5 Best Online Bachelor’s in Physics

Key Infor­ma­tion:

• Michi­gan Tech is the #1 best online bach­e­lor’s degree in physics.
• Online pro­grams in physics pro­vide flex­i­bil­i­ty, allow­ing stu­dents to study around their oth­er commitments.
• Grad­u­ates can pur­sue var­i­ous careers in sci­ence, edu­ca­tion, and research.
• Accred­it­ed online pro­grams ensure that the edu­ca­tion received is rig­or­ous and respected.

As a high­ly tech­ni­cal, chal­leng­ing degree, most stu­dents will not think about get­ting a physics degree online. How­ev­er, there are many strong rea­sons to con­sid­er an online physics degree.

Orig­i­nal­ly pub­lished in Sep­tem­ber 2023 and updat­ed to reflect the lat­est infor­ma­tion in Jan­u­ary 2024.

For one, an online Bachelor’s in Physics pro­vides a per­son with a sol­id back­ground in sci­ence. A per­son will gain in-depth knowl­edge that will help a per­son pre­pare for a career in physics. More­over, a per­son will be able to choose from a vari­ety of careers and have the oppor­tu­ni­ty to make a lucra­tive salary.

Besides the gen­er­al ben­e­fits of a physics degree, you can ben­e­fit from a physics degree online specif­i­cal­ly. For exam­ple, a per­son can choose to earn a physics degree online in his or her free time around his or her oth­er respon­si­bil­i­ties. This includes being able to go to school while work­ing around fam­i­ly oblig­a­tions, such as chil­dren, as well as a person’s job. 

Specif­i­cal­ly, with a degree in physics online, a per­son can earn his or her degree while the kids are sleep­ing or after a per­son gets home from work. It’s even pos­si­ble to com­plete all of a person’s course­work on the week­end to some degree in physics online programs.

Methodology: Ranking the Best Online Physics Degrees

For prospec­tive stu­dents who want real val­ue, the edi­tors of Bachelor’s Degree Cen­ter fea­ture only accred­it­ed, rep­utable col­leges and uni­ver­si­ties. The best online rank­ing is based on fac­tors includ­ing tuition rate, stu­dent reviews, and salary potential.

1. Michigan Tech

With both a BA and a BS option, Michi­gan Tech offers two of the best online Physics degrees in the US. These pro­grams offer flex­i­bil­i­ty, and not just with the online for­mat. The online BS in physics path­way pro­vides a more tra­di­tion­al approach. 

The BA path­way lets stu­dents choose their own physics-relat­ed career path with­out nec­es­sar­i­ly becom­ing sci­en­tists. Either way, the online bachelor’s degree physics pro­gram is chal­leng­ing and excit­ing, and it gives stu­dents the oppor­tu­ni­ty to get involved in research.

Michi­gan Tech has always thrived in busi­ness, tech­nol­o­gy, and sci­ence, which makes it a prime choice for stu­dents who want to study physics. This school bal­ances raw intel­li­gence with intense curios­i­ty, blend­ing them togeth­er to cre­ate a more just and acces­si­ble world. In fact, com­mu­ni­ty improve­ment is at the heart of Michi­gan Tech. Stu­dents here sharp­en their skills so that they can think out­side the box and make the world bet­ter for everyone.

What We Like: Many Michi­gan Tech Physics stu­dents have been recruit­ed to nation­al laboratories.

Pro­gram: Hybrid Physics—BA, BS

2. Arizona State University

Ari­zona State University’s online BA in Physics is one of the best online Physics pro­grams for stu­dents who want to go into teach­ing. It also makes a good choice for those who want to learn about sci­ence with­out sac­ri­fic­ing lib­er­al arts oppor­tu­ni­ties in the process. 

This pro­gram starts with a lib­er­al arts foun­da­tion, but that foun­da­tion is root­ed in sci­ence. From there, stu­dents learn about mat­ter, ener­gy, and oth­er impor­tant physics con­cepts, and they learn how to apply those con­cepts to their career paths.

Ari­zona State is known for its research and inno­va­tion. ASU con­tin­ues to expand its research bud­get, mak­ing new dis­cov­er­ies that have a pos­i­tive impact all over the globe. As a result, a lot of sci­ence-focused stu­dents count ASU as their first choice of col­lege. ASU’s inter­dis­ci­pli­nary approach also appeals to many stu­dents. This school rec­og­nizes how the sci­ences relate to one anoth­er, and it takes advan­tage of those inter­re­la­tions to help stu­dents make the most of their studies.

What We Like: ASU is ranked #1 in the US for innovation.

Pro­gram: Online Bach­e­lor of Arts in Physics

3. Texas State University

Texas State Uni­ver­si­ty offers a hybrid Physics degree pro­gram. Whether they pur­sue a BA or BS, stu­dents can take up to half of their cours­es online. 

These online physics degree pro­grams rank among the best online Physics degrees for those who want to blend their time online and on cam­pus. In many ways, these pro­grams com­bine the best of both worlds. Both pro­gram options include core cours­es and spe­cial­ized physics electives.

Texas State Uni­ver­si­ty is a well-estab­lished research school that thrives in the sci­ences. It has strong online pro­grams, so stu­dents can get an excel­lent edu­ca­tion whether they learn online or in the phys­i­cal class­room. The degree pro­grams here pro­vide a strong lib­er­al arts foun­da­tion and help stu­dents prac­ti­cal­ly pre­pare for their careers.

What We Like: TSU has been named one of the “Best Col­leges” by the Prince­ton Review.

Pro­gram: HYBRID — up to 50% online w/ either BA or BS

4. Western Governors University

West­ern Gov­er­nors Uni­ver­si­ty offers an online BS in Sci­ence Edu­ca­tion. Though it doesn’t focus on physics alone, it does have a lot of sim­i­lar­i­ties with some of the best online Physics degrees. 

For one thing, it offers the kind of flex­i­bil­i­ty that online stu­dents need. More impor­tant­ly, this pro­gram teach­es impor­tant physics con­cepts to future sci­ence teach­ers. In addi­tion to physics cours­es and oth­er sci­ence class­es, this pro­gram also cov­ers skills for teach­ing sec­ondary education.

WGU is an exclu­sive­ly online uni­ver­si­ty. Online stu­dents don’t need to fear miss­ing out on in-class­room prep because all of their fel­low stu­dents are also tak­ing online class­es. WGU boasts flex­i­bil­i­ty and affordability. 

Most impor­tant­ly, WGU is ded­i­cat­ed to remov­ing edu­ca­tion­al bar­ri­ers. Whether stu­dents strug­gle with time, dis­tance, or school afford­abil­i­ty, WGU helps them over­come the obsta­cles that often come with a col­lege education.

What We Like: The Nation­al Coun­cil on Teacher Qual­i­ty ranked WGU in the top 1% of sec­ondary teacher prep pro­grams in 2023.

Pro­gram: BS in Sci­ence Education

5. Liberty University

Lib­er­ty Uni­ver­si­ty offers its BS in Physics 100% online. This pro­gram is one of the best online Physics degrees for stu­dents who need a lot of flex­i­bil­i­ty but still want to chal­lenge them­selves academically. 

Stu­dents in this pro­gram learn var­i­ous sub­jects, includ­ing math, elec­tric­i­ty, mechan­ics, and more. Though the pro­gram is online, it coach­es stu­dents through a hands-on approach to learn­ing, so stu­dents get the best of all edu­ca­tion­al options.

Lib­er­ty Uni­ver­si­ty is one of the most well-known Chris­t­ian uni­ver­si­ties in the Unit­ed States. For many stu­dents, Lib­er­ty offers the per­fect com­bi­na­tion of faith and aca­d­e­mics. Stu­dents learn human­i­ties along­side nat­ur­al sciences. 

In Liberty’s class­es, stu­dents learn how to reach their fullest poten­tial, whether they learn online or in the class­room. Liberty’s online pro­grams are designed to pro­vide a Chris­t­ian com­mu­ni­ty while still offer­ing much-need­ed flexibility.

What We Like: Lib­er­ty Uni­ver­si­ty is one of the top mil­i­tary-friend­ly uni­ver­si­ties in the US.

Pro­gram: BS in Physics

Why Should I Get My Physics Degree Online?

If a per­son is a return­ing stu­dent, an online degree in physics may be ben­e­fi­cial because the per­son won’t have to attend class­es with peo­ple who are much younger than him or her. He or she won’t have to earn a degree among peo­ple who have dif­fer­ent inter­ests and pri­or­i­ties either when a per­son choos­es an online degree in physics.

Stu­dents don’t have to sit in traf­fic or have a com­mute time to get their physics degrees online. There­fore, a physics bach­e­lor’s degree online can save a per­son time. If you have a degree from a com­mu­ni­ty col­lege, a four-year degree may only take two years.

Addi­tion­al­ly, online physics degrees are often less expen­sive than if a per­son would attend a physics degree in a stan­dard on-cam­pus degree pro­gram. Online physics degrees don’t require a per­son to have to pay cer­tain fees, such as with main­te­nance of the school since a per­son is work­ing in his or her home. This is also more com­fort­able for many people.

Are There a Lot of Jobs for a Physics Major?

Before a per­son decides to earn an online degree in physics, a per­son should know which jobs for physics majors are avail­able. For exam­ple, one of the jobs for a physics major is a physi­cist. This is a per­son who research­es physics. A per­son can find jobs in dif­fer­ent fields as a physicist.

• So what are your career opportunities?
• Were you study­ing quan­tum mechan­ics in high school? 
• Like learn­ing about ther­mo­dy­nam­ics or astro­physics for fun? 
• Fool­ing around with dif­fer­en­tial equations? 

You’re on track to become a physicist.

When con­sid­er­ing the poten­tial jobs for physics majors, you should look into engi­neer­ing. Cer­tain types of engi­neer­ing may allow a per­son to enter, as options for jobs for physics majors. Great prob­lem-solv­ing skills are a must. A per­son may find posi­tions in cosmology.

Health­care is anoth­er indus­try a per­son may want to con­sid­er when look­ing into jobs for a physics major. In this par­tic­u­lar field, a per­son will notice that some aspects over­lap. Par­tic­u­lar­ly, when a per­son is in search of jobs for a physics major in health, a per­son should look into bio­med­ical engi­neer­ing. In this par­tic­u­lar field, jobs with a physics major allow a per­son to work along­side other

If you love young peo­ple, you may con­sid­er becom­ing a physics teacher. High school teach­ers don’t make much, but col­lege physics fac­ul­ty mem­bers teach­ing grad­u­ate school can be well-paid.

If a per­son wants to find jobs with a physics major, it’s pos­si­ble to find jobs in the ener­gy field. Peo­ple who want to find jobs with a physics major also include jobs in astron­o­my. Physics majors are also nec­es­sary for geo­physics, mete­o­rol­o­gy, and technology.

For­tu­nate­ly, most of these posi­tions offer a per­son the oppor­tu­ni­ty to earn a decent salary. The Bureau of Labor Sta­tis­tics says physi­cists and astronomers make $139,220 annually.

What If I Already Have a Degree?

A per­son who already has a degree in physics has the option to con­tin­ue to progress aca­d­e­m­i­cal­ly. He or she may earn a master’s degree or a doc­tor­ate and even choose to spe­cial­ize in cer­tain areas of physics at that point.

How­ev­er, if a per­son already has one of these degrees, there’s always the option of a grad­u­ate cer­tifi­cate in physics. These cer­tifi­cate pro­grams allow a per­son to spe­cial­ize in a spe­cif­ic area of physics. It could open an oppor­tu­ni­ty that wasn’t pre­vi­ous­ly avail­able to the per­son. A grad­u­ate cer­tifi­cate in physics can allow a per­son to earn more mon­ey than if he or she didn’t have a post­grad­u­ate cer­tifi­cate in physics.

A per­son should also take into con­sid­er­a­tion that he or she is more able to obtain a posi­tion if he or she has a post-grad­u­ate cer­tifi­cate in physics than some­one who doesn’t have a par­tic­u­lar cre­den­tial. It can even open the doors to posi­tions a per­son wouldn’t have been able to obtain with­out a certificate.

One exam­ple of a cer­tifi­cate pro­gram a per­son can com­plete is a grad­u­ate cer­ti­fi­ca­tion in applied physics. Besides a grad­u­ate cer­tifi­cate in applied physics, a per­son may want to con­sid­er a cer­tifi­cate in quan­tum elec­tron­ics or laser physics and appli­ca­tions, among var­i­ous oth­ers. Be sure the cer­tifi­cate comes from a school with accred­i­ta­tion, though.

For peo­ple who want to spe­cial­ize in a par­tic­u­lar area of physics but haven’t done so pre­vi­ous­ly, a cer­tifi­cate is a pos­si­bil­i­ty to do so. It’s also a way to spe­cial­ize in oth­er areas of physics besides the one he or she already has a spe­cial­iza­tion in.

You can also con­sid­er free online cours­es. Many mod­ern physics schools offer cours­es in areas like:

• Elec­tric­i­ty and Mag­net­ism (elec­tro­mag­net­ism)
• Pho­ton­ics
• Clas­si­cal Mechanics
• Mechan­i­cal Engineering
• Nuclear Physics
• Quan­tum Physics
• Phys­i­cal Science
• Sta­tis­ti­cal Mechanics

You may even take grad­u­ate-lev­el cours­es online. Some will offer cred­it hours that count toward a bach­e­lor of sci­ence, but free learn­ing with­out need­ing finan­cial aid is a win.

Relat­ed Rankings:

• 25 Best Bach­e­lor’s in Physics
• 25 Best Online Accel­er­at­ed Com­bined Physics BS/MS
• 10 Most Afford­able Bach­e­lor’s in Physics