Astronomy & Astrophysics at University of Massachusetts Amherst

If you are interested in studying astronomy and astrophysics, you may want to check out the program at University of Massachusetts Amherst. The following information will help you decide if it is a good fit for you.

UMass Amherst is located in Amherst, Massachusetts and approximately 31,642 students attend the school each year. In the 2020-2021 academic year, 17 students received a bachelor's degree in astronomy from UMass Amherst.

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

UMass Amherst Astronomy & Astrophysics Degrees Available

• Bachelor’s Degree in Astronomy
• Master’s Degree in Astronomy

UMass Amherst Astronomy & Astrophysics Rankings

The astronomy major at UMass Amherst is not ranked on College Factual’s Best Colleges and Universities for Astronomy & Astrophysics. 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.

In 2021, 3 students received their master’s degree in astronomy from UMass Amherst. This makes it the #18 most popular school for astronomy master’s degree candidates in the country.

There were 0 student who received their doctoral degrees in astronomy, making the school the #39 most popular school in the United States for this category of students.

Astronomy Student Demographics at UMass Amherst

Take a look at the following statistics related to the make-up of the astronomy majors at University of Massachusetts Amherst.

UMass Amherst Astronomy & Astrophysics Bachelor’s Program

In the 2020-2021 academic year, 17 students earned a bachelor's degree in astronomy from UMass Amherst. About 47% of these graduates were women and the other 53% were men. The typical astronomy bachelor's degree program is made up of only 41% women. So female students are more repesented at UMass Amherst since its program graduates 7% more women than average.

About 82% of those who receive a bachelor's degree in astronomy at UMass Amherst are white. This is above average for this degree on the nationwide level.

The following table and chart show the race/ethnicity for students who recently graduated from University of Massachusetts Amherst with a bachelor's in astronomy.

Race/Ethnicity	Number of Students
Asian	2
Black or African American	0
Hispanic or Latino	0
White	14
International Students	0
Other Races/Ethnicities	1

UMass Amherst Astronomy & Astrophysics Master’s Program

During the 2020-2021 academic year, 3 astronomy majors earned their master's degree from UMass Amherst. Of these graduates, 33% were men and 67% were women.

Of the students who received a astronomy master's degree from UMass Amherst, 67% were white. This is above average for this degree on the natiowide level. In the astronomy master's program at this school, racial-ethnic minorities make up 33% of degree recipients. That is 6% better than the national average.*

The following table and chart show the race/ethnicity for students who recently graduated from University of Massachusetts Amherst with a master's in astronomy.

Race/Ethnicity	Number of Students
Asian	0
Black or African American	0
Hispanic or Latino	0
White	2
International Students	0
Other Races/Ethnicities	1

UMass Amherst also has a doctoral program available in astronomy. In 2021, 0 student graduated with a doctor's degree in this field.

Related Majors

• Materials Sciences
• Geological & Earth Sciences
• Chemistry
• Physics

Careers That Astronomy Grads May Go Into

A degree in astronomy can lead to the following careers. Since job numbers and average salaries can vary by geographic location, we have only included the numbers for MA, the home state for University of Massachusetts Amherst.

Occupation	Jobs in MA	Average Salary in MA
Natural Sciences Managers	4,040	$183,490
Physics Postsecondary Professors	550	$116,470
Atmospheric, Earth, Marine, and Space Sciences Professors	420	$137,740
Physicists	360	$150,170

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 Lion Hirth under License

More about our data sources and methodologies.