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.
In 2025, College Factual analyzed 58 schools in order to identify the top ones for its Best General Biology Schools in California ranking. Combined, these schools handed out 14,442 degrees in general biology to qualified students.
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.
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 General Biology Schools in California 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.
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.
Any student pursuing a degree in general biology has to look into University of California - Los Angeles. UCLA is a very large public university located in the city of Los Angeles. A Best Colleges rank of #28 out of 2,152 schools nationwide means UCLA is a great university overall.
There were roughly 446 general biology students who graduated with this degree at UCLA in the most recent data year. Graduates who receive their degree from the biology program make about $28,242 in the first couple years of working.
Every student pursuing a degree in general biology needs to look into University of California - San Diego. Located in the city of La Jolla, UCSD is a public university with a very large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #49 out of 2,152 colleges nationwide means UCSD is a great university overall.
There were roughly 518 general biology students who graduated with this degree at UCSD in the most recent data year. Those general biology students who get their degree from University of California - San Diego make $4,747 more than the average biology grad.
It is difficult to beat University of California - Berkeley if you wish to pursue a degree in general biology. Located in the medium-sized city of Berkeley, UC Berkeley is a public university with a fairly large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #14 out of 2,152 schools nationwide means UC Berkeley is a great university overall.
There were roughly 195 general biology students who graduated with this degree at UC Berkeley in the most recent data year. General Biology degree recipients from University of California - Berkeley earn a boost of approximately $2,829 over the typical earnings of general biology majors.
Every student who is interested in general biology has to check out University of Southern California. Located in the city of Los Angeles, USC is a private not-for-profit university with a fairly large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #13 out of 2,152 colleges nationwide means USC is a great university overall.
There were approximately 77 general biology students who graduated with this degree at USC in the most recent data year. Soon after graduating, biology degree recipients typically make around $20,210 at the beginning of their careers.
Located in the large suburb of Stanford, Stanford is a private not-for-profit university with a fairly large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #10 out of 2,152 schools nationwide means Stanford is a great university overall.
There were approximately 100 general biology students who graduated with this degree at Stanford in the most recent year we have data available.
UCSB is a fairly large public university located in the midsize suburb of Santa Barbara. A Best Colleges rank of #47 out of 2,152 schools nationwide means UCSB is a great university overall.
There were about 384 general biology students who graduated with this degree at UCSB in the most recent year we have data available. Students who graduate with their degree from the biology program report average early career earnings of $33,486.
UC Davis is a fairly large public university located in the small suburb of Davis. A Best Colleges rank of #55 out of 2,152 schools nationwide means UC Davis is a great university overall.
There were about 418 general biology students who graduated with this degree at UC Davis in the most recent data year. Students who graduate with their degree from the biology program report average early career income of $35,241.
Located in the city of San Francisco, SFSU is a public university with a fairly large student population. This university ranks 30th out of 161 schools for overall quality in the state of California.
There were approximately 479 general biology students who graduated with this degree at SFSU in the most recent year we have data available. General Biology degree recipients from San Francisco State University get an earnings boost of around $2,446 over the average income of general biology graduates.
UCR is a very large public university located in the city of Riverside. This university ranks 28th out of 161 colleges for overall quality in the state of California.
There were approximately 653 general biology students who graduated with this degree at UCR in the most recent year we have data available. Soon after graduation, biology degree recipients generally make around $26,863 in the first five years of their career.
Located in the large city of San Diego, SDSU is a public university with a very large student population. This university ranks 25th out of 161 schools for overall quality in the state of California.
There were about 310 general biology students who graduated with this degree at SDSU in the most recent data year. Students who graduate with their degree from the biology program state that they receive average early career income of $33,597.
Located in the city of Santa Cruz, UC Santa Cruz is a public university with a large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #91 out of 2,152 colleges nationwide means UC Santa Cruz is a great university overall.
There were approximately 184 general biology students who graduated with this degree at UC Santa Cruz in the most recent year we have data available. General Biology degree recipients from University of California - Santa Cruz receive an earnings boost of about $3,838 over the average earnings of general biology graduates.
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 California 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.
