Back to Rankings
Go to major

Breaking Bad

Chemistry

Quantum Masochists & Chalkboard Wizards

Intense physical and theoretical chemistry focuses. Here, they care less about curing diseases and more about why an electron did something weird in 1927. Highly mathematical, profoundly theoretical.

# ▲ University Location Degrees Accept SAT Male/Female Intl 5-Year Earn
1 California Institute of Technology
Pasadena, CA
Pasadena, CA 7 3% 43% / 57% 0% $117,893 —
2 Columbia University
New York, NY
New York, NY 14 4% 43% / 57% 14% — —
3 Cornell University
Ithaca, NY
Ithaca, NY 34 7% 47% / 53% 12% $55,869 —
4 Harvard University
Cambridge, MA
Cambridge, MA 28 3% 50% / 50% 11% — —
5 Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Cambridge, MA
Cambridge, MA 26 5% 46% / 54% 31% $111,877 —
6 Princeton University
Princeton, NJ
Princeton, NJ 25 4% 60% / 40% 8% — —
7 Stanford University
Stanford, CA
Stanford, CA 19 4% 47% / 53% 0% — —
8 University of California, Berkeley
Berkeley, CA
Berkeley, CA 161 11% 57% / 43% 20% $102,253 —
9 University of Chicago
Chicago, IL
Chicago, IL 25 5% 40% / 60% 4% — —
10 University of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, PA
Philadelphia, PA 24 4% 46% / 54% 13% — —
11 Yale University
New Haven, CT
New Haven, CT 15 4% 53% / 47% 0% — —

Plastics, Polymers & Profitable Patents

Materials science and engineering-leaning departments. You won't just study molecules; you'll build industrial-strength polymers, invent new battery materials, and probably break a lot of expensive glassware.

# ▲ University Location Degrees Accept SAT Male/Female Intl 5-Year Earn
1 Georgia Institute of Technology
Atlanta, GA
Atlanta, GA 31 15% 26% / 74% 3% — —
2 Purdue University
West Lafayette, IN
West Lafayette, IN 89 50% 51% / 49% 18% $90,167 —
3 Carnegie Mellon University
Pittsburgh, PA
Pittsburgh, PA 61 11% 62% / 38% 15% $88,956 —
4 North Carolina State University
Raleigh, NC
Raleigh, NC 50 40% 48% / 52% 0% — —
5 Texas A&M University - College Station
College Station, TX
College Station, TX 74 47% 45% / 55% 0% $74,358 —
6 Virginia Tech
Blacksburg, VA
Blacksburg, VA 125 42% 52% / 48% 2% $69,775 —
7 Case Western Reserve University
Cleveland, OH
Cleveland, OH 34 35% 38% / 62% 12% $68,993 —
8 Colorado School of Mines
Golden, CO
Golden, CO 9 29% 44% / 56% 0% $64,027 —
9 Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
Troy, NY
Troy, NY 10 52% 50% / 50% 0% — —
10 New Jersey Institute of Technology
Newark, NJ
Newark, NJ 5 55% 40% / 60% 0% — —
11 University of Akron
Akron, OH
Akron, OH 8 72% 50% / 50% 0% — —

Pre-Med Darwinian Thunderdome

Biochem-heavy programs where organic chemistry isn't just a subject—it's a blood sport. Expect lots of memorization, weeping over synthesis mechanisms, and classmates fiercely protecting their GPA for medical school.

# ▲ University Location Degrees Accept SAT Male/Female Intl 5-Year Earn
1 Johns Hopkins University
Baltimore, MD
Baltimore, MD 21 5% 48% / 52% 0% — —
2 Northwestern University
Evanston, IL
Evanston, IL 15 7% 47% / 53% 20% $163,104 —
3 Duke University
Durham, NC
Durham, NC 21 5% 62% / 38% 10% — —
4 Rice University
Houston, TX
Houston, TX 26 8% 65% / 35% 8% — —
5 Boston University
Boston, MA
Boston, MA 25 13% 32% / 68% 20% — —
6 New York University
New York, NY
New York, NY 29 8% 59% / 41% 7% — —
7 Emory University
Atlanta, GA
Atlanta, GA 91 11% 45% / 55% 18% $66,945 —
8 University of Southern California
Los Angeles, CA
Los Angeles, CA 18 9% 61% / 39% 0% — —
9 Brown University
Providence, RI
Providence, RI 20 5% 65% / 35% 5% — —
10 Vanderbilt University
Nashville, TN
Nashville, TN 20 4% 45% / 55% 5% — —
11 Washington University in St Louis
Saint Louis, MO
Saint Louis, MO 36 8% 50% / 50% 0% — —
12 Boston College
Chestnut Hill, MA
Chestnut Hill, MA 19 14% 37% / 63% 21% — —
13 Tufts University
Medford, MA
Medford, MA 19 10% 47% / 53% 21% — —
14 University of Rochester
Rochester, NY
Rochester, NY 23 33% 39% / 61% 22% — —
15 Dartmouth College
Hanover, NH
Hanover, NH 15 5% 33% / 67% 7% — —

Agri-Chem & Geo

Land-grant powerhouses focusing on environmental, agricultural, and geochemical sciences. You'll analyze soil runoff, test pesticide efficacy, and probably get your boots muddy doing field sampling.

# ▲ University Location Degrees Accept SAT Male/Female Intl 5-Year Earn
1 Pennsylvania State University
University Park, PA
University Park, PA 114 55% 62% / 38% 19% $88,803 —
2 University of California, Davis
Davis, CA
Davis, CA 68 37% 46% / 54% 12% $96,720 —
3 Michigan State University
East Lansing, MI
East Lansing, MI 32 65% 44% / 56% 6% $61,005 —
4 Iowa State University
Ames, IA
Ames, IA 41 85% 51% / 49% 7% — —
5 Washington State University
Pullman, WA
Pullman, WA 16 75% 56% / 44% 6% — —
6 Colorado State University - Fort Collins
Fort Collins, CO
Fort Collins, CO 30 82% 37% / 63% 10% $93,184 —
7 Oregon State University
Corvallis, OR
Corvallis, OR 42 75% 55% / 45% 7% $67,290 —
8 Texas Tech University
Lubbock, TX
Lubbock, TX 25 55% 40% / 60% 0% $70,303 —
9 University of Missouri
Columbia, MO
Columbia, MO 33 72% 67% / 33% 0% $113,147 —
10 Clemson University
Clemson, SC
Clemson, SC 32 42% 38% / 63% 0% $71,199 —
11 University of Kentucky
Lexington, KY
Lexington, KY 30 90% 43% / 57% 0% $70,588 —

Mega-Lab Multiverse

Gigantic, broad-spectrum programs that do absolutely everything. You want niche inorganic synthesis? They have it. You want an analytical lab the size of a Costco? Done. You will, however, be student #4,092.

# ▲ University Location Degrees Accept SAT Male/Female Intl 5-Year Earn
1 University of California, Los Angeles
Los Angeles, CA
Los Angeles, CA 68 9% 43% / 57% 4% $82,577 —
2 University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
Champaign, IL
Champaign, IL 118 43% 50% / 40% 12% $93,121 —
3 University of California, San Diego
La Jolla, CA
La Jolla, CA 153 24% 43% / 57% 13% $71,808 —
4 University of Michigan - Ann Arbor
Ann Arbor, MI
Ann Arbor, MI 29 15% 52% / 48% 10% $101,811 —
5 University of Texas at Austin
Austin, TX
Austin, TX 104 25% 41% / 59% 4% $104,346 —
6 University of Florida
Gainesville, FL
Gainesville, FL 152 23% 44% / 56% 1% $95,170 —
7 University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Chapel Hill, NC
Chapel Hill, NC 87 16% 52% / 48% 8% $71,491 —
8 University of Washington
Seattle, WA
Seattle, WA 76 44% 45% / 55% 18% $75,313 —
9 University of Wisconsin - Madison
Madison, WI
Madison, WI 54 43% 56% / 44% 20% $79,458 —
10 Ohio State University
Columbus, OH
Columbus, OH 44 53% 59% / 41% 7% $107,693 —
11 University of Colorado Boulder
Boulder, CO
Boulder, CO 23 75% 57% / 43% 0% — —

Industry Pipeline & Analytical Automatons

Heavy emphasis on analytical chemistry, co-ops, and applied methods. You'll spend thousands of hours staring at GC-MS readouts until you hallucinate, but you'll graduate perfectly trained for local pharma and tech.

# ▲ University Location Degrees Accept SAT Male/Female Intl 5-Year Earn
1 University of California, Santa Barbara
Santa Barbara, CA
Santa Barbara, CA 70 26% 50% / 50% 17% $70,317 —
2 University of California, Irvine
Irvine, CA
Irvine, CA 135 21% 45% / 55% 16% $83,658 —
3 University of Illinois Chicago
Chicago, IL
Chicago, IL 34 55% 44% / 56% 6% $62,848 —
4 Northeastern University
Boston, MA
Boston, MA 25 5% 48% / 52% 8% $99,326 —
5 University of Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh, PA
Pittsburgh, PA 54 45% 56% / 44% 4% $72,993 —
6 University of Utah
Salt Lake City, UT
Salt Lake City, UT 37 82% 57% / 43% 3% $70,241 —
7 University of Delaware
Newark, DE
Newark, DE 37 55% 35% / 65% 8% $77,848 —
8 University of Houston
Houston, TX
Houston, TX 23 55% 48% / 52% 0% $76,910 —
9 University of Cincinnati
Cincinnati, OH
Cincinnati, OH 48 72% 52% / 48% 2% $73,650 —

Policy, Pharma & Forensics Faction

Medicinal and forensic-leaning programs often situated near government hubs or pharma corridors. You're synthesizing the drugs of tomorrow or figuring out exactly what's in the water supply for the FDA.

# ▲ University Location Degrees Accept SAT Male/Female Intl 5-Year Earn
1 University of Maryland, College Park
College Park, MD
College Park, MD 41 42% 39% / 61% 2% $75,430 —
2 University of Virginia
Charlottesville, VA
Charlottesville, VA 128 13% 41% / 59% 2% $68,374 —
3 Georgetown University
Washington, DC
Washington, DC 7 9% 29% / 71% 14% — —
4 George Washington University
Washington, DC
Washington, DC 13 28% 38% / 62% 8% — —
5 Virginia Commonwealth University
Richmond, VA
Richmond, VA 89 72% 44% / 56% 0% $62,699 —
6 University of Connecticut
Storrs, CT
Storrs, CT 35 49% 54% / 46% 6% $69,348 —
7 CUNY City College
New York, NY
New York, NY 11 42% 55% / 45% 0% — —
8 University of South Florida
Tampa, FL
Tampa, FL 76 35% 43% / 57% 5% $66,305 —
9 Florida International University
Miami, FL
Miami, FL 72 42% 38% / 63% 3% $67,921 —
10 University of Central Florida
Orlando, FL
Orlando, FL 47 25% 51% / 49% 6% — —
11 University of Notre Dame
Notre Dame, IN
Notre Dame, IN 18 9% 56% / 44% 0% — —

Kinetics & Dynamics Club

The purists. Programs that strike a solid balance across classical disciplines like inorganic synthesis and reaction mechanisms. They aren't trying to be engineers or doctors; they just really, really like chemistry.

# ▲ University Location Degrees Accept SAT Male/Female Intl 5-Year Earn
1 Arizona State University
Tempe, AZ
Tempe, AZ 28 88% 61% / 39% 4% $54,879 —
2 Florida State University
Tallahassee, FL
Tallahassee, FL 16 23% 56% / 44% 0% $80,112 —
3 Indiana University - Bloomington
Bloomington, IN
Bloomington, IN 44 72% 55% / 45% 2% $95,873 —
4 University of California, Riverside
Riverside, CA
Riverside, CA 59 66% 51% / 49% 2% $65,110 —
5 University of Texas at Dallas
Dallas, TX
Dallas, TX 33 72% 61% / 39% 0% — —
6 University of Kansas
Lawrence, KS
Lawrence, KS 20 88% 45% / 55% 5% — —
7 University of Oregon
Eugene, OR
Eugene, OR 21 78% 38% / 62% 0% $91,768 —
8 University of South Carolina
Columbia, SC
Columbia, SC 30 55% 33% / 67% 0% $75,417 —
9 Louisiana State University
Baton Rouge, LA
Baton Rouge, LA 34 72% 35% / 65% 0% $90,903 —
10 University of North Texas
Denton, TX
Denton, TX 33 72% 42% / 58% 0% $60,607 —
11 University of Oklahoma - Norman
Norman, OK
Norman, OK 44 72% 39% / 61% 2% $78,502 —