If you pursue a associate degree in biological & physical science, you won't be alone. The field of study is the #6 most popular program in the country. This means there are lots of options to choose from when you decide to get your degree.
In 2025, College Factual analyzed 8 schools in order to identify the top ones for its Best Biological & Physical Science Associate Degree Schools in Virginia ranking. When you put them all together, these colleges and universities awarded 935 associate degrees in biological & physical science during the 2022-2023 academic year.
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Choosing a Great Biological & Physical Science School for Your Associate Degree
The biological science associate degree program you select can have a big impact on your future. Important measures of a quality biological science program can vary widely even among the top schools. To make it into this list, a school must excel in the following areas.
A Great Overall School
A school that excels in educating for a particular major and degree level must be a great school overall as well. To take this into account we include a school'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.
Early-Career Earnings
Average early-career salary of those graduating with their associate degree is one indicator we use in our analysis to find the schools that offer the highest-quality education. That is, everyone wants their associate 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 much a school focuses on biological & physical science students vs. other majors.
Major Demand - The number of biological & physical science students who choose to seek a associate 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 biological & physical science students go into to obtain their associate 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 biological & physical science related body.
Our full ranking methodology documents in more detail how we consider these factors to identify the best schools for biological & physical science students working on their associate degree.
Since picking the right college can be one of the most important decisions of your life, we've developed the Best Biological & Physical Science Associate Degree Schools in Virginia ranking, along with many other major-related rankings, to help you make that decision.
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Every student who is interested in an associate degree in biological & physical science has to look into Northern Virginia Community College. Northern Virginia Community College is a fairly large public college located in the suburb of Annandale.
Students who graduate with their associate from the biological science program state that they receive average early career income of $21,923.
Every student pursuing a degree in an associate degree in biological & physical science has to take a look at Lord Fairfax Community College. Lord Fairfax Community College is a moderately-sized public college located in the rural area of Middletown.
Those biological & physical science students who get their associate degree from Lord Fairfax Community College earn $10,068 more than the typical biological science grad.
Every student who is interested in an associate degree in biological & physical science has to look into Tidewater Community College. Located in the city of Norfolk, Tidewater Community College is a public college with a large student population.
Biological & Physical Science associate degree recipients from Tidewater Community College get an earnings boost of around $2,823 above the typical income of biological & physical science majors.
Any student pursuing a degree in an associate degree in biological & physical science needs to take a look at Reynolds Community College. Reynolds Community College is a medium-sized public college located in the large suburb of Richmond.
Associate graduates who receive their degree from the biological science program earn around $23,059 for their early career.
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 biological science associate degree program you select can have a big impact on your future. Important measures of a quality biological science program can vary widely even among the top schools. To make it into this list, a school must excel in the following areas.
