Conservation Biology isn't the most popular major in the world, but it's not the least popular either. To be more precise it ranks #694 in popularity out of 1506 majors in the country. So, you may have to do some digging around to find quality schools that offer the degree program. This list can help with that.
In 2025, College Factual analyzed 9 schools in order to identify the top ones for its Best Conservation Biology Schools ranking. When you put them all together, these colleges and universities awarded 349 degrees in conservation biology annually.
The conservation biology program you select can have a big impact on your future. That's why we developed our collection of Best Schools for Conservation Biology rankings. In order to come up with a best overall ranking for conservation 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.
Since picking the right college can be one of the most important decisions of your life, we've developed the Best Conservation Biology Schools ranking, along with many other major-related rankings, to help you make that decision.
More interested in schools in a specific area of the country? Filter this list by region or state.
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Best Schools for Conservation Biology in the United States
The schools below may not offer all types of conservation biology degrees so you may want to filter by degree level first. However, they are great for the degree levels they do offer.
It is hard to beat Columbia University in the City of New York if you wish to pursue a degree in conservation biology. Located in the city of New York, Columbia is a private not-for-profit university with a very large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #15 out of 2,152 schools nationwide means Columbia is a great university overall.
There were roughly 12 conservation biology students who graduated with this degree at Columbia in the most recent data year.
Boston University is a good option for students pursuing a degree in conservation biology. Boston U is a fairly large private not-for-profit university located in the city of Boston. A Best Colleges rank of #23 out of 2,152 colleges nationwide means Boston U is a great university overall.
There were about 15 conservation biology students who graduated with this degree at Boston U in the most recent year we have data available.
University of Wisconsin - Madison is one of the finest schools in the country for getting a degree in conservation biology. Located in the large 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 64 conservation biology students who graduated with this degree at UW - Madison in the most recent year we have data available.
Tufts University is one of the finest schools in the country for getting a degree in conservation biology. Tufts is a fairly large private not-for-profit university located in the suburb of Medford. A Best Colleges rank of #39 out of 2,152 colleges nationwide means Tufts is a great university overall.
There were about 19 conservation biology students who graduated with this degree at Tufts in the most recent data year.
U of I is a large public university located in the distant town of Moscow. This university ranks 2nd out of 10 colleges for overall quality in the state of Idaho.
There were roughly 7 conservation biology students who graduated with this degree at U of I in the most recent year we have data available.
Located in the rural area of New Gloucester, Unity is a private not-for-profit college with a medium-sized student population. This college ranks 7th out of 19 schools for overall quality in the state of Maine.
There were approximately 8 conservation biology students who graduated with this degree at Unity in the most recent data year.
Located in the remote area of Livingston, University of West Alabama is a public university with a medium-sized student population. This university ranks 34th out of 42 colleges for overall quality in the state of Alabama.
There were approximately 18 conservation biology students who graduated with this degree at University of West Alabama in the most recent data year.
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).
Credit for the banner image above goes to Ernst Haeckel.
The conservation biology program you select can have a big impact on your future. That's why we developed our collection of Best Schools for Conservation Biology rankings. In order to come up with a best overall ranking for conservation biology schools, we combine our degree-level rankings, weighting them by the number of degrees awarded at each level.
