Top 7 Ivy League Colleges for Engineering

Ivy League colleges are the epitome of academic excellence and social elitism, and here we’re writing about top 7 Ivy League colleges for engineering. Well, it’s not exactly a top list since there are no more than eight Ivy League members in total: Brown University, Columbia University, Cornell University, Dartmouth College, Harvard University, the University of Pennsylvania, Princeton University, and Yale University. It’s more about singling out that one with a slightly less prestigious engineering program. Not to say that it’s a bad program – only lacking some depth compared to other Ivy League colleges. And even that is by a whisker. Furthermore, enrolling at an Ivy League engineering program might put you at a disadvantage since Ivy League colleges never really exhibited a strong engineering tradition. You can take a look at this list of top 20 engineering schools in America in 2015, and see how some of Ivy League colleges (those that have made the list) compare to other top engineering programs across the country.

Our methodology for ranking these colleges comes from comparing other sources like U.S. News & World Report and Startclass. This means that the best college has been awarded overall score of 100 while all others have been ranked according to a percentage of the best school’s score. As for criteria taken into account when calculating these percentages, U.S. News & World Report factors quality assessment, student selectivity, faculty resources, and research activity – all of which are further divided into additional categories and weigh different percentages of the total score. Startclass, on the other hand, has a somewhat different scoring system but still accounts most of the subcategories as the aforementioned agency, including acceptance rates, enrollment, research expenditure, etc. We have taken both sources into consideration, then calculated the overall position and finally delivered top 7 Ivy League colleges for engineering.

7. Brown University

Brown University engineering program ranks dead last according to U.S. N&WR, but fares slightly better according to Startclass. Brown’s research expenditure of $21.3 million is almost at the bottom of Ivy League’s engineering research expenditures as well which also doesn’t go in school’s favor. However, this Providence, RI institution still attracts a healthy number of future young engineers and still offers much better conditions than most other colleges in the country.

6. Yale University

Yale spends $28,7 on its engineering research which puts it above Brown University. 38th spot in the list made by U.S. News & World Report, on the other hand, mean that Yale’s engineering program has a lot of catching up to do. Startclass rates it much higher, but still not high enough to move up the ladder among these Ivy League engineering programs.

5. Harvard University

Harvard isn’t only the most famous of Ivy League colleges, but arguably the most famous American academic institution overall. Harvard’s engineering department, however, has a long way to go before catching up to Harvard’s business and medical schools, for instance. U.S. N&WR ranks Harvard 24th, but Startclass lowers its overall rank with 44th spot according to their calculations. If there’s no better option at the table and if you’re lucky enough to get accepted here – don’t hesitate to enroll. Harvard is Harvard, after all, and $49.5 million research expenditure are here to attest to that.

4. The University of Pennsylvania

The University of Pennsylvania is ranked 19th according to U.S. N&WR and 13th according to Startclass. That’s enough to warrant spot number 4 on this list of top Ivy League colleges for engineering. The engineering program at Penn spends hefty $113 million, which clearly puts it above most other Ivy League engineering schools.

3. Princeton University

Similar to Penn, Princeton University ranks 18th and 12th according to U.S. News & World Report and Startclass respectively. Princeton University, however, spends $91 million on engineering research which puts it among above-average academic institutions when it comes to research expenditure. Take that and Princeton’s overall reputation as a college, and you’ll get one fine engineering school which offers a lot of opportunities after graduation.

2. Columbia University

Columbia University spends the most of all Ivy League colleges on engineering research – a total of $154 million to be more precise. It still doesn’t manage to reach the number one spot even while being ranked 14th by U.S. N&WR and 10th by Startclass. Although Columbia is no Stanford or MIT, it’s still one of the best engineering colleges the United States of America have to offer.

1. Cornell University

The difference between Cornell and other Ivy League colleges is that Cornell had an engineering department since the 19th century (1870) while others have it since the 20th or even 21st century. Pure tradition isn’t the only thing that warrants Cornell number 1 spot on this list of top 7 Ivy League colleges for engineering, however. U.S. News & World Report rates it 12th in the entire country, and research expenditure amounts to $139 million. With seven Ivy League colleges ranked, it’s probably the right time to mention the one that didn’t make this list. As you have probably seen, Dartmouth College earns the eighth spot with a research expenditure of $21.1 million, and 57th and 61st spot according to U.S. N&WR and Startclass respectively.