Physical Sciences at Virginia Commonwealth University

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

VCU is located in Richmond, Virginia and has a total student population of 29,070. Of the 5,512 students who graduated with a bachelor’s degree from Virginia Commonwealth University in 2021, 132 of them were physical sciences majors.

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.

VCU Physical Sciences Degrees Available

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

VCU Physical Sciences Rankings

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

Note: Although rankings can help you see some information about a school, it's not a good idea to depend on them alone. Be sure to check out other things about the school before making your decision to attend.

Bachelor’s Degree Overall Quality & Other Notable Rankings

The physical sciences major at VCU 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
	10
Best Value Physical Sciences Graduate Certificate Schools	16
Best Physical Sciences Schools	139
	141
Most Focused Physical Sciences Schools	395

In 2021, 2 students received their master’s degree in physical sciences from VCU. This makes it the #299 most popular school for physical sciences master’s degree candidates in the country.

There were 14 students who received their doctoral degrees in physical sciences, making the school the #121 most popular school in the United States for this category of students.

Physical Sciences Student Demographics at VCU

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

VCU Physical Sciences Bachelor’s Program

Of the 132 students who earned a bachelor's degree in Physical Sciences from VCU in 2020-2021, 43% were men and 57% were women. The typical physical sciences bachelor's degree program is made up of only 43% women. So female students are more repesented at VCU since its program graduates 14% more women than average.

Prospective students may be interested in knowing that this school graduates 17% 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 Virginia Commonwealth University with a bachelor's in physical sciences.

Race/Ethnicity	Number of Students
Asian	34
Black or African American	13
Hispanic or Latino	6
White	59
International Students	6
Other Races/Ethnicities	14

VCU Physical Sciences Master’s Program

During the 2020-2021 academic year, 2 physical sciences majors earned their master's degree from VCU. Of these graduates, 50% were men and 50% were women.

Of the students who received a physical sciences master's degree from VCU, 100% were white. This is above average for this degree on the natiowide level.

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

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

VCU also has a doctoral program available in physical sciences. In 2021, 14 students graduated with a doctor's degree in this field.

Concentrations Within Physical Sciences

The following physical sciences concentations are available at Virginia Commonwealth University. The completion numbers here include all graduates who receive any type of degree in this field from Virginia Commonwealth University. Some of these focus areas may not be available for your degree level.

Concentration	Annual Degrees Awarded
Chemistry	126
Physics	23

Related Majors

• Communications Technologies & Support
• Engineering Technologies
• Natural Resources & Conservation
• Mathematics & Statistics
• Computer & Information 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 VA, the home state for Virginia Commonwealth University.

Occupation	Jobs in VA	Average Salary in VA
High School Teachers	26,830	$68,770
Architectural and Engineering Managers	4,030	$164,300
Environmental Scientists and Specialists	3,150	$85,550
Physical Scientists	1,600	$121,850
Chemists	1,390	$98,670

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 user:mentes under License

More about our data sources and methodologies.