Rankings by major · 360 schools scored
Best colleges for physics & astronomy
Every school we cover is scored 0–100 for physics & astronomy. 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 physics & astronomy 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 physics & astronomy schools: Massachusetts Institute of Technology, California Institute of Technology, University of Chicago.
| Rank | School | Score (0–100) | Tier | Graduates per year in the major | Share of the class | Pay vs. national, same major | Acceptance rate |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Massachusetts Institute of Technology Cambridge, MA | 99 | Standout | 79 | 7.2% | 1.71× | 5% |
| 1 | California Institute of Technology Pasadena, CA | 99 | Standout | 30 | 13.8% | – | 3% |
| 3 | University of Chicago Chicago, IL | 98 | Standout | 70 | 4% | – | 4% |
| 3 | Harvard University Cambridge, MA | 98 | Standout | 69 | 4.1% | – | 4% |
| 3 | Princeton University Princeton, NJ | 98 | Standout | 47 | 3.7% | – | 4% |
| 6 | Yale University New Haven, CT | 96 | Standout | 38 | 2.7% | – | 5% |
| 6 | Stanford University Stanford, CA | 96 | Standout | 33 | 2.1% | – | 4% |
| 8 | University of Pennsylvania Philadelphia, PA | 94 | Standout | 55 | 1.9% | – | 5% |
| 8 | Columbia University New York, NY | 94 | Standout | 41 | 1.9% | – | 5% |
| 8 | University of Notre Dame Notre Dame, IN | 94 | Standout | 32 | 1.5% | 1.43× | 11% |
| 11 | Cornell University Ithaca, NY | 93 | Standout | 58 | 1.5% | 1.55× | 9% |
| 11 | Dartmouth College Hanover, NH | 93 | Standout | 24 | 2.3% | – | 6% |
| 11 | Johns Hopkins University Baltimore, MD | 93 | Standout | 23 | 1.6% | – | 8% |
| 14 | Brown University Providence, RI | 92 | Standout | 26 | 1.6% | – | 5% |
| 15 | University of Rochester Rochester, NY | 91 | Standout | 40 | 2.1% | – | 42% |
| 15 | Carnegie Mellon University Pittsburgh, PA | 91 | Standout | 32 | 2% | – | 11% |
| 15 | Northwestern University Evanston, IL | 91 | Standout | 25 | 1.2% | – | 7% |
| 18 | Haverford College Haverford, PA | 89 | Standout | 28 | 9.2% | – | 12% |
| 18 | Williams College Williamstown, MA | 89 | Standout | 22 | 4.3% | – | 9% |
| 18 | Amherst College Amherst, MA | 89 | Standout | 20 | 4% | – | 9% |
| 21 | University of Michigan–Ann Arbor Ann Arbor, MI | 88 | Standout | 89 | 1.1% | 1.20× | 16% |
| 21 | Case Western Reserve University Cleveland, OH | 88 | Standout | 39 | 3% | – | 35% |
| 21 | Wesleyan University Middletown, CT | 88 | Standout | 35 | 4.4% | – | 16% |
| 21 | Wellesley College Wellesley, MA | 88 | Standout | 22 | 3.9% | – | 14% |
| 21 | Pomona College Claremont, CA | 88 | Standout | 21 | 5.8% | – | 7% |
| 26 | University of Virginia Charlottesville, VA | 87 | Standout | 57 | 1.3% | – | 17% |
| 26 | Bowdoin College Brunswick, ME | 87 | Standout | 19 | 4.3% | – | 7% |
| 26 | Vanderbilt University Nashville, TN | 87 | Standout | 16 | 0.9% | – | 6% |
| 26 | Washington University in St. Louis St. Louis, MO | 87 | Standout | 16 | 0.9% | – | 12% |
| 26 | Duke University Durham, NC | 87 | Standout | 15 | 0.8% | – | 5% |
| 31 | University of California, Berkeley Berkeley, CA | 86 | Standout | 156 | 1.8% | 1.27× | 11% |
| 31 | University of North Carolina–Chapel Hill Chapel Hill, NC | 86 | Standout | 47 | 1% | 1.35× | 17% |
| 31 | United States Naval Academy Annapolis, MD | 86 | Standout | 31 | 2.8% | – | 9% |
| 31 | Swarthmore College Swarthmore, PA | 86 | Standout | 15 | 3.6% | – | 7% |
| 35 | Boston University Boston, MA | 85 | Standout | 56 | 1.2% | – | 13% |
| 35 | Tufts University Medford, MA | 85 | Standout | 22 | 1.5% | – | 11% |
| 35 | Middlebury College Middlebury, VT | 85 | Standout | 19 | 2.9% | – | 11% |
| 35 | Harvey Mudd College Claremont, CA | 85 | Standout | 18 | 7.9% | – | 13% |
| 35 | Carleton College Northfield, MN | 85 | Standout | 16 | 3.3% | – | 20% |
| 40 | Vassar College Poughkeepsie, NY | 84 | Standout | 20 | 3.1% | – | 19% |
| 41 | University of Washington Seattle, WA | 83 | Standout | 163 | 1.9% | 0.99× | 39% |
| 41 | University of California, Los Angeles Los Angeles, CA | 83 | Standout | 104 | 1.1% | 1.12× | 9% |
| 41 | William & Mary Williamsburg, VA | 83 | Standout | 40 | 2.5% | 1.01× | 34% |
| 41 | Colgate University Hamilton, NY | 83 | Standout | 28 | 3.8% | – | 14% |
| 41 | Hamilton College Clinton, NY | 83 | Standout | 21 | 4.3% | – | 14% |
| 41 | Bates College Lewiston, ME | 83 | Standout | 16 | 3.4% | – | 13% |
| 41 | Bryn Mawr College Bryn Mawr, PA | 83 | Standout | 16 | 5.4% | – | 29% |
| 41 | Colby College Waterville, ME | 83 | Standout | 16 | 3% | – | 7% |
| 49 | University of Maryland, College Park College Park, MD | 82 | Standout | 88 | 1% | 1.18× | 45% |
| 49 | Georgia Institute of Technology Atlanta, GA | 82 | Standout | 52 | 1.3% | 1.07× | 13% |
| 49 | Grinnell College Grinnell, IA | 82 | Standout | 17 | 4.2% | – | 15% |
| 49 | Smith College Northampton, MA | 82 | Standout | 16 | 2.7% | – | 21% |
| 49 | Emory University Atlanta, GA | 82 | Standout | 15 | 0.7% | – | 10% |
| 49 | Georgetown University Washington, DC | 82 | Standout | 15 | 0.8% | – | 13% |
| 55 | University of Wisconsin–Madison Madison, WI | 81 | Standout | 79 | 1.1% | 1.01× | 45% |
| 55 | New York University New York, NY | 81 | Standout | 57 | 0.8% | 0.90× | 9% |
| 55 | Northeastern University Boston, MA | 81 | Standout | 27 | 0.6% | – | 5% |
| 55 | University of Southern California Los Angeles, CA | 81 | Standout | 21 | 0.4% | – | 10% |
| 59 | The University of Texas–Austin Austin, TX | 80 | Standout | 109 | 1.1% | 0.97× | 27% |
| 59 | Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Troy, NY | 80 | Standout | 42 | 2.7% | 1.07× | 63% |
| 59 | Oberlin College Oberlin, OH | 80 | Standout | 20 | 3.1% | – | 34% |
| 62 | The Ohio State University Columbus, OH | 78 | Strong | 104 | 0.9% | 1.23× | 51% |
| 62 | Franklin & Marshall College Lancaster, PA | 78 | Strong | 18 | 3.3% | – | 28% |
| 64 | University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign Champaign, IL | 77 | Strong | 84 | 1% | 1.06× | 42% |
| 64 | University of Minnesota–Twin Cities Minneapolis, MN | 77 | Strong | 58 | 0.8% | 1.04× | 80% |
| 64 | Macalester College Saint Paul, MN | 77 | Strong | 21 | 3.9% | – | 29% |
| 67 | Michigan State University East Lansing, MI | 76 | Strong | 81 | 0.9% | – | 85% |
| 67 | St. Olaf College Northfield, MN | 76 | Strong | 27 | 3.9% | – | 43% |
| 67 | Kenyon College Gambier, OH | 76 | Strong | 16 | 3.5% | – | 31% |
| 70 | The Pennsylvania State University–University Park University Park, PA | 75 | Strong | 83 | 0.8% | 1.04× | 61% |
| 70 | University of California San Diego La Jolla, CA | 75 | Strong | 60 | 0.7% | 1.24× | 29% |
| 72 | University of California, Santa Barbara Santa Barbara, CA | 74 | Strong | 183 | 2.9% | 1.11× | 38% |
| 72 | University of Iowa Iowa City, IA | 74 | Strong | 23 | 0.5% | – | 80% |
| 74 | University of Colorado Boulder Boulder, CO | 73 | Strong | 158 | 2.3% | 1.02× | 78% |
| 74 | University of California, Irvine Irvine, CA | 73 | Strong | 86 | 1% | 1.25× | 29% |
| 76 | Virginia Tech Blacksburg, VA | 72 | Strong | 42 | 0.6% | 1.21× | 55% |
| 77 | Stony Brook University–SUNY Stony Brook, NY | 71 | Strong | 66 | 1.4% | 0.85× | 49% |
| 77 | University of California, Davis Davis, CA | 71 | Strong | 62 | 0.7% | 1.02× | 44% |
| 77 | University of Florida Gainesville, FL | 71 | Strong | 55 | 0.6% | 0.89× | 20% |
| 77 | Texas A&M University College Station, TX | 71 | Strong | 46 | 0.3% | 1.21× | 52% |
| 81 | Rutgers University–New Brunswick Piscataway, NJ | 70 | Strong | 52 | 0.6% | 0.88× | 58% |
| 81 | University of Connecticut Storrs, CT | 70 | Strong | 23 | 0.4% | 0.96× | 54% |
| 81 | Illinois Institute of Technology Chicago, IL | 70 | Strong | 20 | 3.2% | – | 55% |
| 84 | University of Massachusetts–Amherst Amherst, MA | 69 | Strong | 72 | 1.1% | 0.95× | 60% |
| 84 | Purdue University–Main Campus West Lafayette, IN | 69 | Strong | 47 | 0.6% | 0.88× | 50% |
| 84 | Worcester Polytechnic Institute Worcester, MA | 69 | Strong | 17 | 1.4% | – | 62% |
| 87 | University of Arizona Tucson, AZ | 68 | Strong | 97 | 1.3% | 1.15× | 86% |
| 87 | University of Utah Salt Lake City, UT | 68 | Strong | 35 | 0.6% | 1.00× | 87% |
| 87 | North Carolina State University Raleigh, NC | 68 | Strong | 20 | 0.3% | 0.67× | 42% |
| 90 | University of Kansas Lawrence, KS | 67 | Strong | 23 | 0.5% | – | 93% |
| 91 | University of Tennessee–Knoxville Knoxville, TN | 66 | Strong | 28 | 0.5% | – | 42% |
| 91 | University of San Diego San Diego, CA | 66 | Strong | 15 | 1% | – | 54% |
| 93 | Rochester Institute of Technology Rochester, NY | 65 | Strong | 40 | 1.7% | 0.98× | 71% |
| 93 | Indiana University–Bloomington Bloomington, IN | 65 | Strong | 33 | 0.5% | – | 78% |
| 93 | Clemson University Clemson, SC | 65 | Strong | 21 | 0.4% | – | 38% |
| 93 | University at Buffalo–SUNY Buffalo, NY | 65 | Strong | 20 | 0.4% | – | 81% |
| 97 | University of California, Santa Cruz Santa Cruz, CA | 64 | Solid | 76 | 1.7% | – | 66% |
| 97 | University of Maryland Baltimore County Baltimore, MD | 64 | Solid | 18 | 0.7% | – | 72% |
| 99 | The University of Oklahoma Norman, OK | 62 | Solid | 18 | 0.4% | – | 77% |
| 100 | The University of Texas–Dallas Richardson, TX | 60 | Solid | 30 | 0.6% | – | 65% |
260 more schools are on the full physics & astronomy ranking.
How this ranking works
Updated October 13, 2026. Sources: early-career pay for graduates of each program, by field of study (College Scorecard), graduates per year in the major (IPEDS), undergraduate courses listed in each department's current catalog, and the student body's test scores. Inputs that are missing for a school are dropped and the rest reweighted; programs with fewer than five graduates a year are capped at 30. Scores are relative to the other schools covered, from 0 to 100.
To cite: prefrosh.ai, "Best colleges for physics & astronomy," updated October 13, 2026, https://prefrosh.ai/majors/physics. For a specific student's chances at these schools, use Chance me, which reads odds from the student's own high school's admissions chart.
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