If you pursue a bachelor's degree in general biology, you won't be alone. The field of study is the #4 most popular program in the country. So, there are lots of possibilities to explore when you're trying to determine where you want to get your degree.
For its 2025 ranking, College Factual looked at 225 schools in the Southeast Region to determine which ones were the best for general biology students pursuing a bachelor's degree. When you put them all together, these colleges and universities awarded 24,108 bachelor's degrees in general biology during the 2022-2023 academic year.
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Choosing a Great General Biology School for Your Bachelor's Degree
The biology bachelor's degree program you select can have a big impact on your future. Important measures of a quality biology program can vary widely even among the top schools. Below we explain some of the most important factors to consider before making your choice:
Overall Quality Is a Must
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 combination of different factors like degree completion, educational resources, student body caliber and post-graduation earnings for the school as a whole.
Average Early-Career Salaries
Average early-career salary of those graduating with their bachelor's degree is one indicator we use in our analysis to find the schools that offer the highest-quality education. After all, your bachelor's degree won't mean much if it doesn't help you find a job that will help you earn a living.
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 general biology students as compared to other majors.
Major Demand - How many other general biology students want to attend this school to pursue a bachelor's degree.
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 easy is it for general biology to pay back their student loans after receiving their bachelor's degree.
Accreditation - Whether a school is regionally accredited and/or accredited by a recognized general biology related body.
Our full ranking methodology documents in more detail how we consider these factors to identify the best colleges for general biology students working on their bachelor's degree.
The biology school you choose to invest your time and money in matters. To help you make the decision that is right for you, we've developed a number of major-specific rankings, including this list of the Best General Biology Bachelor's Degree Schools in the Southeast Region.
To further help you make the college decision, we've developed a unique tool called College Combat that allows you to compare schools based on the factors that matter the most to you.
Go ahead and give it a try, or bookmark the link so you can check it out later.
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ADBLOCK #171
Best Schools for Bachelor’s Students to Study General Biology in the Southeast Region
Below you'll see a list of the best colleges and universities for pursuing a bachelor's degree in general biology. Only those schools that rank in the top 20% of all the schools we analyze get awarded with a place on this list.
25 Top Southeast Region Schools for a Bachelor's in Biology
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill is a wonderful decision for students pursuing a bachelor's degree in general biology. Located in the city of Chapel Hill, UNC Chapel Hill is a public university with a very large student population.
Those general biology students who get their bachelor's degree from University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill earn $4,411 more than the typical biology student.
Duke University is a wonderful option for students interested in a bachelor's degree in general biology. Duke is a fairly large private not-for-profit university located in the large city of Durham.
Students who graduate with their bachelor's from the biology program report average early career wages of $30,939.
It's difficult to beat North Carolina State University if you want to pursue a bachelor's degree in general biology. Located in the city of Raleigh, NC State is a public university with a very large student population.
General Biology bachelor's degree recipients from North Carolina State University receive an earnings boost of around $7,097 over the average earnings of general biology graduates.
It is hard to beat University of South Carolina - Columbia if you wish to pursue a bachelor's degree in general biology. Located in the medium-sized city of Columbia, UofSC is a public university with a very large student population.
After graduation, biology bachelor's recipients usually make about $28,035 in their early careers.
Located in the suburb of Clemson, Clemson is a public university with a very large student population.
General Biology bachelor's degree recipients from Clemson University receive an earnings boost of about $2,421 over the average income of general biology graduates.
Located in the suburb of Fairfax, GMU is a public university with a fairly large student population.
Bachelor's recipients from the general biology major at George Mason University get $5,659 more than the standard college graduate with the same degree when they enter the workforce.
VCU is a very large public university located in the midsize city of Richmond.
General Biology bachelor's degree recipients from Virginia Commonwealth University earn a boost of about $2,089 over the average income of general biology graduates.
Located in the city of Lexington, UK is a public university with a very large student population.
General Biology bachelor's degree recipients from University of Kentucky receive an earnings boost of around $2,300 above the average earnings of general biology majors.
UNC Charlotte is a very large public university located in the large city of Charlotte.
Those general biology students who get their bachelor's degree from University of North Carolina at Charlotte earn $5,034 more than the typical biology graduate.
Located in the city of Greenville, ECU is a public university with a fairly large student population.
Bachelor's recipients from the general biology major at East Carolina University make $9,932 more than the typical graduate with the same degree shortly after graduation.
Located in the small city of Harrisonburg, JMU is a public university with a very large student population.
General Biology bachelor's degree recipients from James Madison University receive an earnings boost of approximately $5,099 over the typical earnings of general biology graduates.
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Honorable Mentions
Here are some additional great schools for General Biology students in the Southeast Region that almost earned our Best General Biology Bachelor's Degree Schools in the Southeast Region award.
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.
The biology bachelor's degree program you select can have a big impact on your future. Important measures of a quality biology program can vary widely even among the top schools. Below we explain some of the most important factors to consider before making your choice:
