Post job

Classifier education requirements

Updated January 8, 2025
4 min read

There are several educational requirements to become a classifier. Classifiers usually study business, chemical engineering, or electrical engineering. 63% of classifiers hold a bachelor's degree, and 15% hold an associate degree. We analyzed 216 real classifier resumes to see exactly what classifier education sections show.

The most common colleges for classifiers are the Bridgewater College and the Bridgewater College.

There are also many online classifier courses to help get the education required to be a classifier.

What education do you need to become a classifier?

What degree do you need to be a classifier?

The most common degree for classifiers is bachelor's degree, with 63% of classifiers earning that degree. The second and third most common degree levels are associate degree degree at 15% and associate degree degree at 11%.
  • Bachelor's, 63%
  • Associate, 15%
  • High School Diploma, 11%
  • Master's, 6%
  • Other Degrees, 5%

What should I major in to become a classifier?

You should major in business to become a classifier. 12% of classifiers major in business. Other common majors for a classifier include chemical engineering and electrical engineering.

Most common colleges for classifiers

Classifiers often get their degrees at Bridgewater College, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, and James Madison University. Here are the most common colleges for classifiers in the US based on their resumes.
Classifier common collegePercentages
Bridgewater College13.95%
Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University13.95%
James Madison University13.95%
University of Virginia9.30%
ECPI University4.65%

Best majors for classifiers

Best colleges for classifiers

The best colleges for classifiers are Stanford University, Northwestern University, and University of Pennsylvania.

A classifier with advanced education typically earns a higher salary and has access to better jobs. That's why Zippia looked into the best colleges for classifiers. We based this list on several metrics: admissions rate, retention rate, mean earnings of graduates, the ratio of working vs. non-working students ten years after admission, the average cost of attendance, and median debt for graduates who become classifiers.

1. Stanford University

Stanford, CA • Private

In-state tuition

$51,354

Enrollment

7,083

2. University of Pennsylvania

Philadelphia, PA • Private

In-state tuition

$55,584

Enrollment

10,764

3. Northwestern University

Evanston, IL • Private

In-state tuition

$54,568

Enrollment

8,451

4. University of Southern California

Los Angeles, CA • Private

In-state tuition

$56,225

Enrollment

19,548

5. California State University - Bakersfield

Bakersfield, CA • Private

In-state tuition

$7,309

Enrollment

9,142

6. SUNY at Binghamton

Vestal, NY • Private

In-state tuition

$9,808

Enrollment

13,990

7. San Diego State University

San Diego, CA • Private

In-state tuition

$7,488

Enrollment

30,018

8. Boston University

Boston, MA • Private

In-state tuition

$53,948

Enrollment

17,238

9. New York University

New York, NY • Private

In-state tuition

$51,828

Enrollment

26,339

10. Worcester Polytechnic Institute

Worcester, MA • Private

In-state tuition

$50,530

Enrollment

4,571

20 best online courses for classifiers

Advertising disclosure

1. Support Vector Machine Classification in Python

coursera

In this 1-hour long guided project-based course, you will learn how to use Python to implement a Support Vector Machine algorithm for classification. This type of algorithm classifies output data and makes predictions. The output of this model is a set of visualized scattered plots separated with a straight line. You will learn the fundamental theory and practical illustrations behind Support Vector Machines and learn to fit, examine, and utilize supervised Classification models using SVM to...

2. Supervised Machine Learning: Classification

coursera

This course introduces you to one of the main types of modeling families of supervised Machine Learning: Classification. You will learn how to train predictive models to classify categorical outcomes and how to use error metrics to compare across different models. The hands-on section of this course focuses on using best practices for classification, including train and test splits, and handling data sets with unbalanced classes. By the end of this course you should be able to: -Differentiate...

3. Patents & Trademarks: Learn the Patent and Trademark Process

udemy
4.6
(717)

2 courses in 1. Learn the process for patenting your idea, invention and how to trademark you brand...

4. Certificate course in Intellectual Property Rights (IPR)

udemy
4.4
(260)

This course has been designed by experts to cover the basics of IPR and understand Patents, Trademarks and Copyright...

5. Intellectual Property Law

coursera

Intellectual property is the currency of the tech world. The pharmaceutical patent for Lipitor generated over $100 billion in revenue, the copyright for the Harry Potter franchise has generated over $25 billion to date, and the trademarked brands of the world’s largest tech companies now eclipse $100 billion in value. But what makes these intangible assets so valuable?\n\nThrough the courses in this specialization, you will learn the differences between the various forms of U.S. intellectual...

6. Classification and valuation - What you must know!

coursera

This is the second course in Tax Academy's Customs Certification. This certification would provide you with relevant skills to apply Customs knowledge in less than two months. In this course, you will build upon your knowledge on legal principles of classification and valuation of goods. Once you are able to correctly classify and declare the value of goods, you will be able to take accurate decisions about Customs duty payment and ascertain other compliance requirements. Correct classification...

7. Do-It-Yourself Patent Searching Using Free Web Resources

udemy
4.8
(278)

Is what you invent patentable? Use free websites to thoroughly search patents. For the novice inventor and entrepreneur...

8. Intellectual Property Security Awareness

udemy
4.8
(651)

How to Use Social Media without Infringing on Trademarks, Copyrights, Trade Secrets and Patents...

9. Scikit-Learn For Machine Learning Classification Problems

coursera

Hello everyone and welcome to this new hands-on project on Scikit-Learn Library for solving machine learning classification problems. In this project, we will learn how to build and train classifier models using Scikit-Learn library. Scikit-learn is a free machine learning library developed for python. Scikit-learn offers several algorithms for classification, regression, and clustering. Several famous machine learning models are included such as support vector machines, random forests,...

10. Regression and Classification

coursera

Introduction to Statistical Learning will explore concepts in statistical modeling, such as when to use certain models, how to tune those models, and if other options will provide certain trade-offs. We will cover Regression, Classification, Trees, Resampling, Unsupervised techniques, and much more! This course can be taken for academic credit as part of CU Boulder’s Master of Science in Data Science (MS-DS) degree offered on the Coursera platform. The MS-DS is an interdisciplinary degree that...

11. Operating Systems Final Part (4): File Systems & Threads

udemy
4.6
(518)

Learn the concepts of Operating Systems from scratch as Operating System forms the core of Computer Science...

12. Machine Learning Classification Bootcamp in Python

udemy
4.5
(934)

Build 10 Practical Projects and Advance Your Skills in Machine Learning Using Python and Scikit Learn...

13. Introduction to Intellectual Property

coursera

Intellectual property is the currency of the tech world, with the world’s most valuable intellectual property assets dwarfing the value of their real-world counterparts. Apple’ trademarked brand was valued at over $100 billion as of 2017. J.K. Rowling’s Harry potter franchise has generated over $25 billion to date. But how did the law come to create such enormous value in intangible assets? This course will introduce the various types of U.S. intellectual property: patents, which cover...

14. Handling Imbalanced Data Classification Problems

coursera

In this 2-hour long project-based course on handling imbalanced data classification problems, you will learn to understand the business problem related we are trying to solve and and understand the dataset. You will also learn how to select best evaluation metric for imbalanced datasets and data resampling techniques like undersampling, oversampling and SMOTE before we use them for model building process. At the end of the course you will understand and learn how to implement ROC curve and...

15. Machine Learning for Data Analysis: Classification Modeling

udemy
4.7
(439)

Machine Learning made simple with Excel! Classification for advanced data analysis & business intelligence (no coding!)...

16. Operating Systems from scratch - Part 2

udemy
4.7
(1,078)

Learn memory management in operating systems as operating system forms the core of computer science...

17. Intellectual Property in the Healthcare Industry

coursera

This course begins with an overview of general intellectual property law in the United States, then examines how the policy choices behind those laws shapes the behavior of major players in the healthcare industry. We will examine how patents and trademarks shape the behavior of pharmaceutical companies, and how complex issues involving medical research in university settings, and ownership of genetic information and material, are resolved by intellectual property laws. The course concludes...

18. Language Classification with Naive Bayes in Python

coursera

In this 1-hour long project, you will learn how to clean and preprocess data for language classification. You will learn some theory behind Naive Bayes Modeling, and the impact that class imbalance of training data has on classification performance. You will learn how to use subword units to further mitigate the negative effects of class imbalance, and build an even better model...

19. Operating Systems Part 3: Synchronization and Deadlock

udemy
4.4
(684)

Learn the concepts of Operating Systems from scratch as Operating System forms the core of Computer Science...

20. Image Classification with Amazon Sagemaker

coursera

Please note: You will need an AWS account to complete this course. Your AWS account will be charged as per your usage. Please make sure that you are able to access Sagemaker within your AWS account. If your AWS account is new, you may need to ask AWS support for access to certain resources. You should be familiar with python programming, and AWS before starting this hands on project. We use a Sagemaker P type instance in this project, and if you don't have access to this instance type, please...

Top 10 most affordable universities for classifiers

The most affordable schools for classifiers are California State University - Bakersfield, suny farmingdale, and brooklyn college of the city university of new york.

If the best universities for classifiers are out of your price range, check out these affordable schools. After factoring in in-state tuition and fees, the average cost of attendance, admissions rate, average net price, and mean earnings after six years, we found that these are the most affordable schools for classifiers.

1. California State University - Bakersfield

Bakersfield, CA • Private

In-state tuition

$7,309

Cost of attendance

16,714

2. SUNY Farmingdale

Farmingdale, NY • Private

In-state tuition

$8,306

Cost of attendance

16,091

3. Brooklyn College of the City University of New York

Brooklyn, NY • Private

In-state tuition

$7,240

Cost of attendance

13,991

4. California State University - Dominguez Hills

Carson, CA • Private

In-state tuition

$6,942

Cost of attendance

14,469

5. Brigham Young University

Provo, UT • Private

In-state tuition

$5,620

Cost of attendance

18,136

6. California State University - Long Beach

Long Beach, CA • Private

In-state tuition

$6,798

Cost of attendance

18,306

7. University of Puerto Rico - Mayaguez

Mayaguez, PR • Private

In-state tuition

$4,094

Cost of attendance

14,302

8. California State University - Los Angeles

Los Angeles, CA • Private

In-state tuition

$6,749

Cost of attendance

14,823

9. New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology

Socorro, NM • Private

In-state tuition

$7,770

Cost of attendance

21,244

10. Baruch College of the City University of New York

New York, NY • Private

In-state tuition

$7,262

Cost of attendance

14,046

Top 10 hardest universities to get into for classifiers

The hardest universities for classifiers to get into are Stanford University, Northwestern University, and University of Pennsylvania.

Some great schools for classifiers are hard to get into, but they also set your career up for greater success. The list below shows the most challenging universities to get into for classifiers based on an institution's admissions rates, average SAT scores accepted, median ACT scores accepted, and mean earnings of students six years after admission.

1. Stanford University

Stanford, CA • Private

Admissions rate

4%

SAT average

1,497

2. Northwestern University

Evanston, IL • Private

Admissions rate

8%

SAT average

1,508

3. University of Pennsylvania

Philadelphia, PA • Private

Admissions rate

8%

SAT average

1,492

4. University of Southern California

Los Angeles, CA • Private

Admissions rate

13%

SAT average

1,445

5. Boston University

Boston, MA • Private

Admissions rate

22%

SAT average

1,420

6. New York University

New York, NY • Private

Admissions rate

20%

SAT average

1,419

7. Vanderbilt University

Nashville, TN • Private

Admissions rate

10%

SAT average

1,514

8. Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute

Troy, NY • Private

Admissions rate

43%

SAT average

1,415

9. George Washington University, The

Washington, DC • Private

Admissions rate

42%

SAT average

1,380

10. University of Rochester

Rochester, NY • Private

Admissions rate

29%

SAT average

1,422

Top 10 easy-to-apply-to universities for classifiers

The easiest schools for classifiers to get into are Oklahoma Wesleyan University, barry university, and nyack college.

Some schools are much easier to get into. If you want to start your career as a classifier without much hassle, check out the list of schools where you will be accepted in no time. We compiled admissions rates, average SAT scores, average ACT scores, and average salary of students six years after graduation to uncover which were the easiest schools to get into for classifiers.

1. Oklahoma Wesleyan University

Bartlesville, OK • Private

Admissions rate

68%

SAT average

964

2. Barry University

Miami, FL • Private

Admissions rate

91%

SAT average

1,006

3. Nyack College

New York, NY • Private

Admissions rate

98%

SAT average

999

4. La Roche College

Pittsburgh, PA • Private

Admissions rate

99%

SAT average

1,008

5. LIM College

New York, NY • Private

Admissions rate

83%

SAT average

1,061

6. Notre Dame College

Cleveland, OH • Private

Admissions rate

90%

SAT average

994

7. Saint Martin's University

Lacey, WA • Private

Admissions rate

96%

SAT average

1,111

8. Cardinal Stritch University

Milwaukee, WI • Private

Admissions rate

71%

SAT average

1,035

9. Iona College

New Rochelle, NY • Private

Admissions rate

88%

SAT average

1,089

10. Holy Names University

Oakland, CA • Private

Admissions rate

70%

SAT average

849

Average classifier salary by education level

According to our data, classifiers with a Doctorate degree earn the highest average salary, at $47,574 annually. Classifiers with a Master's degree earn an average annual salary of $42,732.
Classifier education levelClassifier salary
Master's Degree$42,732
Bachelor's Degree$33,232
Doctorate Degree$47,574

Classifier education FAQs

Search for classifier jobs

Updated January 8, 2025

Zippia Research Team
Zippia Team

Editorial Staff

The Zippia Research Team has spent countless hours reviewing resumes, job postings, and government data to determine what goes into getting a job in each phase of life. Professional writers and data scientists comprise the Zippia Research Team.

Browse education, training, and library jobs