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Key Infor­ma­tion:

  • Stan­ford Uni­ver­si­ty and MIT have top bach­e­lor’s in envi­ron­men­tal sci­ence degree pro­grams.
  • These top-ranked schools offer some of the best envi­ron­men­tal sci­ence degrees, pro­vid­ing exten­sive research oppor­tu­ni­ties and field­work expe­ri­ences.
  • Envi­ron­men­tal sci­ence pro­grams cov­er var­i­ous spe­cial­iza­tions, includ­ing geol­o­gy, marine sci­ence, envi­ron­men­tal pol­i­cy, and sus­tain­abil­i­ty.
  • These pro­grams pre­pare stu­dents for careers in envi­ron­men­tal con­sult­ing, pol­i­cy, con­ser­va­tion, and more.

Is an envi­ron­men­tal sci­ence degree worth it? Many peo­ple now real­ize the com­plex rela­tion­ship the plan­et and all its var­ied and inter­con­nect­ed sys­tems have with the liv­ing crea­tures that call it home. For those who won­der if a degree in envi­ron­men­tal sci­ence is worth it, the answer seems clear­er now than it has ever been. The world seeks more peo­ple with an under­stand­ing of envi­ron­men­tal sci­ence. The best envi­ron­men­tal sci­ence pro­grams pre­pare you for those careers.

A bachelor’s in envi­ron­men­tal sci­ence pro­vides stu­dents with a gen­er­al, inter­dis­ci­pli­nary degree that encom­pass­es a mul­ti­tude of dis­ci­plines. Col­lege majors that relate to envi­ron­men­tal sci­ence will deal pri­mar­i­ly with the study of the envi­ron­ment through the lens of nat­ur­al sci­ences. The best envi­ron­men­tal sci­ence schools help stu­dents learn how to devel­op solu­tions to envi­ron­men­tal prob­lems, and how to use the degree to nav­i­gate fur­ther into the branch­es of envi­ron­men­tal science.

Methodology: Ranking the Best Environmental Science Schools

The edi­tors at Bachelor’s Degree Cen­ter want stu­dents to find the best schools for envi­ron­men­tal sci­ence, so we fea­ture only accred­it­ed col­leges and uni­ver­si­ties with a sound rep­u­ta­tion on the job mar­ket. From there, we rank envi­ron­men­tal sci­ence majors col­leges accord­ing to tuition cost, stu­dent sat­is­fac­tion, and grad­u­ate salary using data from IPEDS and Niche.

1. Stanford University

Stan­ford Uni­ver­si­ty offers four of the best envi­ron­men­tal sci­ence degrees at bachelor’s lev­el in geo­log­i­cal sci­ences, ener­gy resources engi­neer­ing, earth sys­tems, geo­physics. Stan­ford Uni­ver­si­ty offers degree can­di­dates an oppor­tu­ni­ty to explore their field of study in the field, through research projects and data sci­ence skills. Fea­tured class­es for these degrees include bust­ing ener­gy myths, the glob­al warm­ing para­dox, known your plan­et, fron­tiers of geo­phys­i­cal research, and intro earth sys­tems, and the worst jour­ney in the world, among others.

Stan­ford Uni­ver­si­ty was char­tered as a junior col­lege in the 1890s. The cam­pus in Cal­i­for­nia cov­ers more than 8,000 acres and serves more than 12,400 stu­dents. Stan­ford is rec­og­nized to be among the finest high­er learn­ing insti­tu­tions in the world.

What We Like: Sev­en schools of Stan­ford Uni­ver­si­ty com­bine to offer hun­dreds of programs.

Degree: 4 majors

Stan­ford

2. Massachusetts Institute of Technology

The Mass­a­chu­setts Insti­tute of Tech­nol­o­gy (MIT) Envi­ron­men­tal Solu­tions Ini­tia­tive offers six of the best envi­ron­men­tal sci­ence degrees at the bac­calau­re­ate lev­el. These envi­ron­men­tal sci­ence degree pro­grams include envi­ron­men­tal mechan­ics, envi­ron­men­tal chem­i­cal envi­ron­men­tal engi­neer­ing, envi­ron­men­tal pol­i­cy plan­ning, envi­ron­men­tal sys­tems, envi­ron­men­tal ener­gy in aero­nau­tics, and envi­ron­men­tal and tox­i­co­log­i­cal stud­ies. The Mass­a­chu­setts Insti­tute of Tech­nol­o­gy also oper­ates the New Engi­neer­ing Edu­ca­tion Trans­for­ma­tion pro­gram in the area of renew­able ener­gy machines or advanced mate­ri­als machines. These pro­grams from the Mass­a­chu­setts Insti­tute of Tech­nol­o­gy allow stu­dents to pre­pare for mean­ing­ful envi­ron­men­tal sci­ence careers.

The Mass­a­chu­setts Insti­tute of Tech­nol­o­gy (MIT) oper­ates as a land-grant, pri­vate school estab­lished in the 1860s. In addi­tion, MIT is a space and sea-grant insti­tu­tion of high­er edu­ca­tion with more than 11,350 stu­dents attend­ing class­es online and on the Cam­bridge campus.

What We Like: The Mass­a­chu­setts Insti­tute of Tech­nol­o­gy con­sis­tent­ly ranks among the lead­ing uni­ver­si­ties in many categories.

Degree: Envi­ron­men­tal concentrations

Mass­a­chu­setts Insti­tute of Technology

3. Duke University

Duke University’s Nico­las School of the Envi­ron­ment offers three of North Carolina’s best envi­ron­men­tal sci­ence degrees in marine sci­ence & con­ser­va­tion, envi­ron­men­tal sci­ences, and pol­i­cy or earth & cli­mate sci­ences. Many of Duke University’s bachelor’s degree in envi­ron­men­tal sci­ences offers small class sizes, and field-ori­ent­ed cours­es, with access to the world-famous marine lab run by Duke Uni­ver­si­ty in Beau­fort. These pro­grams are offered as an AB (a Bach­e­lor of Arts) or a BS – a Bach­e­lor of Sci­ence degree.

Duke Uni­ver­si­ty was estab­lished by the Quakers/Methodists as Brown School in the 1830s. The university’s cam­pus includes more than 8,500 acres plus addi­tion­al facil­i­ties that serve a stu­dent enroll­ment that exceeds 15,550 post­grad­u­ate and under­grad­u­ate stu­dents annually.

What We Like: Duke Uni­ver­si­ty employs near­ly 40,000 indi­vid­u­als, mak­ing it the state’s sec­ond-largest of all pri­vate employers.

Degree: 3 majors

Duke Uni­ver­si­ty

4. University of Washington

The Uni­ver­si­ty of Washington’s Col­lege of the Envi­ron­ment offers two of the west coast’s best envi­ron­men­tal sci­ence degrees with its Envi­ron­men­tal Sci­ence and Resource Man­age­ment (ESRM) or Biore­source Sci­ence and Engi­neer­ing (BSE). Stu­dents may select minors in eco­log­i­cal restora­tion, restora­tion ecol­o­gy, wildlife con­ser­va­tion, and ESRM, to name a few. The Uni­ver­si­ty of Washington’s best envi­ron­men­tal sci­ence degrees require the com­ple­tion of a ten-cred­it cap­stone, senior the­sis, or a restora­tion ecol­o­gy pro­ject­ed. Sam­ple research areas include bio­fu­el and bioen­er­gy options from wood, fiber com­pos­ites, and bio­con­ver­sion of bio­mass to fuels and chem­i­cals, among others.

The Uni­ver­si­ty of Wash­ing­ton (Wash­ing­ton) was char­tered in the 1860s, mak­ing it one of the old­est high­er learn­ing insti­tu­tions in the nation. In addi­tion, UW is a sea and space-grant school with a stu­dent enroll­ment that exceeds 47,150 post­grad­u­ate and under­grad­u­ate students.

What We Like: The Uni­ver­si­ty of Wash­ing­ton col­lab­o­rates with many tech com­pa­nies near­by, includ­ing Boe­ing and Amazon.

Degree: Envi­ron­men­tal Sci­ence and Resource Man­age­ment (ESRM) or Biore­source Sci­ence and Engi­neer­ing (BSE)

Uni­ver­si­ty of Washington

5. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

The Uni­ver­si­ty of North Car­oli­na at Chapel Hill Depart­ment of Envi­ron­ment, Ecol­o­gy and Ener­gy offers a Bach­e­lor of Sci­ence degree pro­gram in Envi­ron­ment Sci­ence that requires degree can­di­dates to com­plete 120 to 121 semes­ter cred­its. Fea­tured course­work from UNC’s best envi­ron­men­tal sci­ence degrees includes the intro­duc­tion to envi­ron­men­tal sci­ence prob­lem solv­ing, envi­ron­ment and soci­ety, envi­ron­men­tal sys­tems mod­el­ing, descrip­tive chem­istry, ecol­o­gy and evo­lu­tion, estu­ar­ine & coastal marine sci­ence, and water in our world, plus an envi­ron­men­tal sci­ence cap­stone project or honor’s project to name a few.

The Uni­ver­si­ty of North Car­oli­na (Chapel Hill) is the flag­ship cam­pus of the NC’s state uni­ver­si­ty sys­tem that was estab­lished more than 230 years ago, in 1789. The school’s col­lege-town cam­pus cov­ers more than 700 acres and is home to more than 30,050 stu­dents annually.

What We Like: UNC is com­prised of thir­teen schools/colleges offer­ing about 6 dozen aca­d­e­m­ic pro­grams and concentrations.

Degree: Envi­ron­men­tal Sci­ence BS

Uni­ver­si­ty of North Car­oli­na at Chapel Hill

6. University of Pennsylvania

The Uni­ver­si­ty of Pennsylvania’s Depart­ment of Earth & Envi­ron­men­tal Sci­ence offers two of Philadelphia’s best envi­ron­men­tal sci­ence degrees with its Envi­ron­men­tal Stud­ies or Earth Sci­ence bachelor’s degrees. The Uni­ver­si­ty of Pennsylvania’s under­grad­u­ate degree in envi­ron­men­tal sci­ence offers four aca­d­e­m­ic con­cen­tra­tions as fol­lows ‑con­cen­tra­tions, his­to­ry & region­al envi­ron­men­tal stud­ies, envi­ron­men­tal pol­i­cy & appli­ca­tion, sus­tain­abil­i­ty & envi­ron­men­tal man­age­ment, and glob­al envi­ron­men­tal sys­tem. The Uni­ver­si­ty of Pennsylvania’s under­grad­u­ate degree in earth sci­ence offers a geol­o­gy, pale­o­bi­ol­o­gy, and envi­ron­men­tal sci­ence concentration.

The Uni­ver­si­ty of Penn­syl­va­nia is a pri­vate school that was estab­lished in the 1750s as an acad­e­my. The Uni­ver­si­ty of Penn­syl­va­nia (UPenn) is one of the Ivy League schools and colo­nial col­leges, with a stu­dent enroll­ment that exceeds 22,350 stu­dents each year.

What We Like: The Uni­ver­si­ty of Penn­syl­va­nia main­tains a vari­ety of aca­d­e­m­ic facil­i­ties and campuses.

Degree: Earth Sci­ence or Envi­ron­men­tal Studies

Uni­ver­si­ty of Pennsylvania

7. University of California, Los Angeles

The Uni­ver­si­ty of Cal­i­for­nia, Los Angeles’s (UCLA) Insti­tute of the Envi­ron­ment and Sus­tain­abil­i­ty offers a Bach­e­lor of Sci­ence degree pro­gram in Envi­ron­men­tal Sci­ence that offers sev­en con­cen­tra­tions. These best envi­ron­men­tal sci­ence degrees offer a con­cen­tra­tion in earth/environmental, geol­o­gy, envi­ron­men­tal sys­tems & soci­ety, con­ser­va­tion biol­o­gy, envi­ron­men­tal health, and atmospheric/oceanic sci­ences. This under­grad­u­ate pro­gram in envi­ron­men­tal sci­ences includes a one-of-kind senior practicum. Class­es include cli­mate change, phys­i­cal oceanog­ra­phy, bio­log­i­cal oceanog­ra­phy, and intro­duc­tion to atmos­pher­ic chem­istry and air pol­lu­tion, among others.

The Los Ange­les cam­pus @ the Uni­ver­si­ty of Cal­i­for­nia is a pub­lic high­er learn­ing insti­tu­tion that was found­ed as a south­ern branch of the state’s flag­ship school. UCLA is a land-grant and space-grant school that serves near­ly 46,000 stu­dents each year.

What We Like: UCLA holds the dis­tinc­tion of being con­sid­ered one of the sev­er­al pub­lic ivy league schools in the Unit­ed States.

Degree: Envi­ron­men­tal Sci­ence BS

Uni­ver­si­ty of Cal­i­for­nia, Los Angeles

8. Columbia University

Colum­bia Uni­ver­si­ty’s Depart­ment of Earth & Envi­ron­men­tal Sci­ences offers one of the best envi­ron­men­tal sci­ence degrees with its major degree pro­gram in envi­ron­men­tal sci­ence in the greater New York area. This under­grad­u­ate degree in envi­ron­men­tal sci­ences from Colum­bia Uni­ver­si­ty allows stu­dents to cus­tomize a path of study that sup­ports the student’s envi­ron­men­tal sci­ence inter­ests. The core cur­ricu­lum for this bachelor’s degree from Colum­bia includes cli­mate sys­tems, life sys­tems, sol­id earth sys­tems, geo­chem­istry for a hab­it­able plan­et, and the earth’s oceans and atmos­phere, to name a few.

Found­ed in the 1750s as King’s Col­lege, Colum­bia Uni­ver­si­ty is now rec­og­nized among the Ivy League uni­ver­si­ties in oper­a­tion in the Unit­ed States. Colum­bia University’s cur­rent name was changed in 1784, about a decade after the Amer­i­can Revolution.

What We Like: Colum­bia Uni­ver­si­ty is also a space-grant school with approx­i­mate­ly 33,350 stu­dents on its urban cam­pus and online.

Degree: Envi­ron­men­tal Sciences

Colum­bia University

9. University of Virginia

The Uni­ver­si­ty of Virginia’s Depart­ment of Envi­ron­men­tal Sci­ences offers two of Virginia’s best envi­ron­men­tal sci­ence degrees with its Bach­e­lor of Sci­ence degree pro­gram or Bach­e­lor of Arts degree pro­gram in Envi­ron­men­tal Sci­ences. Inter­est­ed stu­dents may select a spe­cial­iza­tion in con­ser­va­tion. There are dif­fer­ences among the two envi­ron­men­tal degrees offered by UVA, although the BS degree has a more tech­ni­cal basis than its Bach­e­lor of Arts coun­ter­part. Sam­ple class­es include ele­ments of ecol­o­gy, prac­ti­cal con­cepts in envi­ron­men­tal sci­ences, and ethics, pro­to­cols, and prac­tice of inter­na­tion­al research, among others.

The Uni­ver­si­ty of Vir­ginia was estab­lished more than 2 cen­turies ago in 1819 by Thomas Jef­fer­son. The Uni­ver­si­ty of Virginia’s stu­dent enroll­ment as a sea and space-grant school exceeds 25,000 post­grad­u­ate and under­grad­u­ate students.

What We Like: The Uni­ver­si­ty of Virginia’s cam­pus cov­ers more than 1,000 acres and is pro­tect­ed as a UNESCO site.

Degree: BA or BS in Envi­ron­men­tal Sciences

Uni­ver­si­ty of Virginia

10. University of Michigan — Ann Arbor

The Uni­ver­si­ty of Michi­gan offers a bachelor’s degree in earth and envi­ron­men­tal sci­ence that is ranked among Michigan’s best envi­ron­men­tal sci­ence degrees. The core class­es for UM’s under­grad­u­ate degree in envi­ron­men­tal sci­ence include geo­bi­ol­o­gy, earth’s sur­face & sed­i­ments, earth mate­ri­als, geo­chem­istry of the sol­id earth and earth sur­face process­es, and soils, to name a few. In addi­tion, degree can­di­dates must com­plete a field expe­ri­ence at Camp Davis, locat­ed in Wyoming, where stu­dents can apply the­o­ret­i­cal knowl­edge in real-world situations.

The Uni­ver­si­ty of Michi­gan (Michi­gan) is the state’s flag­ship research school that was found­ed in Detroit in 1817. The uni­ver­si­ty moved to its cur­rent loca­tion about two decades lat­er and now serves more than 45,850 stu­dents each year.

What We Like: The Uni­ver­si­ty of Michi­gan owns more than 20,000 acres, includ­ing the school’s arboretum.

Degree: Earth and Envi­ron­men­tal Science

Uni­ver­si­ty of Michigan

11. University of California, Berkeley

The Uni­ver­si­ty of Cal­i­for­nia, Berke­ley Col­lege of Nat­ur­al Resources offers an under­grad­u­ate degree in Envi­ron­men­tal Sci­ences that is among California’s best envi­ron­men­tal sci­ence degrees. Stu­dents enrolled in the Uni­ver­si­ty of Cal­i­for­nia @ Berke­ley are offered three aca­d­e­m­ic emphases in the bio­log­i­cal sci­ence con­cen­tra­tion, the social sci­ence con­cen­tra­tion, and the phys­i­cal sci­ence con­cen­tra­tion. Fea­tured class­es for UC Berkeley’s envi­ron­men­tal sci­ence degree pro­gram include rig­or­ous course­work from the fields of math, chem­istry, physics, eco­nom­ics, biol­o­gy, and envi­ron­men­tal sci­ence, among oth­ers. Research and envi­ron­men­tal mod­el­ing round out the course­work for this bachelor’s degree in envi­ron­men­tal science.

The Uni­ver­si­ty of Cal­i­for­nia (Cal) is a land-grant insti­tu­tion of high­er edu­ca­tion that was found­ed in the 1860s. UC Berkeley’s cam­pus cov­ers more than 175 acres and serves approx­i­mate­ly 42,250 students.

What We Like: The alum­ni of UC Berke­ley includes Nobel lau­re­ates, Tur­ing Award win­ners, Acad­e­my Award win­ners, and Pulitzer Prize win­ners, plus influ­en­tial gov­ern­ment offi­cials and politicians.

Degree: Envi­ron­men­tal Sciences

Uni­ver­si­ty of Cal­i­for­nia, Berkeley

12. Dartmouth College

Dart­mouth Col­lege offers one of New Hampshire’s best envi­ron­men­tal sci­ence degrees with its bac­calau­re­ate degree in envi­ron­men­tal stud­ies (ENVS). Class­es for this Dart­mouth Col­lege envi­ron­men­tal sci­ence degree pro­gram includes con­ser­va­tion of bio­di­ver­si­ty, envi­ron­ment, and soci­ety, the prac­tice of sci­ence pol­i­cy & diplo­ma­cy, glob­al envi­ron­men­tal sci­ence, eco­log­i­cal eco­nom­ics, the polit­i­cal ecol­o­gy, envi­ron­ment & soci­ety – a step towards sus­tain­abil­i­ty, plus a cul­mi­nat­ing cap­stone project or analy­sis in envi­ron­men­tal sci­ence, among oth­ers. The con­ser­va­tion con­cen­tra­tion offers class­es in social-eco­log­i­cal sys­tems, agroe­col­o­gy, and the Green New Deal.

Dart­mouth Col­lege was found­ed more than 2.5 cen­turies ago, in 1769. Dart­mouth Col­lege is known for its cam­pus tra­di­tions and is con­sid­ered among the nation’s colo­nial col­leges with a stu­dent enroll­ment that exceeds 6,500 stu­dents online and on the college’s col­lege-town cam­pus in Hanover.

What We Like: Dart­mouth Col­lege is rec­og­nized as an Ivy League school.

Degree: Envi­ron­men­tal Studies

Dart­mouth College

13. Texas A&M University

Texas A&M University’s Col­lege of Geo­sciences offers a Bach­e­lor of Sci­ence degree pro­gram in Envi­ron­men­tal Stud­ies that ranks among the most inno­v­a­tive & best envi­ron­men­tal sci­ence degrees in the Lone Star State. This 120-semes­ter unit pro­gram from TAMU includes class­es in envi­ron­men­tal geo­sciences, envi­ron­men­tal jus­tice, issues in envi­ron­men­tal qual­i­ty, sus­tain­able com­mu­ni­ties, envi­ron­men­tal health plan­ning and pol­i­cy, envi­ron­men­tal impact assess­ment, and envi­ron­men­tal reg­u­la­to­ry com­pli­ance in geo­science, plus an intern­ship, among oth­ers. The upper course­work con­sists of five themes – urban envi­ron­ment, glob­al envi­ron­ment, GIST, occu­pa­tion­al health/safety, and reg­u­la­tion and compliance.

Texas A&M Uni­ver­si­ty (A&M) was found­ed in the 1870s as a land-grant school and now oper­ates as the state’s flag­ship cam­pus of the A&M sys­tem, with a stu­dent enroll­ment that exceeds 69,550 stu­dents each year.

What We Like: Texas A&M Uni­ver­si­ty is also a senior mil­i­tary school that is also a space-grant and sea-grant insti­tu­tion of high­er learning.

Degree: Envi­ron­men­tal Stud­ies BS

Texas A&M University

14. North Carolina State University

North Car­oli­na State University’s Col­lege of Nat­ur­al Resources offers a Bach­e­lor of Sci­ence degree pro­gram in Envi­ron­men­tal Sci­ences that is among the best envi­ron­men­tal sci­ence degrees in North Car­oli­na. North Car­oli­na State University’s bac­calau­re­ate degree in envi­ron­men­tal sci­ence requires a min­i­mum of 120 semes­ter units. Core require­ments for North Car­oli­na State Uni­ver­si­ty degree in envi­ron­men­tal sci­ence include the analy­sis of envi­ron­men­tal issues, explor­ing the envi­ron­ment, cli­mate change, and sus­tain­abil­i­ty, ener­gy and envi­ron­ment, and appli­ca­tions of envi­ron­men­tal sci­ences, among oth­ers, for a total of 120 bachelor’s cred­it units.

Estab­lished under the Mor­rill Land Act in the 1880s as an A&M col­lege, North Car­oli­na State Uni­ver­si­ty is now the state’s flag­ship cam­pus, as well as a space and sea-grant school that serves more than 36,550 stu­dents each year.

What We Like: His­tor­i­cal­ly, North Car­oli­na State Uni­ver­si­ty excels in the pro­grams in engi­neer­ing, life sci­ences, and sta­tis­tics, among others.

Degree: Envi­ron­men­tal Sci­ences BS

North Car­oli­na State University

15. University of Florida

The Uni­ver­si­ty of Flori­da Col­lege of Nat­ur­al Resources and Envi­ron­ment offers two of Florida’s most inno­v­a­tive and best envi­ron­men­tal sci­ence degrees with its Bach­e­lor of Sci­ence degree pro­gram or Bach­e­lor of Arts degree pro­gram in Envi­ron­men­tal Sci­ence; both require 120 semes­ter units to com­plete. Fea­tured course­work for UF’s bachelor’s degree in envi­ron­men­tal sci­ence, envi­ron­men­tal ethics and pol­i­tics, agri­cul­tur­al ecol­o­gy, ethics and ecol­o­gy, nat­ur­al resource pol­i­cy & eco­nom­ics, hydro­ge­ol­o­gy, oceans & glob­al cli­mate change, and intro­duc­tion to oceanog­ra­phy, among others.

The Uni­ver­si­ty of Flori­da is the Sun­shine State’s flag­ship insti­tu­tion of high­er edu­ca­tion that was found­ed in the 1850s as the state’s land-grant school. UF is also a sea and space-grant school and one of the senior mem­ber schools of the state’s uni­ver­si­ty system.

What We Like: The Uni­ver­si­ty of Flori­da ranks among the nation’s top pub­lic high­er learn­ing institutions.

Degree: BA or BS in Envi­ron­men­tal Science

Uni­ver­si­ty of Florida

16. University of Texas at Austin

The Uni­ver­si­ty of Texas at Austin offers two of Texas’s best envi­ron­men­tal sci­ence degrees, offer­ing a Bach­e­lor of Sci­ence degree pro­gram or Bach­e­lor of Arts degree pro­gram in Envi­ron­men­tal Sci­ence. The Bach­e­lor of Sci­ence degree requires can­di­dates to fin­ish a min­i­mum of 126 aca­d­e­m­ic semes­ter units, where­as the Bach­e­lor of Arts degree pro­gram requires 120 semes­ter units. Fea­tured class­es include dif­fer­en­tial cal­cu­lus, engi­neer­ing physics, marine ecol­o­gy, spa­tial data, and analy­sis, plus an envi­ron­men­tal sci­ence field or research expe­ri­ence, to name a few.

The Uni­ver­si­ty of Texas at Austin is the Lone Star State’s flag­ship cam­pus that was found­ed in the 1880s. UT’s Austin cam­pus is home to sev­en muse­ums and a vari­ety of aux­il­iary research facilities.

What We Like: The UT ath­letes play as the Long­horns and have when a vari­ety of cham­pi­onships in foot­ball, base­ball, swim­ming, and div­ing, among others.

Degree: Envi­ron­men­tal Sci­ence BS

Uni­ver­si­ty of Texas at Austin

17. Washington & Lee University

Wash­ing­ton & Lee Uni­ver­si­ty offers a BA in Envi­ron­men­tal Stud­ies that offers stu­dents five aca­d­e­m­ic tracks in envi­ron­men­tal stud­ies. Wash­ing­ton & Lee University’s best envi­ron­men­tal sci­ence degrees con­cen­tra­tions include water resources, con­ser­va­tion biol­o­gy, cli­mate change, envi­ron­men­tal eco­nom­ics, and envi­ron­men­tal human­i­ties, among oth­ers. Fea­tured core class­es include soci­ety and nat­ur­al resources, envi­ron­men­tal human­i­ties, envi­ron­men­tal ser­vice learn­ing, and con­ser­va­tion genet­ics, to name a few. Cer­tain paths of study offer degree can­di­dates oppor­tu­ni­ties to study abroad and sev­er­al inter­na­tion­al locations.

Wash­ing­ton & Lee Uni­ver­si­ty (W&L) was found­ed in the 1740s as Augus­ta Acad­e­my but award­ed its first bac­calau­re­ate degree about four decades lat­er. The stu­dent enroll­ment of Wash­ing­ton & Lee Uni­ver­si­ty exceeds 2,100 stu­dents study­ing online and on the school’s Lex­ing­ton campus.

What We Like: Wash­ing­ton & Lee Uni­ver­si­ty is con­sis­tent­ly list­ed among the top lib­er­al arts schools and a best-val­ue high­er learn­ing institution.

Degree: Envi­ron­men­tal Stud­ies BA

Wash­ing­ton & Lee University

18. University of Wisconsin

The Uni­ver­si­ty of Wis­con­sin offers two of the Mid­west­’s most inno­v­a­tive and best envi­ron­men­tal sci­ence degrees with its Bach­e­lor of Sci­ence degree pro­gram or Bach­e­lor of Arts degree pro­gram in Envi­ron­men­tal Sci­ence. The total cred­it require­ments for the Uni­ver­si­ty of Wisconsin’s envi­ron­men­tal sci­ence bac­calau­re­ate degree pro­gram are 120. The Uni­ver­si­ty of Wis­con­sin requires 30 cred­it units to be com­plet­ed in res­i­dence @ Madison.

The Uni­ver­si­ty of Wis­con­sin (UWM) is Wisconsin’s flag­ship research insti­tu­tion of high­er edu­ca­tion that was found­ed under the Mor­rill Act in the 1848s. In addi­tion, the Uni­ver­si­ty of Wis­con­sin is a space-grant school that oper­ates an arbore­tum of 1,200 acres near the school’s main campus.

What We Like: There are twen­ty colleges/schools that serve WUM’s stu­dent enroll­ment – more than 45,000 post­grad­u­ate and under­grad­u­ate students.

Degree: BA or BS in Envi­ron­men­tal Sciences

Uni­ver­si­ty of Wisconsin

19. William & Mary

William & Mary offers one of the Com­mon­wealth of Virginia’s most inno­v­a­tive degrees in Envi­ron­men­tal Sci­ence and Pol­i­cy – with a pol­i­cy track or a sci­ence track. The William & Mary’s best envi­ron­men­tal sci­ence degrees a field or practicum expe­ri­ences which can be com­plet­ed by study­ing abroad, com­plet­ing a research project, or intern­ship, among oth­ers. This Bach­e­lor of Arts degree pro­gram in Envi­ron­men­tal Sci­ence and Pol­i­cy (ENSP) is for social sci­en­tists. The BS track is for those more inter­est­ed in the nat­ur­al sci­ences of envi­ron­men­tal studies.

The William & Mary was estab­lished by British Roy­al­ty in the 1690s and is con­sid­ered the 2ndoldest in the nation. William & Mary now serves approx­i­mate­ly 8,750 students.

What We Like: The William & Mary’s alum­ni include sev­er­al pres­i­dents, mem­bers of con­gress, and supreme court jus­tices, among others.

Degree: Envi­ron­men­tal Sci­ence and Policy

William & Mary

20. University of California, Santa Barbara

The Uni­ver­si­ty of Cal­i­for­nia, San­ta Bar­bara, offers two of California’s best envi­ron­men­tal sci­ence degrees with its Bach­e­lor of Sci­ence degree pro­gram or Bach­e­lor of Arts degree pro­gram in Envi­ron­men­tal Sci­ence and Pol­i­cy (ENSP). The sci­ence track from UC San­ta Bar­bara has a nat­ur­al sci­ence require­ment, where­as the BA track requires one addi­tion­al social sci­ence require­ment. Course­work for these bachelor’s degrees includes ecosys­tems and soci­ety, ener­gy, water and cli­mate – and envi­ron­men­tal approach, to name a few.

The Uni­ver­si­ty of Cal­i­for­nia (UCSB) began as a school offer­ing home eco­nom­ics train­ing and lat­er evolved to a state teacher’s train­ing col­lege. UCSB joined the UC sys­tem in 1944, about five decades after its incep­tion. This land-grant cam­pus in San­ta Bar­bara is home to more than 26,250 students.

What We Like: The Uni­ver­si­ty of California’s San­ta Bar­bara cam­pus is orga­nized into five schools/colleges and also man­ages ten nation­al research centers.

Degree: BA or BS in Envi­ron­men­tal Studies

Uni­ver­si­ty of Cal­i­for­nia, San­ta Barbara

21. Vanderbilt University

Van­der­bilt Uni­ver­si­ty’s Dept of Earth & Envi­ron­men­tal Sci­ences offers one of Nashville’s best envi­ron­men­tal sci­ence degrees with its bachelor’s degree in Earth and Envi­ron­men­tal Sci­ence. This bachelor’s degree from Van­der­bilt Uni­ver­si­ty includes three option­al aca­d­e­m­ic con­cen­tra­tions – earth sci­ence, sol­id earth, and the envi­ron­men­tal focus. Van­der­bilt University’s under­grad­u­ate degree in envi­ron­men­tal sci­ence requires these core class­es – earth mate­ri­als, earth sys­tem dynam­ics, and earth sys­tems through time, among oth­ers. Dur­ing the final year, degree can­di­dates must com­plete a one-hour cap­stone program.

Van­der­bilt Uni­ver­si­ty (VU) is a pri­vate school that was estab­lished in the 1870s as Cen­tral Uni­ver­si­ty and is rec­og­nized as a found­ing cam­pus of the South­east­ern Con­fer­ence. Van­der­bilt Uni­ver­si­ty is a space-grant school with a stu­dent enroll­ment of more than 13,450 stu­dents each year.

What We Like: Van­der­bilt University’s cur­rent name hon­ors the ship­ping mag­nate Cor­nelius Van­der­bilt – one of the school’s pri­ma­ry benefactors.

Degree: Earth and Envi­ron­men­tal Science

Van­der­bilt University

22. Rice University

Rice Uni­ver­si­ty Depart­ment of Envi­ron­ment Sci­ences offers a Bach­e­lor of Sci­ence degree pro­gram or Bach­e­lor of Arts degree pro­gram in Envi­ron­men­tal Sci­ence that is ranked among Houston’s best envi­ron­men­tal sci­ence degrees. The BA degree in envi­ron­men­tal sci­ence offers con­cen­tra­tions in ecol­o­gy and evo­lu­tion­ary biol­o­gy, and earth sci­ence. The BS degree pro­gram offers a con­cen­tra­tion in earth sci­ence or ecology/evolutionary biol­o­gy. Sam­ple class­es for this bachelor’s degree pro­gram include glob­al bio­geo­chem­i­cal cycles, organ­ic geo­chem­istry, quan­ti­ta­tive hydro­ge­ol­o­gy, and earth and plan­e­tary sur­face and struc­tur­al dynam­ics, among others.

Estab­lished as a pri­vate insti­tute in 1912, Rice Uni­ver­si­ty now oper­ates as a com­pre­hen­sive research school with an impres­sive 1 to 6 ratio of fac­ul­ty to stu­dents. More than 7,100 stu­dents attend class­es offered online and on the school’s cam­pus in Houston.

What We Like: The school’s name hon­ors it’s the endow­ment that was estab­lished by William Marsh Rice, a suc­cess­ful busi­ness­man who was from Massachusetts.

Degree: BA or BS in Envi­ron­men­tal Sciences

Rice Uni­ver­si­ty

23. Boston College

Boston Col­lege offers two of New England’s best envi­ron­men­tal sci­ence degrees with its Bach­e­lor of Sci­ence in geo­log­i­cal sci­ences or its Bach­e­lor of Sci­ence in envi­ron­men­tal geo­science. These envi­ron­men­tal sci­ence degree pro­grams from Boston Col­lege require class­es that include ecosys­tems, water resources, quan­ti­ta­tive meth­ods in envi­ron­men­tal sys­tems, geo­chem­istry, and cli­mate change, to name a few. Each aca­d­e­m­ic track in envi­ron­men­tal sci­ences has sim­i­lar but dif­fer­ing grad­u­a­tion require­ments. Boston College’s Dept of Earth & Envi­ron­men­tal Sci­ences encour­ages degree can­di­dates with an inter­est in study­ing abroad should check out the many oppor­tu­ni­ties from a for­eign study advisor.

Estab­lished in the Jesuit tra­di­tion in the 1860s, Boston Col­lege is con­sid­ered a uni­ver­si­ty but main­tains the col­lege in hon­or of its orig­i­nal lib­er­al arts mis­sion. BC’s main sub­ur­ban cam­pus cov­ers more than 300 acres and serves more than 14,350 stu­dents each year.

What We Like: Boston Col­lege is com­prised of eight colleges/schools.

Degree: Envi­ron­men­tal Sci­ences — 2 concentrations

Boston Col­lege

24. University of California, Davis

The Uni­ver­si­ty of Cal­i­for­nia, Davis offers a BS in Envi­ron­men­tal Sci­ence and Man­age­ment (ESM) that pre­pares stu­dents for grad­u­ate study or a reward­ing career as an atmos­pher­ic sci­en­tist, GIS ana­lyst, ecol­o­gist, or envi­ron­men­tal impact spe­cial­ist, to name a few. In addi­tion to an intern­ship, UC Davis England’s best envi­ron­men­tal sci­ence degrees require the com­ple­tion of class­es that include the prin­ci­ples of hydro­log­ic sci­ence, water qual­i­ty at risk, glob­al envi­ron­men­tal inter­ac­tions, envi­ron­men­tal mon­i­tor­ing, and trees and forests, to name a few.

The Davis cam­pus @ the Uni­ver­si­ty of Cal­i­for­nia was char­tered in 1905 as an agri­cul­tur­al, land-grant school under the Mor­rill Act. This cam­pus of the UC is rec­og­nized to be the north­ern­most cam­pus with a stu­dent enroll­ment that exceeds 40,000 under­grad­u­ate and post­grad­u­ate students.

What We Like: UC Davis is also a space-grant school with facil­i­ties locat­ed in unin­cor­po­rat­ed Yolo and Solano coun­ties in California.

Degree: Envi­ron­men­tal Sci­ence and Man­age­ment BS

Uni­ver­si­ty of Cal­i­for­nia, Davis

25. Johns Hopkins University

Johns Hop­kins Uni­ver­si­ty offers a BS in Envi­ron­men­tal Stud­ies, or BA in Envi­ron­men­tal Sci­ence ranked among the nation’s most inno­v­a­tive & England’s best envi­ron­men­tal sci­ence degrees. The core cur­ricu­lum for both the BA and BS envi­ron­men­tal sci­ence degree includes fresh­wa­ter sys­tems, envi­ron­men­tal ethics, intro­duc­tion to glob­al envi­ron­men­tal change, envi­ron­men­tal pol­i­cy­mak­ing and pol­i­cy analy­sis, plus a cap­stone expe­ri­ence, among others.

Johns Hop­kins Uni­ver­si­ty (Hop­kins) is rec­og­nized as one of the world’s finest high­er learn­ing insti­tu­tions. Found­ed in the 1870s as the country’s first research school, Johns Hop­kins Uni­ver­si­ty leads all schools with its amount of research expenditures.

What We Like: More than 26,000 post­grad­u­ate and under­grad­u­ate stu­dents attend class­es online and on Johns Hop­kins University’s cam­pus­es in Mary­land, Wash­ing­ton, and inter­na­tion­al­ly in Chi­na and Italy.

Degree: Envi­ron­men­tal Stud­ies BA or Envi­ron­men­tal Sci­ence BS

Johns Hop­kins University

Why Should I Get a Bachelor’s in Environmental Science?

Is an envi­ron­men­tal stud­ies degree worth it? The best envi­ron­men­tal sci­ence under­grad­u­ate pro­grams give you a way into a fast-grow­ing field. Many peo­ple con­fuse envi­ron­men­tal sci­ence with envi­ron­men­tal stud­ies. Note that envi­ron­men­tal stud­ies are part of the social sci­ences, so it has more to do with envi­ron­men­tal issues that direct­ly involve human beings.

When ask­ing is an envi­ron­men­tal sci­ence degree worth it, envi­ron­men­tal stud­ies degree pro­grams may also show up. These are relat­ed but dif­fer­ent aca­d­e­m­ic fields, although they con­tain a lot of crossovers. In some cas­es, they even address the same issues, but from dif­fer­ent perspectives.

Is a degree in envi­ron­men­tal sci­ence worth it in the real world? Right now, envi­ron­men­tal issues are of the utmost impor­tance around the world. An envi­ron­men­tal sci­ence degree can start some­one off on sev­er­al career paths. The inter­dis­ci­pli­nary nature of the degree means it lends itself well to just about any­thing relat­ed to the envi­ron­ment, which can rep­re­sent basi­cal­ly anything.

Envi­ron­men­tal sci­en­tists with a master’s degree can expect their career to go far­ther still.

How Do I Choose an Environmental Science Program?

The best col­leges for envi­ron­men­tal sci­ence degrees will have envi­ron­men­tal sci­ence accred­i­ta­tion, a good rep­u­ta­tion, and a cur­ricu­lum that focus­es on the rel­e­vant sci­ences that encom­pass mod­ern envi­ron­men­tal knowl­edge. Col­leges with good envi­ron­men­tal sci­ence pro­grams have grown more promi­nent in the last decade.

Good envi­ron­men­tal sci­ence schools will also have paths toward spe­cial­iza­tion, which is a neces­si­ty in this field. Envi­ron­men­tal sci­ence falls under the cat­e­go­ry of nat­ur­al sci­ences and can include phys­i­cal sci­ences, bio­log­i­cal sci­ences, com­bi­na­tions of the two, and infor­ma­tion sci­ences as well. There is a lot there, which is why spe­cial­iza­tion becomes so important.

Envi­ron­men­tal sci­ence accred­i­ta­tion can come from any of sev­er­al pro­fes­sion­al groups. Some accred­it­ing bod­ies, such as the EHAC, ensure the envi­ron­men­tal sci­ence pro­gram meets mod­ern stan­dards for edu­ca­tion in this field. Accred­i­ta­tion from ABET and affil­i­ates also rep­re­sents an accred­it­ing body to look out for when choos­ing the best envi­ron­men­tal stud­ies pro­grams under­grad­u­ate schools have to offer.

For those with an eye toward work­ing in the pub­lic sec­tor, accred­i­ta­tion from the EHAC is a require­ment in some cas­es. Accred­i­ta­tion can also help stu­dents meet the nec­es­sary cri­te­ria to gain cer­tain cre­den­tials they wouldn’t oth­er­wise have the abil­i­ty to obtain with­out first work­ing in the field.

While pro­fes­sion­al accred­i­ta­tion cre­den­tials can help nar­row a poten­tial student’s choice, they should also look for oth­er signs that the school or pro­gram offers them good val­ue. Prospec­tive stu­dents should also look at the cur­ricu­lum, the ser­vices offered, and even the program’s report­ed sta­tis­tics. The best envi­ron­men­tal sci­ence degree pro­grams will offer a stu­dent every­thing they need to pur­sue their career goals in the envi­ron­men­tal sci­ence path of their choice.

What is the Difference Between Environmental Science and Environmental Studies?

A major point of con­fu­sion that can come up for peo­ple seek­ing an envi­ron­men­tal sci­ence degree is the dif­fer­ence between envi­ron­men­tal stud­ies vs envi­ron­men­tal sci­ence. So, what is the dif­fer­ence between envi­ron­men­tal sci­ence and envi­ron­men­tal stud­ies? These two things have many sim­i­lar­i­ties and crossovers, but they have dif­fer­ent core focus­es and curriculums.

Envi­ron­men­tal sci­ence vs envi­ron­men­tal stud­ies. What is the dif­fer­ence between envi­ron­men­tal stud­ies and envi­ron­men­tal sci­ence? One way to think about the dif­fer­ences is to con­sid­er that envi­ron­men­tal sci­ence has more to do with the envi­ron­ment at large, while envi­ron­men­tal stud­ies have more to do with human impli­ca­tions when it comes to the envi­ron­ment, such as forestry.

When dis­cussing envi­ron­men­tal sci­ence vs envi­ron­men­tal stud­ies, it can help to look at a spe­cif­ic issue. When a large envi­ron­men­tal issue occurs, such as an inva­sive species tak­ing over a habi­tat, envi­ron­men­tal sci­ence vs stud­ies can come into play.

The envi­ron­men­tal sci­ence major would look at what dan­gers that inva­sive species present to the new envi­ron­ment and its inhab­i­tants, includ­ing humans, if any. They will look at the poten­tial future impact the inva­sive species might have on the envi­ron­ment. The envi­ron­men­tal stud­ies major will look at how the inva­sive species impact the econ­o­my, whether new poli­cies or reg­u­la­tions need to come into play, and how to edu­cate peo­ple on the issue.

You don’t need to go to New Haven to Yale Uni­ver­si­ty, or to Har­vard Uni­ver­si­ty, to find the best uni­ver­si­ties. Schools like the Uni­ver­si­ty of Min­neso­ta Twin Cities or the Uni­ver­si­ty of North Car­oli­na at Chapel Hill are pub­lic uni­ver­si­ties as good as the Ivy League.

Relat­ed Rankings:

15 Best Online Bach­e­lor’s in Envi­ron­men­tal Science

10 Fastest Online Bach­e­lor’s in Envi­ron­men­tal Science

10 Most Afford­able Bach­e­lor’s in Envi­ron­men­tal Science