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2025 Best Botany/Plant Biology Schools

20 Colleges in the United States
683 Botany Degrees Awarded
$32,721 Avg Early-Career Salary
Botany/Plant Biology degree programs are on the lower end of the spectrum in terms of popularity. In fact, the major ranks #259 out of the 395 majors we look at each year. While this may limit the number of schools that offer the degree program, there are still top-quality ones to be found.

In 2025, College Factual analyzed 20 schools in order to identify the top ones for its Best Botany/Plant Biology Schools ranking. When you put them all together, these colleges and universities awarded 683 degrees in botany/plant biology annually.

Jump to one of the following sections: * Degree-Level Rankings

Choosing a Great Botany/Plant Biology School

Best Botany/Plant Biology Schools Your choice of botany/plant biology school matters, so we have put together these rankings to help you make your decision. In order to come up with a best overall ranking for botany/plant biology schools, we combine our degree-level rankings, weighting them by the number of degrees awarded at each level.

You may want to choose one of the degree levels below to find the schools of most interest to you.

Pick Your Botany/Plant Biology Degree Level

Bachelor's Degrees in Botany
Master's Degrees in Botany
Doctor's Degrees in Botany

When choosing the right school for you, it's important to arm yourself with all the facts you can. To that end, we've created a number of major-specific rankings, including this Best Botany/Plant Biology Schools list to help you make the college decision. More interested in schools in a specific area of the country? Filter this list by region or state.

To further help you make the college decision, we've developed a unique tool called College Combat that allows you to compare schools based on the factors that matter the most to you. Go ahead and give it a try, or bookmark the link so you can check it out later.

Read more about College Factual's methodology.

Best Schools for Botany/Plant Biology in the United States

Although we recommend filtering by degree level first, you can view the list below to see which schools give the educational experience for the botany degree levels they offer.

10 Top Schools in Botany

1
Doctor's Degree Highest Degree Type
2nd Most Popular In CA

University of California - Berkeley is one of the best schools in the country for getting a degree in botany/plant biology. UC Berkeley is a fairly large public university located in the midsize city of Berkeley. A Best Colleges rank of #14 out of 2,152 colleges nationwide means UC Berkeley is a great university overall.

There were roughly 15 botany/plant biology students who graduated with this degree at UC Berkeley in the most recent data year.

More information about a degree in botany/plant biology from University of California - Berkeley

2
Doctor's Degree Highest Degree Type
1st Most Popular In MN
36.0% Growth in Graduates

University of Minnesota - Twin Cities is one of the finest schools in the United States for getting a degree in botany/plant biology. Located in the large city of Minneapolis, UMN Twin Cities is a public university with a fairly large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #45 out of 2,152 colleges nationwide means UMN Twin Cities is a great university overall.

There were roughly 25 botany/plant biology students who graduated with this degree at UMN Twin Cities in the most recent year we have data available.

More information about a degree in botany/plant biology from University of Minnesota - Twin Cities

3
Doctor's Degree Highest Degree Type
1st Most Popular In WI

University of Wisconsin - Madison is one of the best schools in the United States for getting a degree in botany/plant biology. Located in the city of Madison, UW - Madison is a public university with a very large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #40 out of 2,152 schools nationwide means UW - Madison is a great university overall.

There were roughly 19 botany/plant biology students who graduated with this degree at UW - Madison in the most recent year we have data available.

More information about a degree in botany/plant biology from University of Wisconsin - Madison

4
UF crest
University of Florida
Gainesville, FL
Doctor's Degree Highest Degree Type
1st Most Popular In FL
37 Botany Degrees Awarded

University of Florida is one of the finest schools in the United States for getting a degree in botany/plant biology. Located in the midsize city of Gainesville, UF is a public university with a very large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #56 out of 2,152 schools nationwide means UF is a great university overall.

There were roughly 37 botany/plant biology students who graduated with this degree at UF in the most recent data year.

More information about a degree in botany/plant biology from University of Florida

5
Doctor's Degree Highest Degree Type
1st Most Popular In IL

Northwestern is a fairly large private not-for-profit university located in the city of Evanston. A Best Colleges rank of #5 out of 2,152 colleges nationwide means Northwestern is a great university overall.

There were about 11 botany/plant biology students who graduated with this degree at Northwestern in the most recent year we have data available.

More information about a degree in botany/plant biology from Northwestern University

6
Doctor's Degree Highest Degree Type
1st Most Popular In NJ
70.0% Growth in Graduates

Rutgers New Brunswick is a very large public university located in the small city of New Brunswick. A Best Colleges rank of #74 out of 2,152 schools nationwide means Rutgers New Brunswick is a great university overall.

There were approximately 10 botany/plant biology students who graduated with this degree at Rutgers New Brunswick in the most recent data year.

More information about a degree in botany/plant biology from Rutgers University - New Brunswick

7
Doctor's Degree Highest Degree Type
47 Botany Degrees Awarded
$33,009 Median Starting Salary

NC State is a fairly large public university located in the city of Raleigh. This university ranks 4th out of 93 schools for overall quality in the state of North Carolina.

There were about 47 botany/plant biology students who graduated with this degree at NC State in the most recent data year. After graduating, botany degree recipients generally earn about $33,009 in their early careers.

More information about a degree in botany/plant biology from North Carolina State University

8
Doctor's Degree Highest Degree Type
1st Most Popular In GA

Located in the medium-sized city of Athens, UGA is a public university with a fairly large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #69 out of 2,152 schools nationwide means UGA is a great university overall.

There were roughly 20 botany/plant biology students who graduated with this degree at UGA in the most recent year we have data available.

More information about a degree in botany/plant biology from University of Georgia

9
Doctor's Degree Highest Degree Type
4th Most Popular In CA
21.1% Growth in Graduates

Located in the city of Riverside, UCR is a public university with a very large student population. This university ranks 28th out of 161 schools for overall quality in the state of California.

There were about 19 botany/plant biology students who graduated with this degree at UCR in the most recent year we have data available.

More information about a degree in botany/plant biology from University of California - Riverside

10
Doctor's Degree Highest Degree Type
1st Most Popular In CA
31 Botany Degrees Awarded

Located in the small suburb of Davis, UC Davis is a public university with a fairly large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #55 out of 2,152 colleges nationwide means UC Davis is a great university overall.

There were roughly 31 botany/plant biology students who graduated with this degree at UC Davis in the most recent year we have data available.

More information about a degree in botany/plant biology from University of California - Davis

Botany/Plant Biology by Region

View the Best Botany/Plant Biology Schools for a specific region near you.

Region
Southeast
New England
Rocky Mountains
Plains States
Middle Atlantic
Far Western US
Southwest
Other U.S. Territories
Great Lakes

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Botany/Plant Biology is one of 14 different types of Biological & Biomedical Sciences programs to choose from.

Botany Concentrations

Major Annual Graduates
Botany 445
Plant Pathology/Phytopathology 159
Other Botany/Plant Biology 56
Plant Molecular Biology 16
Plant Physiology 7

View All Botany Concentrations >

Related Major Annual Graduates
General Biology 106,032
Biochemistry, Biophysics & Molecular Biology 14,558
Neurobiology & Neurosciences 12,616
Physiology & Pathology Sciences 9,568
Ecology, Evolution & Systematics Biology 7,935
Cell Biology & Anatomical Sciences 6,440
Microbiological Sciences & Immunology 4,834
Biotechnology 4,245
Biological & Biomedical Sciences (Other) 4,225
Biomathematics & Bioinformatics 3,070

View All Botany Related Majors >

Notes and References

More about our data sources and methodologies.

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