Marine Sciencebachelor's programs are on the lower end of the spectrum in terms of popularity. In fact, the major degree program ranks #262 out of the 363 majors we look at each year. As such, your educational options may be more limited than if you were in a more popular field.
College Factual looked at 4 colleges and universities when compiling its 2025 Best Marine Science Bachelor's Degree Schools in the Far Western US Region ranking. Combined, these schools handed out 149 bachelor's degrees in marine science to qualified students.
Choosing a Great Marine Science School for Your Bachelor's Degree
Your choice of marine science for getting your bachelor's degree school matters. Important measures of a quality marine science program can vary widely even among the top schools. When choosing a school we recommend considering some of the following factors:
Quality Overall Is Important
A school that excels in educating for a particular major and degree level must be a great school overall as well. To make it into this list a school must rank well in our overall Best Colleges 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 bachelor's degree from the school. This is because one of the main reasons people pursue their bachelor's degree is to enable themselves to find better-paying positions.
Other Factors We Consider
In addition to the above, you should consider some of the following factors:
Major Focus - How much a school focuses on marine science students vs. other majors.
Major Demand - The number of marine science students who choose to seek a bachelor's degree at the school.
Educational Resources - The amount of money and other resources allocated to students while they are pursuing their degree. These resources include such things as number of students per instructor and education expenditures per student.
Student Debt - How easy is it for marine science to pay back their student loans after receiving their bachelor's degree.
Accreditation - Whether a school is regionally accredited and/or accredited by a recognized marine science related body.
Our full ranking methodology documents in more detail how we consider these factors to identify the best schools for marine science students working on their bachelor's degree.
The marine science 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 Marine Science Bachelor's Degree Schools in the Far Western US Region.
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.
Best Schools for Bachelor’s Students to Study Marine Science in the Far Western US Region
Below you'll see a list of the best colleges and universities for pursuing a bachelor's degree in marine science.
Top Far Western US Region Schools for a Bachelor's in Marine Science
California State University - Monterey Bay is one of the best schools in the United States for getting a bachelor's degree in marine science. CSUMB is a moderately-sized public university located in the suburb of Seaside.
Students who graduate with their bachelor's from the marine science program state that they receive average early career income of $27,268.
California Polytechnic State University - San Luis Obispo is a wonderful choice for individuals interested in a bachelor's degree in marine science. Located in the small suburb of San Luis Obispo, Cal Poly San Luis Obispo is a public university with a fairly large student population.
Soon after graduating, marine science bachelor's recipients usually earn an average of $27,337 at the beginning of their careers.
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).