2025 Best General Biology Master's Degree Schools in the Middle Atlantic Region

General Biology is of the hottest master's degree programs in the United States, coming in as the #31 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.

College Factual looked at 26 colleges and universities when compiling its 2025 Best General Biology Master's Degree Schools in the Middle Atlantic Region ranking. When you put them all together, these colleges and universities awarded 2,102 master's degrees in general biology during the 2022-2023 academic year.

What's on this page: * Our Methodology

• Best Master’s Degree Schools List

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

The biology master's degree program you select can have a big impact on your future. Important measures of a quality biology program can vary widely even among the top schools. Below we explain some of the most important factors to consider before making your choice:

Overall Quality Is a Must

The overall quality of a master's degree school is important to ensure a quality education, not just how well they do in a particular major. To take this into account we include a school's overall Best Colleges for a Master's Degree ranking which itself looks at a host of different factors like degree completion, educational resources, student body caliber and post-graduation earnings for the school as a whole.

Average Early-Career Salaries

Average early-career salary of those graduating with their master's degree is one indicator we use in our analysis to find the schools that offer the highest-quality education. After all, your master'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

The metrics below are just some of the other metrics that we use to determine our rankings.

• Major Focus - How many resources a school devotes to general biology students as compared to other majors.
• Major Demand - How many other general biology students want to attend this school to pursue a master's degree.
• Educational Resources - How many resources are allocated to students. These resources may include educational expenditures per student, number of students per instructor, and graduation rate among other things.
• Student Debt - How easy is it for general biology to pay back their student loans after receiving their master's degree.
• Accreditation - Whether a school is regionally accredited and/or accredited by a recognized general biology related body.

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

One Size Does Not Fit All

Since picking the right college can be one of the most important decisions of your life, we've developed the Best General Biology Master's Degree Schools in the Middle Atlantic Region ranking, along with many other major-related rankings, to help you make that decision.

Best Schools for Master’s Students to Study General Biology in the Middle Atlantic Region

Below you'll see a list of the best colleges and universities for pursuing a master's degree in general biology.

10 Top Middle Atlantic Region Schools for a Master's in Biology

1

Johns Hopkins University
Baltimore, MD

353 Annual Graduates

$153,622 Median Starting Salary

It is hard to beat Johns Hopkins University if you wish to pursue a master's degree in general biology. Located in the large city of Baltimore, Johns Hopkins is a private not-for-profit university with a fairly large student population.

Master's recipients from the general biology degree program at Johns Hopkins University make $101,265 above the typical college graduate in this field shortly after graduation.

More information about a master’s in general biology from Johns Hopkins University

2

New York University
New York, NY

473 Annual Graduates

$69,912 Median Starting Salary

Every student who is interested in a master's degree in general biology has to take a look at New York University. NYU is a fairly large private not-for-profit university located in the city of New York.

Those general biology students who get their master's degree from New York University make $17,555 more than the average biology grad.

More information about a master’s in general biology from New York University

3

University of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, PA

11 Annual Graduates

University of Pennsylvania is a good choice for students pursuing a master's degree in general biology. UPenn is a fairly large private not-for-profit university located in the large city of Philadelphia.More information about a master’s in general biology from University of Pennsylvania

4

Columbia University in the City of New York
New York, NY

28 Annual Graduates

It's hard to beat Columbia University in the City of New York if you want to pursue a master's degree in general biology. Columbia is a fairly large private not-for-profit university located in the city of New York.More information about a master’s in general biology from Columbia University in the City of New York

5

Georgetown University
Washington, DC

15 Annual Graduates

Georgetown is a very large private not-for-profit university located in the large city of Washington.More information about a master’s in general biology from Georgetown University

6

George Washington University
Washington, DC

26 Annual Graduates

Located in the large city of Washington, GWU is a private not-for-profit university with a fairly large student population.More information about a master’s in general biology from George Washington University

7

Rutgers University - New Brunswick
New Brunswick, NJ

300 Annual Graduates

$43,317 Median Starting Salary

Located in the city of New Brunswick, Rutgers New Brunswick is a public university with a very large student population.

After graduating, biology master's recipients usually make about $43,317 in their early careers.

More information about a master’s in general biology from Rutgers University - New Brunswick

8

University of Delaware
Newark, DE

13 Annual Graduates

Located in the suburb of Newark, UD is a public university with a fairly large student population.More information about a master’s in general biology from University of Delaware

9

University of Pittsburgh - Pittsburgh Campus
Pittsburgh, PA

45 Annual Graduates

$34,572 Median Starting Salary

Pitt is a very large public university located in the city of Pittsburgh.

Students who graduate with their master's from the biology program report average early career earnings of $34,572.

More information about a master’s in general biology from University of Pittsburgh - Pittsburgh Campus

10

Stony Brook University
Stony Brook, NY

54 Annual Graduates

$46,316 Median Starting Salary

SUNY Stony Brook is a very large public university located in the suburb of Stony Brook.

Master's graduates who receive their degree from the biology program make around $46,316 in the first couple years of their career.

More information about a master’s in general biology from Stony Brook University

Best General Biology Colleges by State

Explore the best general biology colleges for a specific state in the Middle Atlantic Region .

State	Colleges	Degrees Awarded
New York	261	665
Pennsylvania	248	329
Maryland	193	92
New Jersey	188	327
District of Columbia	154	23
Delaware	109	13

View All Rankings >

General Biology Related Rankings by Major

One of 14 majors within the Biological & Biomedical Sciences area of study, General Biology has other similar majors worth exploring.

Biology Focus Areas

Major	Annual Graduates
General Biomedical Sciences	1,505
Biology Studies	597

Most Popular Majors Related to Biology

Related Major	Annual Graduates
Biotechnology	941
Ecology, Evolution & Systematics Biology	800
Biomathematics & Bioinformatics	599
Physiology & Pathology Sciences	515
Biochemistry, Biophysics & Molecular Biology	339
Microbiological Sciences & Immunology	206
Neurobiology & Neurosciences	166
Biological & Biomedical Sciences (Other)	164
Genetics	157
Pharmacology & Toxicology	131

Notes and References

• 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). More about our data sources and methodologies.