by our College Data Analytics TeamFor its 2025 ranking, College Factual looked at 17 schools in the Great Lakes Region to determine which ones were the best for physics students pursuing a bachelor's degree. When you put them all together, these colleges and universities awarded 1,099 bachelor's degrees in physics during the 2022-2023 academic year.
What's on this page: * Our Methodology
Your choice of physics for getting your bachelor's degree school matters. This section explores some of the factors we include in our ranking and how much they vary depending on the school you select. Below we explain some of the most important factors to consider before making your choice:
The overall quality of a bachelor's degree school is important to ensure a good education, not just how well they do in a particular major. To account for this we consider a school's overall Best Colleges ranking which itself looks at a collection of different factors like degree completion, educational resources, student body caliber and post-graduation earnings for the school as a whole.
Average early-career salary of those graduating with their bachelor's degree is one indicator we use in our analysis to find the schools that offer the highest-quality education. After all, your bachelor's degree won't mean much if it doesn't help you find a job that will help you earn a living.
The metrics below are just some of the other metrics that we use to determine our rankings.
Our complete ranking methodology documents in more detail how we consider these factors to identify the best colleges for physics students working on their bachelor's degree.
Since picking the right college can be one of the most important decisions of your life, we've developed the Best Physics Bachelor's Degree Schools in the Great Lakes Region ranking, along with many other major-related rankings, to help you make that decision.
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 following list ranks the best colleges and universities for pursuing a bachelor's degree in physics.
University of Notre Dame is one of the best schools in the country for getting a bachelor's degree in physics. Notre Dame is a fairly large private not-for-profit university located in the large suburb of Notre Dame.More information about a bachelor’s in physics from University of Notre Dame
University of Michigan - Ann Arbor is one of the finest schools in the country for getting a bachelor's degree in physics. Located in the medium-sized city of Ann Arbor, U-M is a public university with a very large student population.
Those physics students who get their bachelor's degree from University of Michigan - Ann Arbor earn $6,188 more than the average physics graduate.
More information about a bachelor’s in physics from University of Michigan - Ann Arbor
Any student pursuing a degree in a bachelor's degree in physics needs to take a look at University of Wisconsin - Madison. UW - Madison is a fairly large public university located in the city of Madison.
Soon after graduation, physics bachelor's recipients typically make an average of $36,878 in the first five years of their career.
More information about a bachelor’s in physics from University of Wisconsin - Madison
Ohio State University - Main Campus is one of the best schools in the country for getting a bachelor's degree in physics. Located in the city of Columbus, Ohio State is a public university with a fairly large student population.
Physics bachelor's degree recipients from Ohio State University - Main Campus receive an earnings boost of around $6,673 above the average income of physics graduates.
More information about a bachelor’s in physics from Ohio State University - Main Campus
UIUC is a very large public university located in the small city of Champaign.
Bachelor's recipients from the physics program at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign make $4,188 above the typical college grad with the same degree when they enter the workforce.
More information about a bachelor’s in physics from University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Michigan State is a very large public university located in the small city of East Lansing.
Students who graduate with their bachelor's from the physics program report average early career earnings of $33,400.
More information about a bachelor’s in physics from Michigan State University
Located in the large city of Cleveland, Case Western is a private not-for-profit university with a fairly large student population.More information about a bachelor’s in physics from Case Western Reserve University
Located in the large city of Cincinnati, UC is a public university with a fairly large student population.More information about a bachelor’s in physics from University of Cincinnati - Main Campus
Located in the small city of West Lafayette, Purdue is a public university with a very large student population.
Soon after graduation, physics bachelor's recipients usually earn about $30,203 in their early careers.
More information about a bachelor’s in physics from Purdue University - Main Campus
Located in the city of Bloomington, IU Bloomington is a public university with a very large student population.More information about a bachelor’s in physics from Indiana University - Bloomington
Explore the best physics schools for a specific state in the Great Lakes Region .
One of 8 majors within the Physical Sciences area of study, Physics has other similar majors worth exploring.
| Major | Annual Graduates |
|---|---|
| General Physics | 1,057 |
| Acoustics | 30 |
| Theoretical & Mathematical Physics | 5 |
| Optics/Optical Sciences | 4 |
| Other Physics | 3 |
| Related Major | Annual Graduates |
|---|---|
| Chemistry | 1,919 |
| Geological & Earth Sciences | 649 |
| Astronomy & Astrophysics | 219 |
| Atmospheric Sciences & Meteorology | 141 |
| General Physical Sciences | 16 |
| Other Physical Science | 9 |
| Materials Sciences | 7 |
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