Rankings by major · 392 schools scored
Best colleges for chemistry & biochemistry
Every school we cover is scored 0–100 for chemistry & biochemistry. The score blends how graduates in the major do four years out against the national norm for the same major, the strength of the student body, how many undergraduate courses the department lists, and the size of the program. Small programs (under five graduates a year) are capped. 80 and up is a standout program, 65+ strong, 45+ solid. Many chemistry & biochemistry students go on to graduate or medical school, which early-career pay undercounts, so read this one alongside the school's overall strength.
The top chemistry & biochemistry schools: Princeton University, Harvard University, Amherst College.
| Rank | School | Score (0–100) | Tier | Graduates per year in the major | Share of the class | Pay vs. national, same major | Acceptance rate |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Princeton University Princeton, NJ | 98 | Standout | 80 | 6.4% | – | 4% |
| 2 | Harvard University Cambridge, MA | 97 | Standout | 76 | 4.5% | – | 4% |
| 3 | Amherst College Amherst, MA | 92 | Standout | 52 | 10.3% | – | 9% |
| 4 | Washington University in St. Louis St. Louis, MO | 91 | Standout | 74 | 4% | – | 12% |
| 4 | University of Notre Dame Notre Dame, IN | 91 | Standout | 45 | 2.1% | – | 11% |
| 6 | Wellesley College Wellesley, MA | 90 | Standout | 40 | 7.1% | – | 14% |
| 6 | Bowdoin College Brunswick, ME | 90 | Standout | 39 | 8.8% | – | 7% |
| 6 | Pomona College Claremont, CA | 90 | Standout | 32 | 8.8% | – | 7% |
| 9 | University of Michigan–Ann Arbor Ann Arbor, MI | 89 | Standout | 332 | 4.1% | 1.03× | 16% |
| 9 | Carleton College Northfield, MN | 89 | Standout | 38 | 7.9% | – | 20% |
| 11 | Tufts University Medford, MA | 88 | Standout | 57 | 3.9% | – | 11% |
| 11 | Middlebury College Middlebury, VT | 88 | Standout | 52 | 7.9% | – | 11% |
| 11 | Rice University Houston, TX | 88 | Standout | 36 | 3.5% | – | 8% |
| 11 | Swarthmore College Swarthmore, PA | 88 | Standout | 21 | 5% | – | 7% |
| 15 | Emory University Atlanta, GA | 87 | Standout | 97 | 4.6% | 1.21× | 10% |
| 15 | Vassar College Poughkeepsie, NY | 87 | Standout | 50 | 7.7% | – | 19% |
| 15 | Smith College Northampton, MA | 87 | Standout | 34 | 5.7% | – | 21% |
| 15 | Bates College Lewiston, ME | 87 | Standout | 32 | 6.7% | – | 13% |
| 15 | Davidson College Davidson, NC | 87 | Standout | 24 | 5.2% | – | 13% |
| 20 | Case Western Reserve University Cleveland, OH | 86 | Standout | 88 | 6.8% | – | 35% |
| 20 | University of Chicago Chicago, IL | 86 | Standout | 87 | 5% | – | 4% |
| 20 | Johns Hopkins University Baltimore, MD | 86 | Standout | 49 | 3.4% | – | 8% |
| 20 | Yale University New Haven, CT | 86 | Standout | 46 | 3.2% | – | 5% |
| 20 | Wesleyan University Middletown, CT | 86 | Standout | 34 | 4.2% | – | 16% |
| 25 | Vanderbilt University Nashville, TN | 85 | Standout | 100 | 5.8% | – | 6% |
| 25 | Colgate University Hamilton, NY | 85 | Standout | 62 | 8.3% | – | 14% |
| 25 | United States Naval Academy Annapolis, MD | 85 | Standout | 37 | 3.3% | – | 9% |
| 25 | University of Richmond Richmond, VA | 85 | Standout | 33 | 4.3% | – | 22% |
| 25 | Williams College Williamstown, MA | 85 | Standout | 29 | 5.7% | 0.78× | 9% |
| 25 | Haverford College Haverford, PA | 85 | Standout | 17 | 5.6% | – | 12% |
| 31 | The University of Texas–Austin Austin, TX | 84 | Standout | 393 | 3.8% | 1.01× | 27% |
| 31 | University of California, Los Angeles Los Angeles, CA | 84 | Standout | 251 | 2.7% | 1.12× | 9% |
| 31 | Duke University Durham, NC | 84 | Standout | 33 | 1.8% | – | 5% |
| 31 | United States Air Force Academy Colorado Springs, CO | 84 | Standout | 27 | 2.6% | – | 14% |
| 35 | Northeastern University Boston, MA | 83 | Standout | 115 | 2.6% | 1.38× | 5% |
| 35 | Massachusetts Institute of Technology Cambridge, MA | 83 | Standout | 28 | 2.5% | – | 5% |
| 37 | University of North Carolina–Chapel Hill Chapel Hill, NC | 82 | Standout | 115 | 2.4% | 1.00× | 17% |
| 37 | Occidental College Los Angeles, CA | 82 | Standout | 29 | 6% | – | 45% |
| 37 | Hamilton College Clinton, NY | 82 | Standout | 21 | 4.3% | – | 14% |
| 37 | Reed College Portland, OR | 82 | Standout | 18 | 6% | – | 29% |
| 37 | Bryn Mawr College Bryn Mawr, PA | 82 | Standout | 15 | 5.1% | – | 29% |
| 42 | University of Washington Seattle, WA | 81 | Standout | 367 | 4.2% | 0.92× | 39% |
| 42 | University of California San Diego La Jolla, CA | 81 | Standout | 364 | 4.1% | 1.16× | 29% |
| 42 | University of Wisconsin–Madison Madison, WI | 81 | Standout | 264 | 3.5% | 1.08× | 45% |
| 42 | Boston University Boston, MA | 81 | Standout | 174 | 3.7% | 0.98× | 13% |
| 42 | University of Pennsylvania Philadelphia, PA | 81 | Standout | 84 | 2.9% | – | 5% |
| 42 | Wake Forest University Winston Salem, NC | 81 | Standout | 69 | 5.3% | – | 22% |
| 42 | Grinnell College Grinnell, IA | 81 | Standout | 42 | 10.5% | 0.81× | 15% |
| 42 | Kenyon College Gambier, OH | 81 | Standout | 36 | 7.8% | – | 31% |
| 42 | Franklin & Marshall College Lancaster, PA | 81 | Standout | 30 | 5.5% | – | 28% |
| 42 | Carnegie Mellon University Pittsburgh, PA | 81 | Standout | 25 | 1.5% | – | 11% |
| 42 | Trinity University San Antonio, TX | 81 | Standout | 25 | 4.3% | – | 26% |
| 53 | Brown University Providence, RI | 80 | Standout | 53 | 3.2% | – | 5% |
| 53 | Cornell University Ithaca, NY | 80 | Standout | 45 | 1.2% | 1.22× | 9% |
| 53 | William & Mary Williamsburg, VA | 80 | Standout | 41 | 2.6% | 1.20× | 34% |
| 53 | Bucknell University Lewisburg, PA | 80 | Standout | 29 | 3.3% | – | 29% |
| 53 | Lehigh University Bethlehem, PA | 80 | Standout | 29 | 2.3% | – | 29% |
| 53 | University of Rochester Rochester, NY | 80 | Standout | 24 | 1.2% | – | 42% |
| 53 | Barnard College New York, NY | 80 | Standout | 19 | 2.6% | – | 9% |
| 53 | Mount Holyoke College South Hadley, MA | 80 | Standout | 19 | 3.3% | – | 36% |
| 61 | University of Minnesota–Twin Cities Minneapolis, MN | 79 | Strong | 149 | 2% | 1.07× | 80% |
| 61 | University of California, Berkeley Berkeley, CA | 79 | Strong | 129 | 1.5% | 1.27× | 11% |
| 61 | University of Pittsburgh Pittsburgh, PA | 79 | Strong | 106 | 2.2% | 1.03× | 59% |
| 61 | Georgia Institute of Technology Atlanta, GA | 79 | Strong | 78 | 1.9% | 1.11× | 13% |
| 61 | Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Troy, NY | 79 | Strong | 42 | 2.7% | – | 63% |
| 61 | Columbia University New York, NY | 79 | Strong | 34 | 1.5% | – | 5% |
| 67 | University of Virginia Charlottesville, VA | 78 | Strong | 98 | 2.2% | 1.05× | 17% |
| 67 | Boston College Chestnut Hill, MA | 78 | Strong | 53 | 2.3% | 1.15× | 16% |
| 67 | Northwestern University Evanston, IL | 78 | Strong | 29 | 1.4% | – | 7% |
| 67 | College of the Holy Cross Worcester, MA | 78 | Strong | 26 | 3.4% | 1.43× | 18% |
| 67 | Hillsdale College Hillsdale, MI | 78 | Strong | 26 | 8.2% | – | 21% |
| 72 | North Carolina State University Raleigh, NC | 77 | Strong | 100 | 1.5% | 1.13× | 42% |
| 72 | Brandeis University Waltham, MA | 77 | Strong | 51 | 6% | – | 40% |
| 72 | St. Olaf College Northfield, MN | 77 | Strong | 46 | 6.6% | – | 43% |
| 72 | Colorado School of Mines Golden, CO | 77 | Strong | 35 | 2.9% | – | 61% |
| 72 | Georgetown University Washington, DC | 77 | Strong | 25 | 1.4% | – | 13% |
| 72 | Oberlin College Oberlin, OH | 77 | Strong | 19 | 2.9% | – | 34% |
| 78 | University of Massachusetts–Amherst Amherst, MA | 76 | Strong | 210 | 3.3% | 1.19× | 60% |
| 78 | University of Denver Denver, CO | 76 | Strong | 71 | 5.3% | 1.07× | 85% |
| 78 | Creighton University Omaha, NE | 76 | Strong | 43 | 3.6% | – | 92% |
| 78 | Whitman College Walla Walla, WA | 76 | Strong | 23 | 6.8% | – | 38% |
| 78 | Lafayette College Easton, PA | 76 | Strong | 16 | 2.3% | – | 31% |
| 83 | Villanova University Villanova, PA | 75 | Strong | 34 | 1.9% | – | 28% |
| 83 | University of Tulsa Tulsa, OK | 75 | Strong | 23 | 3.3% | – | 62% |
| 83 | Furman University Greenville, SC | 75 | Strong | 18 | 3% | – | 43% |
| 86 | University of Miami Coral Gables, FL | 74 | Strong | 89 | 3.1% | – | 19% |
| 86 | Dickinson College Carlisle, PA | 74 | Strong | 20 | 3.9% | – | 42% |
| 86 | Hobart and William Smith Colleges Geneva, NY | 74 | Strong | 18 | 3.9% | – | 64% |
| 86 | Colorado College Colorado Springs, CO | 74 | Strong | 17 | 3.4% | – | 18% |
| 86 | Connecticut College New London, CT | 74 | Strong | 16 | 3.8% | – | 37% |
| 91 | University of California, Davis Davis, CA | 73 | Strong | 251 | 2.9% | 1.10× | 44% |
| 91 | Michigan State University East Lansing, MI | 73 | Strong | 164 | 1.8% | 0.99× | 85% |
| 91 | University of Nebraska – Lincoln Lincoln, NE | 73 | Strong | 102 | 2.4% | 0.99× | 87% |
| 91 | University of Iowa Iowa City, IA | 73 | Strong | 80 | 1.6% | 0.96× | 80% |
| 91 | University of Connecticut Storrs, CT | 73 | Strong | 42 | 0.8% | 1.30× | 54% |
| 91 | Worcester Polytechnic Institute Worcester, MA | 73 | Strong | 38 | 3.2% | – | 62% |
| 91 | University of Delaware Newark, DE | 73 | Strong | 34 | 0.8% | 1.22× | 71% |
| 91 | Skidmore College Saratoga Springs, NY | 73 | Strong | 19 | 3.3% | – | 24% |
| 91 | Southern Methodist University Dallas, TX | 73 | Strong | 17 | 0.9% | – | 48% |
| 100 | The Pennsylvania State University–University Park University Park, PA | 72 | Strong | 148 | 1.4% | 1.12× | 61% |
292 more schools are on the full chemistry & biochemistry ranking.
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