The 50 colleges that score highest for Geology and earth sciences on public federal data: selectivity, graduate earnings, program size, academic strength and graduate depth. It is a starting point for your research, not a judgment of quality.
50 colleges · each name links to its page, with sources · data snapshot October 2, 2026 · Updated October 2, 2026
How we rank programs · showing the top 50 of 50 core colleges ranked, those with enough graduates and earnings data · All top-programs lists
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| Rank | College | State | What we measured | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Stanford University | CA | Median earnings $124,080 (college-wide) · 37 graduates last year · 2% of the school's degrees | |
| 2 | Columbia University in the City of New York | NY | Median earnings $102,491 (college-wide) · 29 graduates last year · under 1% of the school's degrees | |
| 3 | University of Pennsylvania | PA | Median earnings $111,371 (college-wide) · 16 graduates last year · under 1% of the school's degrees | |
| 4 | University of California-Los Angeles | CA | Median earnings $79,143 · 20 graduates last year · under 1% of the school's degrees | |
| 5 | Yale University | CT | Median earnings $100,533 (college-wide) · 13 graduates last year · under 1% of the school's degrees | |
| 6 | Brown University | RI | Median earnings $93,487 (college-wide) · 20 graduates last year · under 1% of the school's degrees | |
| 7 | University of California-Berkeley | CA | Median earnings $88,843 (field-wide) · 13 graduates last year · under 1% of the school's degrees | |
| 8 | Georgia Institute of Technology-Main Campus | GA | Median earnings $82,431 (field-wide) · 16 graduates last year · under 1% of the school's degrees | |
| 9 | University of California-San Diego | CA | Median earnings $79,609 (field-wide) · 22 graduates last year · under 1% of the school's degrees | |
| 10 | University of Michigan-Ann Arbor | MI | Median earnings $60,949 · 54 graduates last year · under 1% of the school's degrees | |
| 11 | The University of Texas at Austin | TX | Median earnings $83,481 · 47 graduates last year · under 1% of the school's degrees | |
| 12 | University of Washington-Seattle Campus | WA | Median earnings $66,845 · 69 graduates last year · under 1% of the school's degrees | |
| 13 | Vanderbilt University | TN | Median earnings $91,565 (college-wide) · 20 graduates last year · under 1% of the school's degrees | |
| 14 | University of California-Irvine | CA | Median earnings $70,820 · 43 graduates last year · under 1% of the school's degrees | |
| 15 | Cornell University | NY | Median earnings $101,029 (field-wide) · 21 graduates last year · under 1% of the school's degrees | |
| 16 | University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill | NC | Median earnings $74,862 (field-wide) · 22 graduates last year · under 1% of the school's degrees | |
| 17 | Dartmouth College | NH | Median earnings $97,434 (college-wide) · 25 graduates last year · 2% of the school's degrees | |
| 18 | Pennsylvania State University-Main Campus | PA | Median earnings $81,092 · 82 graduates last year · under 1% of the school's degrees | |
| 19 | Purdue University-Main Campus | IN | Median earnings $67,606 (field-wide) · 40 graduates last year · under 1% of the school's degrees | |
| 20 | University of California-Davis | CA | Median earnings $73,337 · 10 graduates last year · under 1% of the school's degrees | |
| 21 | Texas A&M University-College Station | TX | Median earnings $74,594 · 51 graduates last year · under 1% of the school's degrees | |
| 22 | Bowdoin College | ME | Median earnings $82,735 (college-wide) · 20 graduates last year · 3% of the school's degrees | |
| 23 | University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign | IL | Median earnings $68,201 · 18 graduates last year · under 1% of the school's degrees | |
| 24 | University of Miami | FL | Median earnings $75,328 (college-wide) · 17 graduates last year · under 1% of the school's degrees | |
| 25 | University of Florida | FL | Median earnings $69,943 · 19 graduates last year · under 1% of the school's degrees | |
| 26 | University of California-Santa Barbara | CA | Median earnings $66,788 · 48 graduates last year · under 1% of the school's degrees | |
| 27 | University of Wisconsin-Madison | WI | Median earnings $58,771 · 21 graduates last year · under 1% of the school's degrees | |
| 28 | Middlebury College | VT | Median earnings $76,310 (college-wide) · 12 graduates last year · 1% of the school's degrees | |
| 29 | Washington and Lee University | VA | Median earnings $94,810 (college-wide) · 13 graduates last year · 2% of the school's degrees | |
| 30 | University of Pittsburgh-Pittsburgh Campus | PA | Median earnings $57,456 · 85 graduates last year · 2% of the school's degrees | |
| 31 | Tulane University of Louisiana | LA | Median earnings $63,268 (college-wide) · 11 graduates last year · under 1% of the school's degrees | |
| 32 | Williams College | MA | Median earnings $51,050 (field-wide) · 12 graduates last year · 2% of the school's degrees | |
| 33 | Rutgers University-New Brunswick | NJ | Median earnings $70,106 · 16 graduates last year · under 1% of the school's degrees | |
| 34 | University of California-Santa Cruz | CA | Median earnings $64,499 · 52 graduates last year · 1% of the school's degrees | |
| 35 | University of Colorado Boulder | CO | Median earnings $60,453 · 25 graduates last year · under 1% of the school's degrees | |
| 36 | University of Arizona | AZ | Median earnings $63,387 · 59 graduates last year · under 1% of the school's degrees | |
| 37 | Ohio State University-Main Campus | OH | Median earnings $53,381 · 24 graduates last year · under 1% of the school's degrees | |
| 38 | Stony Brook University | NY | Median earnings $68,169 (field-wide) · 11 graduates last year · under 1% of the school's degrees | |
| 39 | University of South Florida | FL | Median earnings $60,472 · 28 graduates last year · under 1% of the school's degrees | |
| 40 | California Polytechnic State University-San Luis Obispo | CA | Median earnings $69,227 · 31 graduates last year · under 1% of the school's degrees | |
| 41 | University of Minnesota-Twin Cities | MN | Median earnings $60,715 · 19 graduates last year · under 1% of the school's degrees | |
| 42 | Mount Holyoke College | MA | Median earnings $58,418 (college-wide) · 13 graduates last year · 2% of the school's degrees | |
| 43 | Syracuse University | NY | Median earnings $68,017 (field-wide) · 12 graduates last year · under 1% of the school's degrees | |
| 44 | United States Naval Academy | MD | Earnings not published · 38 graduates last year · 3% of the school's degrees | |
| 45 | Colorado College | CO | Median earnings $65,222 (college-wide) · 10 graduates last year · 2% of the school's degrees | |
| 46 | Whitman College | WA | Median earnings $67,589 (college-wide) · 12 graduates last year · 4% of the school's degrees | |
| 47 | United States Coast Guard Academy | CT | Earnings not published · 33 graduates last year · 14% of the school's degrees | |
| 48 | University at Buffalo | NY | Median earnings $59,841 · 33 graduates last year · under 1% of the school's degrees | |
| 49 | Florida State University | FL | Median earnings $66,157 · 13 graduates last year · under 1% of the school's degrees | |
| 50 | University of Utah | UT | Median earnings $62,867 · 26 graduates last year · under 1% of the school's degrees |
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