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Most Popular Philosophy Schools in California

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2023 Most Popular Philosophy Schools in California

20 Colleges
$28,527 Avg Salary
$16,062 Avg Student Debt

Finding the Best Philosophy School for You

In 2020-2021, 138 degrees and certificates were awarded to philosophy students who went to a California college or university. This makes it the #117 most popular major in the state.

There are lots of options to pick from today when trying to decide which program is right for you. You can choose a traditional brick and mortar school, or with the growth of online education, you can attend a school half-way across the country without even leaving your house. Also there are many trade schools that offer short-term programs that open up more career options.

To assist you in seeing some of the education options that are available to you, Grad Degree Search has created its Most Popular Philosophy Schools in California ranking. Our analysis looked at 20 schools in California to see which programs were the most popular for students. To create this ranking we looked at how many students graduated from the Philosophy program at each school on the list.

The following schools top our list of the Most Popular Philosophy Colleges.

#1

San Francisco State University

San Francisco, CA

Our 2023 rankings named San Francisco State University the most popular school in California for philosophy students. SFSU is a very large public school located in the city of San Francisco.

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#2

Stanford University

Stanford, CA

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend Stanford University. It ranked #2 on our 2023 Most Popular Philosophy Schools in California list. Stanford is a large private not-for-profit school located in the large suburb of Stanford.

Read full report on Philosophy at Stanford University

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend University of California - Irvine. It ranked #3 on our 2023 Most Popular Philosophy Schools in California list. Located in the city of Irvine, UC Irvine is a public school with a very large student population.

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Out of the 20 schools in California that were part of this year’s ranking, Dominican School of Philosophy & Theology landed the # 4 spot on the list. The Domincan School Berkeley is a fairly small private not-for-profit school located in the midsize city of Berkeley.

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A rank of #5 on this year’s list means California State University - Los Angeles is a great place for philosophy students. Cal State LA is a very large public school located in the large city of Los Angeles.

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Out of the 20 schools in California that were part of this year’s ranking, University of California - Los Angeles landed the # 5 spot on the list. Located in the large city of Los Angeles, UCLA is a public school with a fairly large student population.

Full Philosophy at University of California - Los Angeles Report

#7

Biola University

La Mirada, CA

Biola University landed the #7 spot in the 2023 rankings for the most popular philosophy programs. Biola is a moderately-sized private not-for-profit school located in the large suburb of La Mirada.

Read full report on Philosophy at Biola University

#8

Loyola Marymount University

Los Angeles, CA

Loyola Marymount University ranked #8 on this year’s Most Popular Philosophy Schools in California list. Loyola Marymount is a fairly large private not-for-profit school located in the large city of Los Angeles.

Full Philosophy at Loyola Marymount University Report

University of California - Berkeley did quite well in this year’s ranking of the most popular schools for philosophy students. It came in at #8 on the list. Located in the city of Berkeley, UC Berkeley is a public college with a fairly large student population.

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University of California - Santa Barbara came in at #10 in this year’s edition of the Most Popular Philosophy Schools in California ranking. Located in the midsize suburb of Santa Barbara, UCSB is a public school with a very large student population.

Read full report on Philosophy at University of California - Santa Barbara

Best Philosophy Colleges in the Far Western US Region

Explore all the Most Popular Philosophy Schools in the Far Western US Area or other specific states within that region.

State Degrees Awarded
Washington 8
Oregon 9
Nevada 3
Hawaii 3

Philosophy is one of 3 different types of programs to choose from.

Majors Similar to Philosophy

Related Major Annual Graduates
Religious Studies 1,769
Other Philosophy & Religious Studies 106
General Philosophy & Religious Studies 41

Notes and References

*These averages are for the top 20 schools only.

  • 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.

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