Majors

Career Outlook for Physics degree at Wellesley College

Most Influential Alumni

Wellesley College Physics Majors

Career Outlook for Physics degree at Barnard College

Most Influential Alumni

Barnard College Physics Majors

Most Influential Alumni

United States Naval Academy Physics Majors

Career Outlook for Physics degree at Vassar College

Most Influential Alumni

Vassar College Physics Majors

Career Outlook for Physics degree at Reed College

Most Influential Alumni

Reed College Physics Majors

Career Outlook for Physics degree at Haverford College

Most Influential Alumni

Haverford College Physics Majors

Career Outlook for Physics degree at Pomona College

Most Influential Alumni

Pomona College Physics Majors

Career Outlook for Physics degree at Bowdoin College

Most Influential Alumni

Bowdoin College Physics Majors

Career Outlook for Physics degree at Middlebury College

Most Influential Alumni

Middlebury College Physics Majors

Career Outlook for Physics degree at Colgate University

Most Influential Alumni

Colgate University Physics Majors

Most Influential Alumni

United States Air Force Academy Physics Majors

Career Outlook for Physics degree at Carleton College

Most Influential Alumni

Carleton College Physics Majors

Career Outlook for Physics degree at Bates College

Most Influential Alumni

Bates College Physics Majors

Career Outlook for Physics degree at Kenyon College

Most Influential Alumni

Kenyon College Physics Majors

Career Outlook for Physics degree at Davidson College

Most Influential Alumni

Davidson College Physics Majors

Career Outlook for Physics degree at Harvey Mudd College

Most Influential Alumni

Harvey Mudd College Physics Majors Options

Career Outlook for Physics degree at Claremont McKenna College

Most Influential Alumni

Claremont McKenna College Physics Majors

Career Outlook for Physics degree at Manchester University

Most Influential Alumni

Manchester University Physics Majors

Career Outlook for Physics degree at California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo

Most Influential Alumni

California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo Physics Majors

Career Outlook for Students with Physics Degree