2023 Most Focused Master’s Degree Colleges for Optics/Optical Sciences in the Southeast Region

When it comes to choosing a college, students have a lot of options - but not all of them are good. College Factual has developed its “Schools for a Master’s Highly Focused on Optics/Optical Sciences Major in the Southeast Region” ranking as one item you can use to help make this decision.

In 2021-2022, 220 people earned their degree in optics/optical sciences, making the major the 816th most popular in the United States.

Across the Southeast region, there were 15 optics/optical sciences graduates with average earnings and debt of $0 and $0 respectively. At the master’s degree level specifically, there were 9 optics/optical sciences graduates with average earnings and debt of $55,462 and $43,311 respectively.

This year’s “Schools for a Master’s Highly Focused on Optics/Optical Sciences Major in the Southeast Region” ranking looked at 3 colleges that offer degrees in a bachelor’s in optics/optical sciences. That schools that top this list have a program in optics/optical sciences in which the largest percentage of students at the school are enrolled.

See our ranking methodology to learn more.

More Ways to Rank Optics/Optical Sciences Schools

The optics/optical sciences 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 “Schools for a Master’s Highly Focused on Optics/Optical Sciences Major in the Southeast Region”.

In addition to our rankings, you can take two colleges and compare them based on the criteria that matters most to you in our unique tool, College Combat. Go ahead and give it a try, or bookmark the link so you can check it out later.

Schools for a Master’s Highly Focused on Optics/Optical Sciences Major in the Southeast Region

The colleges and universities below are the best for southeast region master’s degree optics/optical sciences students.

Top 3 Most Focused Master’s Degree Colleges for Optics/Optical Sciences in the Southeast Region

1

Duke University
Durham, North Carolina

#1 overall quality in Southeast

Out of the 3 schools in the Schools for a Master’s Highly Focused on Optics/Optical Sciences Major in the Southeast Region that were part of this year’s ranking, Duke University landed the #1 spot on the list. This fairly large school is located in Durham, North Carolina, and it awarded 1 masters’s optics/optical sciences degrees in 2021-2022.

The undergraduate student-to-faculty ratio of 6 to 1 is a sign that students will have more opportunities to engage with their professors one-on-one. The undergrad student loan default rate at the school is 0.1%, which is quite low when compared to the national default rate of 10.1%. Students who start out at the school are likely to stick around. The freshman retention rate is 98%.

Read full report on Optics/Optical Sciences at Duke

2

University of North Carolina at Charlotte
Charlotte, North Carolina

Top 25% overall quality in Southeast

Out of the 3 schools in the Schools for a Master’s Highly Focused on Optics/Optical Sciences Major in the Southeast Region that were part of this year’s ranking, University of North Carolina at Charlotte landed the #2 spot on the list. University of North Carolina at Charlotte is a public institution located in Charlotte, North Carolina. The school has a large population, and it awarded 8 masters’s degrees in 2021-2022.

The low undergrad student loan default rate of 1.7% is a good sign that students have an easier time paying off their loans than they might at other schools. For comparison, the national default rate is 10.1%. With a freshman retention rate of 85%, the school does an excellent job of retaining its undergraduate students.

Read full report on Optics/Optical Sciences at UNC Charlotte

3

Clemson University
Clemson, South Carolina

#17 overall quality in Southeast

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend Clemson University. It ranked #3 on our 2023 Schools for a Master’s Highly Focused on Optics/Optical Sciences Major in the Southeast Region list. Clemson, South Carolina is the setting for this large institution of higher learning. The public school handed out masters’s optics/optical sciences degrees to 0 students in 2021-2022.

The school has an impressive undergrad student loan default rate. It’s only 0.6%, which is much lower than the national rate of 10.1%. Students who start out at the school are likely to stick around. The freshman retention rate is 94%.

Read full report on Optics/Optical Sciences at Clemson

Notes and References

References

• 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 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).
• Information about the national average student loan default rate is from the U.S. Department of Education and refers to data about the 2016 borrower cohort tracking period for which the cohort default rate (CDR) was 10.1%.

Read more about our data sources and methodologies

Footnotes

• *Avg Salary and Avg 4-Year Grad Rate are for the top schools only.
• Some schools otherwise deserving of recognition may have been removed from this ranking in the event that new data identified post-publication warranted it, or at the request of the school.

Credits

• Credit for the banner image above goes to A. T. Service.