2025 Best Materials Sciences Master's Degree Schools

Materials Sciences is about average in terms of popularity for master's degrees programs. That is, it ranks #190 out of the 343 majors across the country that we analyze each year. As such, the degree program isn't offered at every college in the United States, but there are schools that do have a program in the field that are top-notch when it comes to quality.

In 2025, College Factual analyzed 7 schools in order to identify the top ones for its Best Materials Sciences Master's Degree Schools ranking. When you put them all together, these colleges and universities awarded 279 master's degrees in materials sciences during the <nil> academic year.

Jump to one of the following sections: * Our Methodology

• Best Master’s Degree Schools List

Choosing a Great Materials Sciences School for Your Master's Degree

Your choice of materials sciences for getting your master's degree school matters. Important measures of a quality materials science program can vary widely even among the top schools. When choosing a school we recommend considering some of the following factors:

Quality Overall Is Important

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.

Average Earnings

To determine the overall quality of a graduate school, one factor we look at is the average early-career salary of those receiving their master's degree from the school. This is because one of the main reasons people pursue their master's degree is to enable themselves to find better-paying positions.

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 materials sciences students vs. other majors.
• Major Demand - How many other materials sciences students want to attend this school to pursue a master's degree.
• 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 much debt materials sciences students go into to obtain their master'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 materials sciences related body.

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

One Size Does Not Fit All

When choosing the right school for you, it's important to arm yourself with all the facts you can. To that end, we've created a number of major-specific rankings, including this Best Materials Sciences Master's Degree Schools list to help you make the college decision.

Best Schools for Master’s Students to Study Materials Sciences in the United States

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

Top Schools for a Master's in Materials Science

1

Columbia University in the City of New York
New York, NY

29 Annual Graduates

Columbia University in the City of New York is a good option for students interested in a master's degree in materials sciences. Located in the city of New York, Columbia is a private not-for-profit university with a very large student population.More information about a master’s in materials sciences from Columbia University in the City of New York

2

University of California - Berkeley
Berkeley, CA

42 Annual Graduates

University of California - Berkeley is a wonderful decision for individuals interested in a master's degree in materials sciences. UC Berkeley is a fairly large public university located in the midsize city of Berkeley.More information about a master’s in materials sciences from University of California - Berkeley

3

Duke University
Durham, NC

12 Annual Graduates

Duke University is one of the finest schools in the country for getting a master's degree in materials sciences. Located in the large city of Durham, Duke is a private not-for-profit university with a large student population.More information about a master’s in materials sciences from Duke University

4

University of California - Santa Barbara
Santa Barbara, CA

10 Annual Graduates

University of California - Santa Barbara is one of the best schools in the country for getting a master's degree in materials sciences. Located in the midsize suburb of Santa Barbara, UCSB is a public university with a fairly large student population.More information about a master’s in materials sciences from University of California - Santa Barbara

5

University of Arizona
Tucson, AZ

15 Annual Graduates

Located in the large city of Tucson, University of Arizona is a public university with a fairly large student population.More information about a master’s in materials sciences from University of Arizona

6

Rochester Institute of Technology
Rochester, NY

17 Annual Graduates

RIT is a large private not-for-profit school located in the large suburb of Rochester.More information about a master’s in materials sciences from Rochester Institute of Technology

7

Montana State University
Bozeman, MT

10 Annual Graduates

Located in the city of Bozeman, MSU Bozeman is a public university with a large student population.More information about a master’s in materials sciences from Montana State University

Materials Sciences by Region

View the Best Materials Sciences Master's Degree Schools for a specific region near you.

Region
Southeast
New England
Rocky Mountains
Plains States
Middle Atlantic
Far Western US
Southwest
Other U.S. Territories
Great Lakes

View All Rankings >

Materials Sciences Related Rankings by Major

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

Materials Science Focus Areas

Major	Annual Graduates
General Materials Science	258
Other Materials Sciences	13
Materials Chemistry	8

Majors Similar to Materials Science

Related Major	Annual Graduates
Chemistry	2,413
Physics	2,152
Geological & Earth Sciences	1,612
Atmospheric Sciences & Meteorology	258
Astronomy & Astrophysics	253
Other Physical Science	153
General Physical Sciences	50
Physics and Astronomy	4

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 Per Henning. More about our data sources and methodologies.