2025 Best Physical Sciences Doctor's Degree Schools in the Southwest Region

If you plan on getting your doctor's degree in physical sciences, you won't be alone since the degree program is ranked #7 in the country in terms of popularity. This means you won't have too much trouble finding schools that offer the degree.

In 2025, College Factual analyzed 13 schools in order to identify the top ones for its Best Physical Sciences Doctor's Degree Schools in the Southwest Region ranking. Combined, these schools handed out 737 doctor's degrees in physical sciences to qualified students.

What's on this page: * Our Methodology

• Best Doctor’s Degree Schools List

Choosing a Great Physical Sciences School for Your Doctor's Degree

Your choice of physical sciences for getting your doctor'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. 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 account for this we include a school's overall Best Colleges for a Doctor's Degree 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.

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 doctor's degree from the school. After all, your doctor'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 physical sciences students as compared to other majors.
• Major Demand - The number of physical sciences students who choose to seek a doctor'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 physical sciences students go into to obtain their doctor'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 physical sciences related body.

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

One Size Does Not Fit All

Since picking the right college can be one of the most important decisions of your life, we've developed the Best Physical Sciences Doctor's Degree Schools in the Southwest Region ranking, along with many other major-related rankings, to help you make that decision.

Best Schools for Doctorate Students to Study Physical Sciences in the Southwest Region

Below you'll see a list of the best colleges and universities for pursuing a doctor's degree in physical sciences.

10 Top Southwest Region Schools for a Doctorate in Physical Sciences

1

University of Arizona
Tucson, AZ

Doctor's Degree Highest Degree Type

101 Annual Graduates

University of Arizona is a good option for individuals pursuing a doctor's degree in physical sciences. University of Arizona is a fairly large public university located in the large city of Tucson.More information about a doctorate in physical sciences from University of Arizona

2

Texas A&M University - College Station
College Station, TX

Doctor's Degree Highest Degree Type

92 Annual Graduates

Texas A&M University - College Station is one of the finest schools in the country for getting a doctor's degree in physical sciences. Texas A&M College Station is a fairly large public university located in the city of College Station.More information about a doctorate in physical sciences from Texas A&M University - College Station

3

The University of Texas at Austin
Austin, TX

Doctor's Degree Highest Degree Type

93 Annual Graduates

Every student pursuing a degree in a doctor's degree in physical sciences needs to look into The University of Texas at Austin. UT Austin is a very large public university located in the city of Austin.More information about a doctorate in physical sciences from The University of Texas at Austin

4

University of Oklahoma Norman Campus
Norman, OK

Doctor's Degree Highest Degree Type

37 Annual Graduates

University of Oklahoma Norman Campus is a good choice for individuals pursuing a doctor's degree in physical sciences. University of Oklahoma is a fairly large public university located in the medium-sized suburb of Norman.More information about a doctorate in physical sciences from University of Oklahoma Norman Campus

5

University of Houston
Houston, TX

Doctor's Degree Highest Degree Type

54 Annual Graduates

UH is a fairly large public university located in the large city of Houston.More information about a doctorate in physical sciences from University of Houston

6

Baylor University
Waco, TX

Doctor's Degree Highest Degree Type

17 Annual Graduates

Located in the midsize city of Waco, Baylor is a private not-for-profit university with a very large student population.More information about a doctorate in physical sciences from Baylor University

7

Arizona State University - Tempe
Tempe, AZ

Doctor's Degree Highest Degree Type

52 Annual Graduates

Located in the midsize city of Tempe, ASU - Tempe is a public university with a fairly large student population.More information about a doctorate in physical sciences from Arizona State University - Tempe

8

The University of Texas at Dallas
Richardson, TX

Doctor's Degree Highest Degree Type

29 Annual Graduates

UT Dallas is a fairly large public university located in the medium-sized city of Richardson.More information about a doctorate in physical sciences from The University of Texas at Dallas

9

University of New Mexico - Main Campus
Albuquerque, NM

Doctor's Degree Highest Degree Type

32 Annual Graduates

Located in the large city of Albuquerque, UNM is a public university with a very large student population.More information about a doctorate in physical sciences from University of New Mexico - Main Campus

10

Texas Tech University
Lubbock, TX

Doctor's Degree Highest Degree Type

26 Annual Graduates

Located in the large city of Lubbock, Texas Tech is a public university with a very large student population.More information about a doctorate in physical sciences from Texas Tech University

Best Physical Sciences Colleges by State

Explore the best physical sciences colleges for a specific state in the Southwest Region .

State	Colleges	Degrees Awarded
Texas	29	409
Arizona	28	115
Oklahoma	26	64
New Mexico	23	52

View All Rankings >

Physical Sciences Majors to Study

Major	Annual Graduates
Chemistry	293
Physics	231
Geological & Earth Sciences	138
Astronomy & Astrophysics	44
Atmospheric Sciences & Meteorology	18
Materials Sciences	13

Most Popular Majors Related to Physical Sciences

Related Major	Annual Graduates
Engineering	1,467
Biological & Biomedical Sciences	852
Agriculture & Agriculture Operations	490
Mathematics & Statistics	213
Natural Resources & Conservation	52
Architecture & Related Services	31
Engineering Technologies	17

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 NASA. More about our data sources and methodologies.