Top 20 Engineering Schools in America in 2015

Top 20 engineering schools in America in 2015 is a list which shouldn’t surprise anyone – if we’re talking college education like here, on our list of the 20 best engineering colleges in America. College or not, it still is a school, and things do tend to change year in, year out. Since plenty of time has already passed between 2013 and now, it’s high time to take another crack at the list of best American engineering schools.

Whether it offers the highest possible level of education which is a doctorate, or lower levels like master’s and bachelor degrees – doesn’t really matter. Every program will be taken into consideration. After all, most of the engineering schools in America do offer all possible educational levels, and precious few students decide to go all the way. We won’t fail to mention if a respective school doesn’t offer any of these levels of education, however.

U.S. News & World Report have recently released their 2015 report on best US engineering schools. In this report, they have exclusively considered graduate programs and the list will remain in place throughout most of 2016, until the fall and new school year. No matter the number of engineering degrees, our list will aim to give you an overall level of how a particular school stands. This means that all offered engineering majors are being taken into account. Furthermore, commissioning the list of top 20 engineering schools in America in 2015 would have been inaccurate (to say the least), if only one source was considered. That’s why we have resorted to a comparison of aforementioned U.S. News & World Report rankings and Startclass report. Evaluation methodology between the two might differ, but the scoring methodology is the same in both cases which makes things a little bit easier for us. After all the criteria have been taken into account (acceptance rate, mean GRE quantitative scores, research activity and quality, faculty resources and quality, etc.), both sources have decided to standardize the overall scores. Top tier schools have been awarded a score of 100 while their followers have received the percentage of the top score. We have gone with the mean position from both sources in the hope that this type of ranking offers the most accurate school ratings. In the case of a draw, we have decided to give the advantage to a school with higher standings on U.S. News & World Report’s list (as a more reputable source).

20. Johns Hopkins University – Baltimore, Maryland

Tuition fee per year: $47,060

We’re starting with the Johns Hopkins University and its Whiting School of Engineering. This sector of the Johns Hopkins University offers 14 departments and 12 areas of study; including Civil Engineering, Biomedical Engineering and Mathematics for departments, and Aerospace Engineering, Biomechanics and Robotics for areas of study. Its Bioengineering area of study that is a part of the Biomedical Engineering department is ranked first overall by U.S. News & World Report.

19. University of Pennsylvania – Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Tuition fee per year: $29,890

Students at  University of Pennsylvania’s Graduate School of Engineering and Applied Science (SEAS) have a plethora of options in both graduate and doctoral studies. Former level of education offers 16 different master studies, while latter boasts six different areas. Atop of that, SEAS has six research labs and more than 10 research centers and institutes.

18. University of Wisconsin – Madison, Wisconsin

Tuition fee per year: $11,864 in-state students, $25,190 out-of-state students

Ranked number 3 in nuclear engineering by U.S. News & World Report, Madison College of Engineering offers plenty of other options for future engineers. It boasts no less than 45 research centers and institutes which speaks for itself. On academic’s side, Madison College of Engineering offers a number of both master’s degrees and doctorates to choose from.

17. Princeton University – Princeton, New Jersey

Tuition fee per year: $41,820

Princeton University School of Engineering and Applied Science features everything from Chemical and Biological Engineering to Financial Engineering. Furthermore, Princeton follows the current trends and focuses on society’s needs. That way, offered engineering programs are in-tune with market’s supply and demand.

16. Northwestern University – Evanston, Illinois

Tuition fee per year: $14,545 in-state students, $26,754 out-of-state students

Robert R. McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Science at Northwestern University emphasizes its focus on a number of fields, including Biotechnology, Information Technology and Nanotechnology. Research is conducted in more than 25 research institutes and centers throughout the college campus. There are as much as fifteen full and four part-time master’s engineering programs at the Northwestern across eight departments.

15. Texas A&M University – College Station, Texas

Tuition fee per year: NA – $227 per credit in-state students, $581 per credit out-of-state students

The Texas A&M Dwight Look College of Engineering is ranked number 2 and 3 respectively in Biological/Agricultural and Nuclear Engineering (tie with University of Wisconsin – Madison) by the U.S. News & World Report. Apart from these programs, Dwight Look College of Engineering exhibits plenty of other disciplines including Computer Engineering, Health Physics and Safety Engineering.

14. Purdue University – West Lafayette, Indiana

Tuition fee per year: $10,322 in-state students, $29,134 out-of-state students

The College of Engineering at Indiana’s Purdue University offers more than 600 research and study areas for its students to select from. The most notable program is Biological/Agricultural Engineering, which ranks first overall by U.S. News & World Report’s ratings. Purdue University boasts a number of multidisciplinary research programs such as Global Sustainable Industrial Systems, and Tissue and Cellular Engineering.

13. California Institute of Technology – Pasadena, California

Tuition fee per year: $41,790

Number 13 engineering school on our list of top 20 engineering schools in America in 2015 belongs to The Division of Engineering and Applied Science at California Institute of Technology. Most notable Caltech engineering programs include Aerospace/Aeronautical/Astronautical Engineering, Chemical Engineering, and Mechanical Engineering, which rate second, third and again third respectively according to U.S. News & World Report.

12. University of California – Los Angeles, California

Tuition fee per year: $12,571 in-state students, $27,673 out-of-state students

The Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science at the University of California in Los Angeles boasts 10 research centers and institutes, and a similar number of available areas of expertise; including Materials Science, Computer and Mechanical Engineering.

11. Cornell University – Ithaca, New York

Tuition fee per year: $29,500

Cornell College of Engineering has no less than 15 different master’s degrees and a corresponding number of doctoral degrees. Around 1,400 graduate students can practice their skills in more than 30 centers and institutes across the campus with Biological/Agricultural Engineering ranking highest (number 6) according to U.S. News & World Report.

10. Columbia University – New York, New York

Tuition fee per year: $41,040

Columbia University’s Fu Foundation School of Engineering and Applied Science offers around 10 different departments. Biomedical, Environmental, and Electrical Engineering are only some of the available programs that are accessed through campus’ 20 research centers.

9. University of Southern California – Los Angeles, California

Tuition fee per year: $32,747

Viterbi School of Engineering is known for its 50 or so master’s programs and 10 doctoral programs. Among the most notable programs, students can enroll at Mechanical Engineering, Aerospace/Aeronautical/Astronautical Engineering, Chemical Engineering, Environmental Health Engineering and many more.

8. Carnegie Mellon University – Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Tuition fee per year: $41,000

The Carnegie Institute of Technology at Carnegie Mellon University doesn’t only offer a wide range of master’s and Ph.D. programs, but also 10 interdisciplinary majors. It also has more than 30 research centers, and according to U.S. News & World Report, Carnegie Mellon University’s best-ranked program is Computer Engineering at number 4 spot.

7. University of Texas – Austin, Texas

Tuition fee per year: $9,564 in-state students, $17,506 out-of-state students

The Cockrell School of Engineering at University of Texas at Austin takes the 7th spot on our list of top 20 engineering schools in America in 2015. There are more than 10 master’s programs to enroll to at The Cockrell School of Engineering. Needless to say, most of them offer doctoral programs as well. If U.S. News & World Report is to be trusted (and it should be), University of Texas at Austin boasts number 3 spot in Civil Engineering.

6. University of Michigan – Ann Arbor, Michigan

Tuition fee per year: $22,868 in-state students, $43,024 out-of-state students

The College of Engineering at University of Michigan in Ann Arbor ranks number 1 overall in Nuclear Engineering. Apart from that, it ranks number 2 in Industrial/Manufacturing/Systems Engineering and number 4 in couple more fields of engineering. Needless to say, most of other fields are inside the top 10 as well.

5. University of Illinois – Urbana, Illinois

Tuition fee per year: $17,126 in-state students, $30,848 out-of-state students

The College of Engineering at Urbana – Champaign boasts more than 50 research facilities. Urbana rates highest in Civil Engineering at number 2 spot, and in Environmental/Environmental Health Engineering at number 3 spot. It also has a number of prominent programs inside the top ten according to U.S. News & World Report.

4. Georgia Institute of Technology – Atlanta, Georgia

Tuition fee per year: $12,344 in-state students, $27,600 out-of-state students

The College of Engineering at Georgia Institute of Technology is one of the best in the country, with around 20 available specializations. It ranks number 1 overall in Industrial/Manufacturing/Systems Engineering and number 2 in Biomedical Engineering/Bioengineering. Almost 80 percent of students enrolled are males, but that’s usually the case with engineering schools anyway.

3. University of California – Berkeley, California

Tuition fee per year: $11,220 in-state students, $26,322 out-of-state students

UC-Berkeley College of Engineering has around 40 research centers and institutes at students’ disposal. Berkeley’s engineering students and programs rate number one in no less than three fields: Environmental/Environmental Health Engineering, Civil Engineering, and Computer Engineering. Berkeley also rates number 2 in Chemical Engineering and number 3 in Industrial/Manufacturing/Systems Engineering.

2. Stanford University – Stanford, California

Tuition fee per year: $47,073

As, unarguably, one of the top 2 engineering schools in the country, School of Engineering at Stanford University, rates number 1 in Computer Engineering (tie with Berkeley) and in Electrical/Electronic/Communications Engineering, while at the same time, taking second spots in Aerospace/Aeronautical/Astronautical Engineering (tie with California Institute of Technology), and Environmental/Environmental Health Engineering. Together with these, Stanford offers around 10 areas of expertise that are being studied in as many as 65 research facilities.

1. Massachusetts Institute of Technology – Cambridge, Massachusetts

Tuition fee per year: $44,720

We are concluding this list of Top 20 engineering schools in America in 2015 with The School of Engineering at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, of course. MIT students have around 20 research centers at their disposal, and almost half of MIT students are enrolled in engineering. According to U.S. News & World Report, MIT rates number one in Aerospace/Aeronautical/Astronautical Engineering, Chemical Engineering, Materials Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Electrical/Electronic/Communications Engineering (tie with Stanford) and Computer Engineering (ties with Stanford and Berkeley). All these laurels speak for themselves, and volumes about the MIT, for that matter.