An umbrella science bachelor’s spanning physical and biological disciplines

Natural Sciences (CIP 30.1801) is the interdisciplinary umbrella code combining physical and biological sciences without specifying a single discipline. The CIP definition reads simply as a program with a combined or undifferentiated focus on one or more of the physical and biological sciences. Programs grouped here include integrated-science degrees at liberal-arts colleges, broad-science transfer associate’s tracks at community colleges, science-and-secondary-education preparation programs, and undergraduate-research-focused majors that explicitly cross disciplinary boundaries. Coursework typically spans biology, chemistry, physics, mathematics, and earth or environmental science with capstone or integrative components tying disciplines together.

The major fits students drawn to science broadly but unsure which specific discipline to commit to, transfer-track community-college students laying a science foundation before declaring at a four-year institution, future K-12 science teachers needing breadth across disciplines, and students at small liberal-arts colleges where the integrated-science model genuinely is the offering. It rewards mathematical comfort, willingness to grapple with multiple lab disciplines simultaneously, and the kind of synthesizing curiosity that finds connections across biology, chemistry, and physics.

One grounded observation about how this CIP works in practice: 1,708 students complete it across 126 institutions, with bachelor’s grads earning $51,858 and associate’s grads $53,342 — a small inversion that becomes clear when you look at producers. San Jacinto Community College alone produces 504 associate’s completions (about 30% of the national total) through its broad-science transfer track to Texas four-year universities. The bachelor’s side is much more distributed and includes traditional liberal-arts integrated-science programs at Daemen (98), Kansas State (51), and Harvard (46). The packet’s tracked SOC codes — Postsecondary teachers, all other ($78,490, doctoral); Natural sciences managers ($161,180, mid-career); Physical scientists, all other ($117,960); Life scientists, all other ($87,800) — are mostly residual catch-alls, which means the labor-market signal is noisier than for discipline-specific majors. Realistic bachelor’s entry destinations cluster around lab-technician roles, science teaching with certification, environmental consulting, and pre-health or pre-graduate-school applicants.