Best Colleges for Chemistry

One might expect to find only large research universities on a list of best colleges for chemistry majors, yet this is far from the case. While many big schools boast high-end laboratories and instructors, access to both can be limited for undergraduates, as graduate students often get first dibs. At many of the liberal arts schools listed below, such as Pomona, Grinnell, Kalamazoo, and Carleton, the main focus is on teaching undergraduates and thus it is freshman chemistry students occupying the premier lab space, not doctoral students. All of the institutions on our list produce well-trained chemists who are welcomed by employers and top Master’s and Ph.D. programs alike.

Click the links below for more information about each college’s chemistry program. Click here to read our methodology.

Amherst College

Bowdoin College

Brandeis University

Brown University

Bryn Mawr College

California Institute of Technology

Carleton College

Case Western Reserve University

College of the Holy Cross

College of William and Mary

Columbia University

Cornell University

Duke University

Emory University

Georgia Institute of Technology

Grinnell College

Harvard University

Harvey Mudd College

Haverford College

Johns Hopkins University

Kalamazoo College

Macalester College

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Northwestern University

Pomona College

Princeton University

Reed College

Rice University

St. Olaf College

Stanford University

University of California, Berkeley

University of California, Irvine

University of California, San Diego

University of Chicago

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

University of Michigan

University of Minnesota

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

University of Pennsylvania

University of Texas at Austin

University of Wisconsin-Madison

Washington University in St. Louis

Wellesley College

Williams College

Yale University