2025 Best Ecology, Evolution & Systematics Biology Bachelor's Degree Schools in California

If you plan on getting your bachelor's degree in ecology, evolution & systematics biology, you won't be alone since the degree program is ranked #91 in the country in terms of popularity. As a result, there are many college that offer the degree, making your choice of school a hard one.

College Factual reviewed 8 schools in California to determine which ones were the best for bachelor's degree seekers in the field of ecology, evolution & systematics biology. When you put them all together, these colleges and universities awarded 547 bachelor's degrees in ecology, evolution & systematics biology during the 2022-2023 academic year.

What's on this page: * Our Methodology

• Best Bachelor’s Degree Schools List

Choosing a Great Ecology, Evolution & Systematics Biology School for Your Bachelor's Degree

Your choice of ecology, evolution & systematics biology for getting your bachelor's degree school matters. This section explores some of the factors we include in our ranking and how much they vary depending on the school you select. To make it into this list, a school must excel in the following areas.

A Great Overall School

The overall quality of a bachelor's degree school is important to ensure a quality education, not just how well they do in a particular major. To account for this we include a college's overall Best Colleges ranking which itself looks at a collection of different factors like degree completion, educational resources, student body caliber and post-graduation earnings for the school as a whole.

Early-Career Earnings

One measure we use to determine the quality of a school is to look at the average salary of bachelor's graduates during the early years of their career. That is, everyone wants their bachelor's degree to be worth something, and salaries are one measure of determining that.

Other Factors We Consider

The metrics below are just some of the other metrics that we use to determine our rankings.

• Major Focus - How many resources a school devotes to ecology, evolution & systematics biology students as compared to other majors.
• Major Demand - The number of ecology, evolution & systematics biology students who choose to seek a bachelor's degree at the school.
• Educational Resources - How many resources are allocated to students. These resources may include educational expenditures per student, number of students per instructor, and graduation rate among other things.
• Student Debt - How much debt ecology, evolution & systematics biology students go into to obtain their bachelor's degree and how well they are able to pay back that debt.
• Accreditation - Whether a school is regionally accredited and/or accredited by a recognized ecology, evolution & systematics biology related body.

Our full ranking methodology documents in more detail how we consider these factors to identify the best schools for ecology, evolution & systematics biology students working on their bachelor's degree.

More Ways to Rank Ecology, Evolution & Systematics Biology Schools

Since picking the right college can be one of the most important decisions of your life, we've developed the Best Ecology, Evolution & Systematics Biology Bachelor's Degree Schools in California ranking, along with many other major-related rankings, to help you make that decision.

In addition to our rankings, you can take two colleges and compare them based on the criteria that matters most to you in our unique tool, College Combat. Test it out when you get a chance! You may also want to bookmark the link and share it with others who are trying to make the college decision.

Best Schools for Bachelor’s Students to Study Ecology, Evolution & Systematics Biology in California

Below you'll see a list of the best colleges and universities for pursuing a bachelor's degree in ecology, evolution & systematics biology.

Top California Schools for a Bachelor's in Ecology

1

University of California - Santa Barbara
Santa Barbara, CA

83 Annual Graduates

$29,258 Median Starting Salary

University of California - Santa Barbara is one of the finest schools in the country for getting a bachelor's degree in ecology, evolution & systematics biology. UCSB is a very large public university located in the medium-sized suburb of Santa Barbara.

Students who graduate with their bachelor's from the ecology program state that they receive average early career income of $29,258.

More information about a bachelor’s in ecology, evolution & systematics biology from University of California - Santa Barbara

2

University of California - San Diego
La Jolla, CA

127 Annual Graduates

$31,088 Median Starting Salary

$34,813 Median Student Debt

University of California - San Diego is one of the best schools in the country for getting a bachelor's degree in ecology, evolution & systematics biology. Located in the city of La Jolla, UCSD is a public university with a fairly large student population.

Bachelor's students who receive their degree from the ecology program earn an average of $31,088 for their early career.

More information about a bachelor’s in ecology, evolution & systematics biology from University of California - San Diego

3

University of California - Santa Cruz
Santa Cruz, CA

153 Annual Graduates

$25,810 Median Starting Salary

$52,537 Median Student Debt

University of California - Santa Cruz is one of the best schools in the country for getting a bachelor's degree in ecology, evolution & systematics biology. Located in the small city of Santa Cruz, UC Santa Cruz is a public university with a large student population.

Students who graduate with their bachelor's from the ecology program report average early career earnings of $25,810.

More information about a bachelor’s in ecology, evolution & systematics biology from University of California - Santa Cruz

4

University of California - Davis
Davis, CA

44 Annual Graduates

$32,161 Median Starting Salary

University of California - Davis is a wonderful choice for individuals interested in a bachelor's degree in ecology, evolution & systematics biology. UC Davis is a very large public university located in the suburb of Davis.

Soon after graduating, ecology bachelor's recipients usually make around $32,161 in their early careers.

More information about a bachelor’s in ecology, evolution & systematics biology from University of California - Davis

5

University of California - Los Angeles
Los Angeles, CA

47 Annual Graduates

$18,728 Median Starting Salary

UCLA is a fairly large public university located in the large city of Los Angeles.

Bachelor's graduates who receive their degree from the ecology program earn an average of $18,728 in their early career salary.

More information about a bachelor’s in ecology, evolution & systematics biology from University of California - Los Angeles

6

University of California - Irvine
Irvine, CA

15 Annual Graduates

Located in the large city of Irvine, UC Irvine is a public university with a fairly large student population.More information about a bachelor’s in ecology, evolution & systematics biology from University of California - Irvine

7

California State University - Long Beach
Long Beach, CA

38 Annual Graduates

$35,436 Median Starting Salary

Located in the large city of Long Beach, CSULB is a public university with a fairly large student population.

Those ecology, evolution & systematics biology students who get their bachelor's degree from California State University - Long Beach make $3,629 more than the average ecology student.

More information about a bachelor’s in ecology, evolution & systematics biology from California State University - Long Beach

8

California State Polytechnic University - Pomona
Pomona, CA

26 Annual Graduates

Located in the large suburb of Pomona, Cal Poly Pomona is a public university with a fairly large student population.More information about a bachelor’s in ecology, evolution & systematics biology from California State Polytechnic University - Pomona

Best Ecology, Evolution & Systematics Biology Colleges in the Far Western US Region

Explore all the Best Ecology, Evolution & Systematics Biology Colleges in the Far Western US Area or other specific states within that region.

State	Colleges	Degrees Awarded
Washington	226	134
Oregon	185	17
Hawaii	112	97
Alaska	75	9

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Rankings in Majors Related to Ecology

Ecology, Evolution & Systematics Biology is one of 14 different types of Biological & Biomedical Sciences programs to choose from.

Ecology Concentrations

Major	Annual Graduates
Marine Biology	220
Other Ecology, Evolution & Systematics Biology	105
Ecology	99
Evolutionary Biology	50
Aquatic Biology/Limnology	44
Environmental Biology	29

Majors Similar to Ecology

Related Major	Annual Graduates
General Biology	8,865
Cell Biology & Anatomical Sciences	2,137
Biochemistry, Biophysics & Molecular Biology	1,485
Neurobiology & Neurosciences	1,237
Microbiological Sciences & Immunology	541
Physiology & Pathology Sciences	424
Biomathematics & Bioinformatics	226
Biotechnology	142
Zoology	135
Genetics	96

Notes and References

• The bars on the spread charts above show the distribution of the schools on this list +/- one standard deviation from the mean.
• 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 Ernst Haeckel. More about our data sources and methodologies.