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Best Value Physical Sciences Master's Degree Schools in California

2023 Best Value Physical Sciences Master's Degree Schools in California

Identifying Quality Schools at More Affordable Prices

15 Colleges
$17,672 Avg Tuition & Fees*
$63,256 Avg Salary

Finding the Best Physical Sciences Master's Degree School for You

Physical Sciences is the #17 most popular major in California with 8,302 degrees and certificates awarded in 2020-2021.

There are lots of options to pick from today when trying to decide which program is right for you. You can choose a traditional brick and mortar school, or with the growth of online education, you can attend a school half-way across the country without even leaving your house. Also there are many trade schools that offer short-term programs that open up more career options.

The Best Value Physical Sciences Master's Degree Schools in California ranking is one of many tools that Course Advisor has developed to help you make your educational decision. Our analysis looked at 15 schools in California to see which master's degree programs offered the best value experiences for physical sciences students with the aim of identifying those quality schools that are more affordable than some of their counterparts.

When determining this ranking, we place a high emphasis on the school's quality as well as its sticker price. Even though a college may be affordable, it may not offer value. More specifically, we discount our quality score by the published tuition and fees charged by a school. This gives the cost per unit of quality for each college. The value is determined by how much quality your dollar buys.

Our calculations use out-of-state tuition and fees in our nationwide and regional rankings. Average in-state tuition and fees are used for our statewide rankings.

Top 10 Best Physical Sciences Master's Degree Schools

Our 2023 rankings named California State University - Long Beach the best value school in California for physical sciences students working on their master’s degree. Located in the large city of Long Beach, CSULB is a public college with a fairly large student population.

The average tuition and fees for an in-state graduate student at CSULB are $8,280 a year.

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#2

San Diego State University

San Diego, CA

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend San Diego State University. It ranked #2 on our 2023 Best Value Physical Sciences Master’s Degree Schools in California list. SDSU is a very large public school located in the large city of San Diego.

SDSU graduate students pay an average of $9,570 in in-state tuition and fees each year.

Full Physical Sciences at San Diego State University Report

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The excellent master’s degree programs at University of California - Santa Barbara helped the school earn the #3 place on this year’s ranking of the best value physical sciences schools in California. Located in the medium-sized suburb of Santa Barbara, UCSB is a public college with a fairly large student population.

In-state tuition fees for graduate students at UCSB are $13,581 per year.

Full Physical Sciences at University of California - Santa Barbara Report

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Out of the 15 schools in California that were part of this year’s ranking, California State University - Fullerton landed the # 4 spot on the list. Located in the suburb of Fullerton, Cal State Fullerton is a public college with a fairly large student population.

In-state tuition fees for graduate students at Cal State Fullerton are $8,410 per year.

Full Physical Sciences at California State University - Fullerton Report

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A rank of #5 on this year’s list means California State University - Los Angeles is a great value for physical sciences students working on their master’s degree. Cal State LA is a fairly large public school located in the large city of Los Angeles.

Cal State LA graduate students pay an average of $8,219 in in-state tuition and fees each year.

Full Physical Sciences at California State University - Los Angeles Report

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University of California - Berkeley ranked #6 on this year’s Best Value Physical Sciences Master’s Degree Schools in California list. Located in the midsize city of Berkeley, UC Berkeley is a public college with a very large student population.

The average tuition and fees for an in-state graduate student at UC Berkeley are $14,160 a year.

UC Berkeley did well in our overall quality rankings, too. It placed #2 on our Best Physical Sciences Master’s Degree Schools in California list.

Full Physical Sciences at University of California - Berkeley Report

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California State University - Northridge did quite well in this year’s ranking of the best places for physical sciences students to get a master’s degree. It came in at #7 on the list. CSUN is a fairly large public school located in the large city of Northridge.

The average tuition and fees for an in-state graduate student at CSUN are $8,477 a year.

Full Physical Sciences at California State University - Northridge Report

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University of California - Los Angeles landed the #8 spot in the 2023 rankings for the best value master’s degree physical sciences programs. Located in the city of Los Angeles, UCLA is a public school with a very large student population.

In-state tuition fees for graduate students at UCLA are $13,036 per year.

UCLA did well in our overall quality rankings, too. It placed #4 on our Best Physical Sciences Master’s Degree Schools in California list.

Full Physical Sciences at University of California - Los Angeles Report

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University of California - Irvine ranked #9 on this year’s Best Value Physical Sciences Master’s Degree Schools in California list. Located in the city of Irvine, UC Irvine is a public school with a fairly large student population.

UC Irvine graduate students pay an average of $13,356 in in-state tuition and fees each year.

Full Physical Sciences at University of California - Irvine Report

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University of California - Davis did quite well in this year’s ranking of the best places for physical sciences students to get a master’s degree. It came in at #10 on the list. Located in the small suburb of Davis, UC Davis is a public school with a very large student population.

In-state tuition fees for graduate students at UC Davis are $13,608 per year.

Read full report on Physical Sciences at University of California - Davis

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Best Value Physical Sciences Colleges in the Far Western US Region

Explore all the Best Value Physical Sciences Colleges in the Far Western US Area or other specific states within that region.

State Degrees Awarded
Washington 1,936
Oregon 606
Hawaii 107
Nevada 315
Alaska 60

Physical Sciences Majors to Study

Major Annual Graduates
Chemistry 21,239
Physics 13,674
Geological & Earth Sciences 7,821
General Physical Sciences 3,823
Astronomy & Astrophysics 1,375
Atmospheric Sciences & Meteorology 1,140
Materials Sciences 658
Other Physical Science 538
Physics and Astronomy 38

Majors Similar to Physical Sciences

Related Major Annual Graduates
Computer & Information Sciences 254,454
Engineering 198,468
Biological & Biomedical Sciences 177,778
Engineering Technologies 85,188
Mathematics & Statistics 52,396

Notes and References

*These averages are for the top 15 schools only.

  • The Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) from the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), a branch of the U.S. Department of Education (DOE) serves as the core of the rest of our data about colleges.
  • Some other college data, including much of the graduate earnings data, comes from the U.S. Department of Education’s (College Scorecard).
  • Credit for the banner image above goes to NASA.

More about our data sources and methodologies.

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