Biology & life sciences

Zoology/Animal Biology

Carleton College · Northfield, MN

Medium evidenceMatched peers12 institutions · related subjectsSee the evidence

The degree in numbers

Cost & earnings.

Annual tuition$65,457Institution-level tuition; programme fees may differ · before aid
Grouped debt estimate$21,372Related subjects at 12 matched peer institutions · bachelor's

Earnings context

One career stage.
A clearer comparison.

USD · Bachelor's · 2 years after completion
Same source release. National references exclude this degree.

Selected degree estimate$30,087
Same subject · national$24,035
Biology & life sciences · national$28,598

Behind the number

Your comparison group.

Medium evidence

Related subjects at 12 matched peer institutions · bachelor's

Grouped estimate. Middle half of comparison values: $27,847–$31,986.

Historical earnings archive. College Scorecard legacy FOS archive (file dated 2022-01-19; cohorts vary). Do not interpret this as today's graduate salary. Further study and career changes are not modelled by this early-career figure.

Bachelor's outcomes · 2 years after completion
Institution & subjectReported earnings
Macalester CollegeBiology, General$27,222
College of the Holy CrossBiology, General$38,289
Smith CollegeBiology, General, Neurobiology and Neurosciences$30,188
University of RichmondBiochemistry, Biophysics and Molecular Biology, Biology, General$28,672
Colorado CollegeBiology, General$20,140
Wake Forest UniversityBiology, General$31,851
Vassar CollegeBiochemistry, Biophysics and Molecular Biology, Biology, General, Neurobiology and Neurosciences$32,391
Skidmore CollegeNeurobiology and Neurosciences$25,194
Villanova UniversityBiochemistry, Biophysics and Molecular Biology, Biology, General$30,173
Kenyon CollegeBiology, General$28,055
Wellesley CollegeBiology, General, Neurobiology and Neurosciences$35,068
Lafayette CollegeBiology, General, Neurobiology and Neurosciences$30,001
How matching & uncertainty work

We first look for the same subject code (or exact subject name), qualification, country, currency, source release and earnings horizon. Peer institutions are matched using admissions selectivity, completion rates, undergraduate size and institution type, with a small preference for the same region. These are institutional proxies, not a ranking of programme quality.

If subject-matched peers are sparse, we try related subjects at closely matched universities, related degrees at this university, then an explicitly labelled national reference. We never multiply a salary by a university prestige score.

Peer and national estimates give each reporting institution one vote, after taking the median of its related programmes. Shared branch-campus outcomes count once. The middle-half range describes variation between reporting institutions. It is not an individual salary range or a statistical confidence interval.

Evidence labels describe match quality and coverage, not validated prediction accuracy. Admissions and size are undergraduate institutional measures, so graduate-degree comparisons are especially approximate.

Historical cohort outcomes are not promised salaries or a causal effect of attending this programme. College Scorecard earnings cover eligible federal-aid recipients, not every graduate or international student. Source definitions ↗