Physical Sciences at University of California - Berkeley

If you are interested in studying physical sciences, you may want to check out the program at University of California - Berkeley. The following information will help you decide if it is a good fit for you.

UC Berkeley is located in Berkeley, California and has a total student population of 42,327. In 2021, 357 physical sciences majors received their bachelor's degree from UC Berkeley.

Want to know more about the career opportunities in this field? Check out the Careers in Physical Sciences section at the bottom of this page.

UC Berkeley Physical Sciences Degrees Available

• Bachelor’s Degree in Physical Sciences
• Master’s Degree in Physical Sciences
• Doctorate Degree in Physical Sciences

UC Berkeley Physical Sciences Rankings

The following rankings from College Factual show how the physical sciences progam at UC Berkeley compares to programs at other colleges and universities.

Note: Rankings don't always give a complete picture of a school's strengths and weaknesses, so it's a good idea to extend your research and also look at other factors when trying to decide if the school is right for you.

Bachelor’s Degree Overall Quality & Other Notable Rankings

The physical sciences major at UC Berkeley is not ranked on College Factual’s Best Colleges and Universities for Physical Sciences. This could be for a number of reasons, such as not having enough data on the major or school to make an accurate assessment of its quality.

Ranking Type	Rank
Most Popular Physical Sciences Bachelor’s Degree Schools	3
Best Value Physical Sciences Bachelor’s Degree Schools	136

In 2021, 79 students received their master’s degree in physical sciences from UC Berkeley. This makes it the #17 most popular school for physical sciences master’s degree candidates in the country.

There were 124 students who received their doctoral degrees in physical sciences, making the school the #1 most popular school in the United States for this category of students.

Physical Sciences Student Demographics at UC Berkeley

Take a look at the following statistics related to the make-up of the physical sciences majors at University of California - Berkeley.

UC Berkeley Physical Sciences Bachelor’s Program

Of the 357 students who graduated with a bachelor’s in physical sciences from UC Berkeley in 2021, 60% were men and 40% were women.

Prospective students may be interested in knowing that this school graduates 18% more racial-ethnic minorities in its physical sciences bachelor's program than the national average.*

The following table and chart show the race/ethnicity for students who recently graduated from University of California - Berkeley with a bachelor's in physical sciences.

Race/Ethnicity	Number of Students
Asian	108
Black or African American	2
Hispanic or Latino	41
White	123
International Students	49
Other Races/Ethnicities	34

UC Berkeley Physical Sciences Master’s Program

Of the 79 physical sciences students who graduated with a master's degree in 2020-2021 from UC Berkeley, about 73% were men and 27% were women.

The following table and chart show the race/ethnicity for students who recently graduated from University of California - Berkeley with a master's in physical sciences.

Race/Ethnicity	Number of Students
Asian	14
Black or African American	0
Hispanic or Latino	6
White	29
International Students	25
Other Races/Ethnicities	5

UC Berkeley also has a doctoral program available in physical sciences. In 2021, 124 students graduated with a doctor's degree in this field.

Concentrations Within Physical Sciences

If you plan to be a physical sciences major, you may want to focus your studies on one of the following concentrations. The completion numbers here include all graduates who receive any type of degree in this field from University of California - Berkeley. Some of these focus areas may not be available for your degree level.

Concentration	Annual Degrees Awarded
Physics	197
Chemistry	170
Materials Sciences	74
Astronomy & Astrophysics	65
Geological & Earth Sciences	49
Atmospheric Sciences & Meteorology	5

Related Majors

• Agriculture & Agriculture Operations
• Architecture & Related Services
• Natural Resources & Conservation
• Mathematics & Statistics
• Biological & Biomedical Sciences

Careers That Physical Sciences Grads May Go Into

A degree in physical sciences can lead to the following careers. Since job numbers and average salaries can vary by geographic location, we have only included the numbers for CA, the home state for University of California - Berkeley.

Occupation	Jobs in CA	Average Salary in CA
High School Teachers	112,960	$80,510
Architectural and Engineering Managers	31,580	$175,010
Environmental Scientists and Specialists	12,750	$91,890
Chemists	10,430	$88,570
Natural Sciences Managers	7,870	$168,790

References

*The racial-ethnic minorities count is calculated by taking the total number of students and subtracting white students, international students, and students whose race/ethnicity was unknown. This number is then divided by the total number of students at the school to obtain the racial-ethnic minorities percentage.

• College Factual
• National Center for Education Statistics
• O*NET Online
• Image Credit: By LAgirl5252 under License

More about our data sources and methodologies.