Marine Sciences is about average in terms of popularity for degree programs. That is, it ranks #679 out of the 1506 majors across the country that we analyze each year. As such, the degree program isn't offered at every college in the United States, but there are schools that do have a program in the field that are top-notch when it comes to quality.
For its 2025 ranking, College Factual looked at 3 schools in California to determine which ones were the best for marine sciences students pursuing a degree. Combined, these schools handed out 133 degrees in marine sciences to qualified students.
The marine sciences program you select can have a big impact on your future. That's why we developed our collection of Best Schools for Marine Sciences rankings. In order to come up with a best overall ranking for marine sciences 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 the program you select can have a significant impact on your future, we've developed a number of rankings, including this Best Marine Sciences Schools in California list, to help you choose the best school for you.
You can also filter this list by location to find schools closer to you.
In addition to College Factual's rankings, you may want to take a look at College Combat, our unique tool that lets you pit your favorite schools head-to-head and compare how they rate on factors that most interest you.
When you have some time, check it out - you may want to bookmark the link so you don't forget it.
If you aren't interested in a particular degree level and want to know which schools are the overall best at delivering an education for the marine sciences degrees they offer, see the list below.
Any student who is interested in marine sciences needs to take a look at University of California - Davis. Located in the suburb of Davis, UC Davis is a public university with a very large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #55 out of 2,152 schools nationwide means UC Davis is a great university overall.
There were approximately 20 marine sciences students who graduated with this degree at UC Davis in the most recent data year.
Any student pursuing a degree in marine sciences needs to look into California State University - Monterey Bay. CSUMB is a medium-sized public university located in the midsize suburb of Seaside. This university ranks 72nd out of 161 colleges for overall quality in the state of California.
There were roughly 85 marine sciences students who graduated with this degree at CSUMB in the most recent data year.
California Polytechnic State University - San Luis Obispo is a wonderful option for students pursuing a degree in marine sciences. Located in the suburb of San Luis Obispo, Cal Poly San Luis Obispo is a public university with a fairly large student population. This university ranks 22nd out of 161 colleges for overall quality in the state of California.
There were roughly 12 marine sciences students who graduated with this degree at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo in the most recent year we have data available.
Marine Sciences is one of 0 different types of Marine Science programs to choose from.
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).
Credit for the banner image above goes to Daderot.
The marine sciences program you select can have a big impact on your future. That's why we developed our collection of Best Schools for Marine Sciences rankings. In order to come up with a best overall ranking for marine sciences schools, we combine our degree-level rankings, weighting them by the number of degrees awarded at each level.
