Biotechnology is about average in terms of popularity for bachelor's degrees programs. That is, it ranks #165 out of the 363 majors across the country that we analyze each year. So, it might take a little more work to find colleges and universities that offer the degree program.
For its 2025 ranking, College Factual looked at 3 schools in California to determine which ones were the best for biotechnology students pursuing a bachelor's degree. When you put them all together, these colleges and universities awarded 142 bachelor's degrees in biotechnology during the 2022-2023 academic year.
Choosing a Great Biotechnology School for Your Bachelor's Degree
Your choice of biotechnology for getting your bachelor's degree school matters. Important measures of a quality biotech program can vary widely even among the top schools. To make it into this list, a school must excel in the following areas.
A Great Overall School
A school that excels in educating for a particular major and degree level must be a great school overall as well. To make it into this list a school must rank well in our overall Best Colleges ranking. This ranking considered factors such as graduation rates, overall graduate earnings and other educational resources to identify great colleges and universities.
Early-Career Earnings
One measure we use to determine the quality of a school is to look at the average salary of bachelor's graduates during the early years of their career. That is, everyone wants their bachelor's degree to be worth something, and salaries are one measure of determining that.
Other Factors We Consider
In addition to the above, you should consider some of the following factors:
Major Focus - How many resources a school devotes to biotechnology students as compared to other majors.
Major Demand - How many other biotechnology students want to attend this school to pursue a bachelor's degree.
Educational Resources - The amount of money and other resources allocated to students while they are pursuing their degree. These resources include such things as number of students per instructor and education expenditures per student.
Student Debt - How much debt biotechnology students go into to obtain their bachelor's degree and how well they are able to pay back that debt.
Accreditation - Whether a school is regionally accredited and/or accredited by a recognized biotechnology related body.
Our full ranking methodology documents in more detail how we consider these factors to identify the best schools for biotechnology students working on their bachelor's degree.
Since the program you select can have a significant impact on your future, we've developed a number of rankings, including this Best Biotechnology Bachelor's Degree Schools in California list, to help you choose the best school for you.
In addition to our rankings, you can take two colleges and compare them based on the criteria that matters most to you in our unique tool, College Combat.
Test it out when you get a chance! You may also want to bookmark the link and share it with others who are trying to make the college decision.
Best Schools for Bachelor’s Students to Study Biotechnology in California
The following list ranks the best colleges and universities for pursuing a bachelor's degree in biotechnology.
Top California Schools for a Bachelor's in Biotech
It is difficult to beat University of California - Davis if you want to pursue a bachelor's degree in biotechnology. Located in the suburb of Davis, UC Davis is a public university with a fairly large student population.
Bachelor's recipients from the biotechnology degree program at University of California - Davis earn $6,111 above the average graduate with the same degree when they enter the workforce.
California State Polytechnic University - Pomona is a wonderful option for students pursuing a bachelor's degree in biotechnology. Cal Poly Pomona is a fairly large public university located in the large suburb of Pomona.
Biotechnology bachelor's degree recipients from California State Polytechnic University - Pomona earn a boost of around $7,652 over the average income of biotechnology majors.
California State University - San Marcos is a good option for students pursuing a bachelor's degree in biotechnology. CSUSM is a large public university located in the suburb of San Marcos.
After graduating, biotech bachelor's recipients usually make an average of $49,615 in the first five years of their career.
The bars on the spread charts above show the distribution of the schools on this list +/- one standard deviation from the mean.
The Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) from the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), a branch of the U.S. Department of Education (DOE) serves as the core of the rest of our data about colleges.
Some other college data, including much of the graduate earnings data, comes from the U.S. Department of Education’s (College Scorecard).
Your choice of biotechnology for getting your bachelor's degree school matters. Important measures of a quality biotech program can vary widely even among the top schools. To make it into this list, a school must excel in the following areas.
