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2025 Best General Biology Doctor's Degree Schools

51 Colleges in the United States
1,911 Doctor's Degrees
$76,854 Avg Early-Career Salary
General Biology is of the hottest doctor's degree programs in the United States, coming in as the #19 most popular major in the country. This makes choosing the right school a hard decision.

College Factual looked at 51 colleges and universities when compiling its 2025 Best General Biology Doctor's Degree Schools ranking. Combined, these schools handed out 1,911 doctor's degrees in general biology to qualified students.

Jump to one of the following sections: * Our Methodology

Choosing a Great General Biology School for Your Doctor's Degree

Best General Biology Doctor's Degree Schools The biology doctor's degree program you select can have a big impact on your future. This section explores some of the factors we include in our ranking and how much they vary depending on the school you select. When choosing a school we recommend considering some of the following factors:

Quality Overall Is Important

The overall quality of a doctor's degree school is important to ensure a quality education, not just how well they do in a particular major. To make it into this list a school must rank well in our overall Best Colleges for a Doctor's Degree ranking. This ranking considered factors such as graduation rates, overall graduate earnings and other educational resources to identify great colleges and universities.

Average Earnings

To determine the overall quality of a graduate school, one factor we look at is the average early-career salary of those receiving their doctor's degree from the school. After all, your doctor's degree won't mean much if it doesn't help you find a job that will help you earn a living.

Other Factors We Consider

In addition to the above, you should consider some of the following factors:

Our complete ranking methodology documents in more detail how we consider these factors to identify the best colleges for general biology students working on their doctor's degree.

More Ways to Rank General Biology Schools

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The biology school you choose to invest your time and money in matters. To help you make the decision that is right for you, we've developed a number of major-specific rankings, including this list of the Best General Biology Doctor's Degree Schools.

Best Schools for Doctorate Students to Study General Biology in the United States

Below you'll see a list of the best colleges and universities for pursuing a doctor's degree in general biology. Only those schools that rank in the top 20% of all the schools we analyze get awarded with a place on this list.

10 Top Schools for a Doctorate in Biology

1

University of California - San Diego is one of the finest schools in the United States for getting a doctor's degree in general biology. UCSD is a very large public university located in the large city of La Jolla.

Doctorate recipients from the general biology major at University of California - San Diego make $3,440 above the typical graduate with the same degree shortly after graduation.

More information about a doctorate in general biology from University of California - San Diego

2
Stanford crest
Stanford University
Stanford, CA
36 Annual Graduates

Stanford University is a great decision for students interested in a doctor's degree in general biology. Stanford is a fairly large private not-for-profit university located in the large suburb of Stanford.More information about a doctorate in general biology from Stanford University

3
16 Annual Graduates

Every student pursuing a degree in a doctor's degree in general biology has to take a look at Cornell University. Cornell is a fairly large private not-for-profit university located in the small city of Ithaca.More information about a doctorate in general biology from Cornell University

4

It's hard to beat Johns Hopkins University if you want to pursue a doctor's degree in general biology. Johns Hopkins is a very large private not-for-profit university located in the city of Baltimore.

Those general biology students who get their doctor's degree from Johns Hopkins University earn $19,841 more than the typical biology student.

More information about a doctorate in general biology from Johns Hopkins University

5

Northwestern is a very large private not-for-profit university located in the city of Evanston.

Doctorate recipients from the general biology degree program at Northwestern University make $10,092 more than the average college graduate with the same degree shortly after graduation.

More information about a doctorate in general biology from Northwestern University

6
NYU crest
New York University
New York, NY
16 Annual Graduates

Located in the large city of New York, NYU is a private not-for-profit university with a fairly large student population.More information about a doctorate in general biology from New York University

7
17 Annual Graduates

Located in the city of New York, Columbia is a private not-for-profit university with a fairly large student population.More information about a doctorate in general biology from Columbia University in the City of New York

8
26 Annual Graduates

UC Berkeley is a very large public university located in the midsize city of Berkeley.More information about a doctorate in general biology from University of California - Berkeley

9

Rutgers New Brunswick is a very large public university located in the city of New Brunswick.

Those general biology students who get their doctor's degree from Rutgers University - New Brunswick make $29,500 more than the average biology student.

More information about a doctorate in general biology from Rutgers University - New Brunswick

10
27 Annual Graduates

Located in the fringe town of Storrs, UCONN is a public university with a very large student population.More information about a doctorate in general biology from University of Connecticut

Additional Noteworthy Schools

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 Doctor's Degree Schools award.

Rank College Location
11 University of Pennsylvania Philadelphia, PA
12 University of Minnesota - Twin Cities Minneapolis, MN
13 Boston University Boston, MA
14 Ohio State University - Main Campus Columbus, OH
15 University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Champaign, IL
16 Texas A&M University - College Station College Station, TX
17 Virginia Tech Blacksburg, VA

General Biology by Region

View the Best General Biology Doctor's Degree 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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One of 14 majors within the Biological & Biomedical Sciences area of study, General Biology has other similar majors worth exploring.

Biology Concentrations

Major Annual Graduates
Biology Studies 1,109
General Biomedical Sciences 802

Majors Similar to Biology

Related Major Annual Graduates
Biochemistry, Biophysics & Molecular Biology 1,118
Ecology, Evolution & Systematics Biology 950
Neurobiology & Neurosciences 822
Cell Biology & Anatomical Sciences 812
Physiology & Pathology Sciences 658
Microbiological Sciences & Immunology 646
Biomathematics & Bioinformatics 606
Pharmacology & Toxicology 424
Genetics 374
Biological & Biomedical Sciences (Other) 276

Notes and References

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