Physics at Washington University in St Louis

If you plan to study physics, take a look at what Washington University in St Louis has to offer and decide if the program is a good match for you. Get started with the following essential facts.

WUSTL is located in Saint Louis, Missouri and approximately 15,449 students attend the school each year. Of the 2,441 students who graduated with a bachelor’s degree from Washington University in St Louis in 2021, 10 of them were physics majors.

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

WUSTL Physics Degrees Available

• Bachelor’s Degree in Physics
• Master’s Degree in Physics
• Doctorate Degree in Physics

WUSTL Physics Rankings

Each year, College Factual ranks physics programs across the country. The following shows how WUSTL performed in these rankings.

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 physics major at WUSTL is not ranked on College Factual’s Best Colleges and Universities for Physics. 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 Physics Doctor’s Degree Schools	58
Most Focused Physics Bachelor’s Degree Schools	514

In 2021, 8 students received their master’s degree in physics from WUSTL. This makes it the #75 most popular school for physics master’s degree candidates in the country.

There were 11 students who received their doctoral degrees in physics, making the school the #59 most popular school in the United States for this category of students.

Physics Student Demographics at WUSTL

Take a look at the following statistics related to the make-up of the physics majors at Washington University in St Louis.

WUSTL Physics Bachelor’s Program

During the 2020-2021 academic year, 10 physics majors earned their bachelor's degree from WUSTL. Of these graduates, 60% were men and 40% were women. The typical physics bachelor's degree program is made up of only 24% women. So female students are more repesented at WUSTL since its program graduates 16% more women than average.

Prospective students may be interested in knowing that this school graduates 1% more racial-ethnic minorities in its physics bachelor's program than the national average.*

The following table and chart show the race/ethnicity for students who recently graduated from Washington University in St Louis with a bachelor's in physics.

Race/Ethnicity	Number of Students
Asian	0
Black or African American	1
Hispanic or Latino	1
White	5
International Students	2
Other Races/Ethnicities	1

WUSTL Physics Master’s Program

For the most recent academic year available, 88% of physics master's degrees went to men and 13% went to women.

The following table and chart show the race/ethnicity for students who recently graduated from Washington University in St Louis with a master's in physics.

Race/Ethnicity	Number of Students
Asian	0
Black or African American	0
Hispanic or Latino	1
White	2
International Students	5
Other Races/Ethnicities	0

WUSTL also has a doctoral program available in physics. In 2021, 11 students graduated with a doctor's degree in this field.

Related Majors

• Materials Sciences
• Geological & Earth Sciences
• Chemistry

Careers That Physics Grads May Go Into

A degree in physics can lead to the following careers. Since job numbers and average salaries can vary by geographic location, we have only included the numbers for MO, the home state for Washington University in St Louis.

Occupation	Jobs in MO	Average Salary in MO
High School Teachers	27,930	$54,280
Natural Sciences Managers	670	$116,190
Physics Postsecondary Professors	200	$83,010
Physicists	70	$114,890

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 Bachrach44 under License

More about our data sources and methodologies.