2025 Best Chemistry Master's Degree Schools in the Southeast Region

If you plan on getting your master's degree in chemistry, you won't be alone since the degree program is ranked #66 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 looked at 9 colleges and universities when compiling its 2025 Best Chemistry Master's Degree Schools in the Southeast Region ranking. When you put them all together, these colleges and universities awarded 393 master's degrees in chemistry during the 2022-2023 academic year.

Jump to one of the following sections: * Our Methodology

• Best Master’s Degree Schools List

Choosing a Great Chemistry School for Your Master's Degree

Your choice of chemistry for getting your master's degree school matters. Important measures of a quality chemistry 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 make it into this list a school must rank well in our overall Best Colleges for a Master's Degree ranking. This ranking considered factors such as graduation rates, overall graduate earnings and other educational resources to identify great colleges and universities.

Early-Career Earnings

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

Other Factors We Consider

In addition to the above, you should consider some of the following factors:

• Major Focus - How much a school focuses on chemistry students vs. other majors.
• Major Demand - The number of chemistry students who choose to seek a master's degree at the school.
• Educational Resources - The amount of money and other resources allocated to students while they are pursuing their degree. These resources include such things as number of students per instructor and education expenditures per student.
• Student Debt - How easy is it for chemistry to pay back their student loans after receiving their master's degree.
• Accreditation - Whether a school is regionally accredited and/or accredited by a recognized chemistry related body.

Our complete ranking methodology documents in more detail how we consider these factors to identify the best schools for chemistry students working on their master's degree.

More Ways to Rank Chemistry Schools

Since the program you select can have a significant impact on your future, we've developed a number of rankings, including this Best Chemistry Master's Degree Schools in the Southeast Region list, to help you choose the best school for you.

Best Schools for Master’s Students to Study Chemistry in the Southeast Region

The following list ranks the best colleges and universities for pursuing a master's degree in chemistry.

Top Southeast Region Schools for a Master's in Chemistry

1

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Chapel Hill, NC

16 Annual Graduates

Every student pursuing a degree in a master's degree in chemistry needs to look into University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. UNC Chapel Hill is a fairly large public university located in the city of Chapel Hill.More information about a master’s in chemistry from University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

2

University of Virginia - Main Campus
Charlottesville, VA

23 Annual Graduates

Every student pursuing a degree in a master's degree in chemistry has to look into University of Virginia - Main Campus. Located in the suburb of Charlottesville, University of Virginia is a public university with a very large student population.More information about a master’s in chemistry from University of Virginia - Main Campus

3

Florida State University
Tallahassee, FL

29 Annual Graduates

$69,821 Median Starting Salary

Any student pursuing a degree in a master's degree in chemistry has to look into Florida State University. Located in the city of Tallahassee, Florida State is a public university with a very large student population.

Chemistry master's degree recipients from Florida State University get an earnings boost of approximately $10,519 above the typical earnings of chemistry majors.

More information about a master’s in chemistry from Florida State University

4

Emory University
Atlanta, GA

15 Annual Graduates

Every student pursuing a degree in a master's degree in chemistry needs to check out Emory University. Located in the large city of Atlanta, Emory is a private not-for-profit university with a fairly large student population.More information about a master’s in chemistry from Emory University

5

University of Kentucky
Lexington, KY

15 Annual Graduates

UK is a fairly large public university located in the city of Lexington.More information about a master’s in chemistry from University of Kentucky

6

Florida International University
Miami, FL

21 Annual Graduates

FIU is a very large public university located in the suburb of Miami.More information about a master’s in chemistry from Florida International University

7

University of North Carolina at Wilmington
Wilmington, NC

20 Annual Graduates

$63,856 Median Starting Salary

Located in the midsize city of Wilmington, UNCW is a public university with a fairly large student population.

Chemistry master's degree recipients from University of North Carolina at Wilmington receive an earnings boost of about $4,554 above the typical income of chemistry majors.

More information about a master’s in chemistry from University of North Carolina at Wilmington

8

East Carolina University
Greenville, NC

10 Annual Graduates

ECU is a fairly large public university located in the city of Greenville.More information about a master’s in chemistry from East Carolina University

9

Georgia State University
Atlanta, GA

28 Annual Graduates

$44,230 Median Starting Salary

Located in the large city of Atlanta, Georgia State is a public university with a very large student population.

Students who graduate with their master's from the chemistry program state that they receive average early career earnings of $44,230.

More information about a master’s in chemistry from Georgia State University

Best Chemistry Colleges by State

Explore the best chemistry schools for a specific state in the Southeast Region .

State	Colleges	Degrees Awarded
Florida	208	85
Georgia	190	45
Virginia	182	40
North Carolina	178	95
Tennessee	166	47
Alabama	151	25
Kentucky	147	28
Louisiana	147	14
South Carolina	146	12
Mississippi	145	15
Arkansas	121	11
West Virginia	112	2

View All Rankings >

Rankings in Majors Related to Chemistry

Chemistry is one of 8 different types of Physical Sciences programs to choose from.

Chemistry Concentrations

Major	Annual Graduates
General Chemistry	366
Other Chemistry	14
Forensic Chemistry	13

Majors Similar to Chemistry

Related Major	Annual Graduates
Geological & Earth Sciences	407
Physics	325
Other Physical Science	32
General Physical Sciences	22
Atmospheric Sciences & Meteorology	21
Materials Sciences	20
Astronomy & Astrophysics	19
Physics and Astronomy	3

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). More about our data sources and methodologies.