Natural Sciences is about average in terms of popularity for bachelor's degrees programs. That is, it ranks #169 out of the 363 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 2 schools in California to determine which ones were the best for natural sciences students pursuing a bachelor's degree. Combined, these schools handed out 122 bachelor's degrees in natural sciences to qualified students.
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
The metrics below are just some of the other metrics that we use to determine our rankings.
Major Focus - How much a school focuses on natural sciences students vs. other majors.
Major Demand - The number of natural sciences students who choose to seek a bachelor's degree at the school.
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 natural sciences 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 natural sciences related body.
Our complete ranking methodology documents in more detail how we consider these factors to identify the best schools for natural sciences students working on their bachelor's degree.
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 Natural Sciences Bachelor's Degree Schools in California list to help you make the college decision.
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 Natural Sciences in California
The following list ranks the best colleges and universities for pursuing a bachelor's degree in natural sciences.
Top California Schools for a Bachelor's in Natural Sciences
Loyola Marymount University is a good decision for individuals pursuing a bachelor's degree in natural sciences. Located in the city of Los Angeles, Loyola Marymount is a private not-for-profit university with a large student population.
Bachelor's students who receive their degree from the natural sciences program earn an average of $33,647 for their early career.
It is difficult to beat California State University - Los Angeles if you want to pursue a bachelor's degree in natural sciences. Located in the large city of Los Angeles, Cal State LA is a public university with a very large student population.
Those natural sciences students who get their bachelor's degree from California State University - Los Angeles earn $3,112 more than the average natural sciences grad.
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).
