2025 Best Physical Sciences Schools in the Southeast Region
68Colleges in the Southeast Region
9,618Physical Sciences Degrees Awarded
$47,003Avg Early-Career Salary
Physical Sciences is about average in terms of popularity for degree programs. That is, it ranks #19 out of the 38 majors across the country that we analyze each year. So, it might take a little more work to find colleges and universities that offer the degree program.
College Factual looked at 68 colleges and universities when compiling its 2025 Best Physical Sciences Schools in the Southeast Region ranking. When you put them all together, these colleges and universities awarded 9,618 degrees in physical sciences annually.
Your choice of physical sciences school matters, so we have put together these rankings to help you make your decision. We derive our Best Overall Physical Sciences School rankings by rolling up our degree-level rankings after weighting them by the number of degrees awarded at each school.
You may want to choose one of the degree levels below to find the schools of most interest to you.
Since picking the right college can be one of the most important decisions of your life, we've developed the Best Physical Sciences Schools in the Southeast Region ranking, along with many other major-related rankings, to help you make that decision.
If you'd like to restrict your choices to just one part of the country, you can filter this list by location.
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.
Test it out when you get a chance! You may also want to bookmark the link and share it with others who are trying to make the college decision.
Best Schools for Physical Sciences in the Southeast Region
Although we recommend filtering by degree level first, you can view the list below to see which schools give the educational experience for the physical sciences degree levels they offer. Only those schools that rank in the top 20% of all the schools we analyze get awarded with a place on this list.
13 Top Southeast Region Schools in Physical Sciences
It's hard to beat Duke University if you want to pursue a degree in physical sciences. Located in the large city of Durham, Duke is a private not-for-profit university with a fairly large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #7 out of 2,152 schools nationwide means Duke is a great university overall.
There were roughly 153 physical sciences students who graduated with this degree at Duke in the most recent data year. Graduates who receive their degree from the physical sciences program earn around $29,748 in the first couple years of working.
It is difficult to beat University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill if you want to pursue a degree in physical sciences. UNC Chapel Hill is a very large public university located in the small city of Chapel Hill. A Best Colleges rank of #38 out of 2,152 colleges nationwide means UNC Chapel Hill is a great university overall.
There were approximately 275 physical sciences students who graduated with this degree at UNC Chapel Hill in the most recent data year. Students who receive their degree from the physical sciences program make around $43,148 for their early career.
University of Virginia - Main Campus is one of the finest schools in the country for getting a degree in physical sciences. Located in the midsize suburb of Charlottesville, University of Virginia is a public university with a very large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #35 out of 2,152 schools nationwide means University of Virginia is a great university overall.
There were approximately 236 physical sciences students who graduated with this degree at University of Virginia in the most recent year we have data available. After graduation, physical sciences degree recipients typically make around $30,599 at the beginning of their careers.
It's difficult to beat Virginia Commonwealth University if you wish to pursue a degree in physical sciences. Located in the medium-sized city of Richmond, VCU is a public university with a fairly large student population. This university ranks 8th out of 57 colleges for overall quality in the state of Virginia.
There were roughly 136 physical sciences students who graduated with this degree at VCU in the most recent year we have data available. Soon after graduation, physical sciences degree recipients typically make an average of $38,772 in the first five years of their career.
Located in the city of Gainesville, UF is a public university with a very large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #56 out of 2,152 schools nationwide means UF is a great university overall.
There were about 362 physical sciences students who graduated with this degree at UF in the most recent data year. After graduating, physical sciences degree recipients generally earn around $41,139 in their early careers.
Located in the suburb of Williamsburg, William & Mary is a public school with a moderately-sized student population. A Best Colleges rank of #103 out of 2,152 colleges nationwide means William & Mary is a great school overall.
There were roughly 146 physical sciences students who graduated with this degree at William & Mary in the most recent year we have data available. Students who receive their degree from the physical sciences program make an average of $35,130 for their early career.
Located in the city of Atlanta, Georgia Tech is a public school with a very large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #19 out of 2,152 colleges nationwide means Georgia Tech is a great school overall.
There were roughly 192 physical sciences students who graduated with this degree at Georgia Tech in the most recent data year.
Clemson is a fairly large public university located in the midsize suburb of Clemson. This university ranks 2nd out of 45 colleges for overall quality in the state of South Carolina.
There were roughly 110 physical sciences students who graduated with this degree at Clemson in the most recent year we have data available.
UofSC is a very large public university located in the city of Columbia. A Best Colleges rank of #99 out of 2,152 colleges nationwide means UofSC is a great university overall.
There were roughly 85 physical sciences students who graduated with this degree at UofSC in the most recent data year. Degree recipients from the physical sciences major at University of South Carolina - Columbia earn $2,354 above the average graduate in this field shortly after graduation.
Wake Forest University is a medium-sized private not-for-profit university located in the large city of Winston-Salem. A Best Colleges rank of #76 out of 2,152 colleges nationwide means Wake Forest University is a great university overall.
There were roughly 50 physical sciences students who graduated with this degree at Wake Forest University in the most recent data year.
NC State is a very large public university located in the large city of Raleigh. This university ranks 4th out of 93 schools for overall quality in the state of North Carolina.
There were approximately 199 physical sciences students who graduated with this degree at NC State in the most recent data year. Physical Sciences degree recipients from North Carolina State University receive an earnings boost of around $8,174 over the average income of physical sciences graduates.
Located in the city of Fayetteville, UARK is a public university with a very large student population. This university ranks 1st out of 36 schools for overall quality in the state of Arkansas.
There were about 160 physical sciences students who graduated with this degree at UARK in the most recent year we have data available. Soon after graduating, physical sciences degree recipients generally make around $32,980 in their early careers.
Located in the large city of Atlanta, Emory is a private not-for-profit university with a fairly large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #31 out of 2,152 colleges nationwide means Emory is a great university overall.
There were roughly 169 physical sciences students who graduated with this degree at Emory in the most recent year we have data available. Students who graduate with their degree from the physical sciences program report average early career income of $32,130.
These are some additional schools worth mentioning that are also great but just didn't quite make the cut to earn our top Best Physical Sciences Schools in the Southeast Region award.
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).
Your choice of physical sciences school matters, so we have put together these rankings to help you make your decision. We derive our Best Overall Physical Sciences School rankings by rolling up our degree-level rankings after weighting them by the number of degrees awarded at each school.
