General Biology is of the hottest degree programs in the United States, coming in as the #5 most popular major in the country. So, there are lots of possibilities to explore when you're trying to determine where you want to get your degree.
For its 2025 ranking, College Factual looked at 57 schools in Pennsylvania to determine which ones were the best for general biology students pursuing a degree. When you put them all together, these colleges and universities awarded 4,508 degrees in general biology annually.
The biology program you select can have a big impact on your future. That's why we developed our collection of Best Schools for General Biology rankings. In order to come up with a best overall ranking for general biology schools, we combine our degree-level rankings, weighting them by the number of degrees awarded at each level.
In order to find the schools that are the best fit for you, you may want to filter to one of the degree levels below.
Since the program you select can have a significant impact on your future, we've developed a number of rankings, including this Best General Biology Schools in Pennsylvania list, to help you choose the best school for you.
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.
The schools below may not offer all types of biology degrees so you may want to filter by degree level first. However, they are great for the degree levels they do offer. Only those schools that rank in the top 20% of all the schools we analyze get awarded with a place on this list.
Every student pursuing a degree in general biology needs to take a look at University of Pennsylvania. UPenn is a very large private not-for-profit university located in the large city of Philadelphia. A Best Colleges rank of #2 out of 2,152 schools nationwide means UPenn is a great university overall.
There were approximately 169 general biology students who graduated with this degree at UPenn in the most recent data year. Soon after graduation, biology degree recipients generally make about $31,055 at the beginning of their careers.
University of Pittsburgh - Pittsburgh Campus is a wonderful decision for students pursuing a degree in general biology. Pitt is a fairly large public university located in the large city of Pittsburgh. A Best Colleges rank of #85 out of 2,152 schools nationwide means Pitt is a great university overall.
There were roughly 341 general biology students who graduated with this degree at Pitt in the most recent year we have data available. Soon after graduation, biology degree recipients typically earn about $33,591 in their early careers.
Temple University is a wonderful decision for students pursuing a degree in general biology. Temple is a very large public university located in the city of Philadelphia. A Best Colleges rank of #97 out of 2,152 schools nationwide means Temple is a great university overall.
There were approximately 285 general biology students who graduated with this degree at Temple in the most recent year we have data available. Students who graduate with their degree from the biology program state that they receive average early career income of $35,101.
It is difficult to beat Drexel University if you want to pursue a degree in general biology. Drexel is a fairly large private not-for-profit university located in the large city of Philadelphia. A Best Colleges rank of #115 out of 2,152 schools nationwide means Drexel is a great university overall.
There were about 203 general biology students who graduated with this degree at Drexel in the most recent data year. Degree recipients from the general biology program at Drexel University get $6,787 more than the average college grad with the same degree when they enter the workforce.
Villanova is a fairly large private not-for-profit university located in the suburb of Villanova. A Best Colleges rank of #34 out of 2,152 schools nationwide means Villanova is a great university overall.
There were roughly 83 general biology students who graduated with this degree at Villanova in the most recent data year. Graduates who receive their degree from the biology program earn an average of $31,818 in their early career salary.
Lehigh is a medium-sized private not-for-profit university located in the city of Bethlehem. A Best Colleges rank of #51 out of 2,152 schools nationwide means Lehigh is a great university overall.
There were approximately 42 general biology students who graduated with this degree at Lehigh in the most recent data year. General Biology degree recipients from Lehigh University receive an earnings boost of approximately $11,882 over the typical income of general biology graduates.
Bucknell is a small private not-for-profit university located in the distant town of Lewisburg. A Best Colleges rank of #158 out of 2,152 schools nationwide means Bucknell is a great university overall.
There were about 65 general biology students who graduated with this degree at Bucknell in the most recent data year. Degree recipients from the general biology degree program at Bucknell University get $4,952 above the average college grad in this field shortly after graduation.
Duquesne is a medium-sized private not-for-profit university located in the large city of Pittsburgh. A Best Colleges rank of #196 out of 2,152 colleges nationwide means Duquesne is a great university overall.
There were roughly 113 general biology students who graduated with this degree at Duquesne in the most recent data year. Those general biology students who get their degree from Duquesne University make $2,830 more than the standard biology student.
Located in the large suburb of Easton, Lafayette is a private not-for-profit college with a small student population. A Best Colleges rank of #204 out of 2,152 schools nationwide means Lafayette is a great college overall.
There were approximately 48 general biology students who graduated with this degree at Lafayette in the most recent year we have data available. Those general biology students who get their degree from Lafayette College receive $8,072 more than the average biology graduate.
Located in the large suburb of Swarthmore, Swarthmore is a private not-for-profit college with a small student population. A Best Colleges rank of #75 out of 2,152 schools nationwide means Swarthmore is a great college overall.
There were approximately 30 general biology students who graduated with this degree at Swarthmore in the most recent data year. Those general biology students who get their degree from Swarthmore College earn $7,309 more than the typical biology student.
Located in the city of Philadelphia, St. Joe's is a private not-for-profit university with a medium-sized student population. A Best Colleges rank of #105 out of 2,152 schools nationwide means St. Joe's is a great university overall.
There were roughly 130 general biology students who graduated with this degree at St. Joe's in the most recent data year. Graduates who receive their degree from the biology program earn about $33,767 in the first couple years of their career.
These are some additional schools worth mentioning that are also great but just didn't quite make the cut to earn our top Best General Biology Schools in Pennsylvania award.
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).
The biology program you select can have a big impact on your future. That's why we developed our collection of Best Schools for General Biology rankings. In order to come up with a best overall ranking for general biology schools, we combine our degree-level rankings, weighting them by the number of degrees awarded at each level.
