Top engineering schools ranking

No doubt, readers' comments are far more useful than the article's top university list. It would be great if highscholers could read these comments.

I really question a study that gives high ranking to any of the military acadamies "engineering degrees". I've worked with a few of them over the last 50 years. Some were bright, none had a real engineering education.
I like the comment from someone (above) "maybe when U.S. Grant and Robert E. Lee were going there"

Whoever does a study like this should provide a description of the criteria used. Otherwise, it's meaningless.

Allegiance to one's alma mater seems to be clouding the idea of "best" engineering school. As a Princeton freshman, I lived the feeling of "woe unto me for being the dumbest member of the entering class". With high school grades and test scores in the top one percent, I probably WAS the dumbest in the class. Other students breezed through material that I found challenging, but then again the undergrad curricula in junior year featured compilers, quantum mechanics, finite element analysis, and digital signal processing. Princeton offers undergrad classes with 30 students taught by a full professor, and labs stuffed with cutting edge equipment. The "Harry Potter" style dining halls offer a clue, but the conversations with students and faculty make it clear that this is one of the "best" schools. Beware though: the "best" school is definitely NOT the "best" choice for the average or even the above average engineering student. Students are advised to select schools that can teach no more and no less than what the student can absorb in each 12 week term. Hence the "best" school is a "bad" choice for the majority of students. We are all equal before god and the law, but final exam scores at those "best" schools will reveal something else.

all these comments about what great "other" schools people attended that had equally worthwhile curriculum as the Top Ten makes me think about my alma mater. Hey, what about St. Copius of Northern . . .
Doesn't that deserve an honorable mention?

If your football team is not on probabtion how could your school possibly qualify in the top ten of this list? Sheeesh. Get your priorities straight people. This is the new millenium. We don't need no education.................

Hard to believe all the reasons stated above for not going to the best rated schools.
Everyone seems to justify why they went to lower ranked schools ... thinking they got the BEST education possible.

I Graduated from Penn State Harrisburg in '08. If I had to do it over again, I'd go right back. Great faculty and small class sizes. I work right alongside people who graduated from Carnegie Mellon, and there's no way their education is worth 2-3x what mine costed me.

Lots of great comments here. I received my BSEE/MSEE in the early '80s. Things have changed much since then. Now I have been helping my sons select universities. Having been in the business awhile, I am appalled at some of new grads who can't even figure out basic circuits. Are the "best" schools weighted by research grant money, famous faculty, etc? Which is all great, but perhaps what should get more weighting for non-academic career people is how good is the TEACHING. Are all classes taught by grad students? Are they really learning fundamentals well, or are they jumping into programming ASICs and FPGAs before they even know what a resistor is? Look at things like class size, curriculum, faculty focus on teaching.

I guess my biggest surprise in this article is that WPI didn't make the list.

A graduate from the best school may find doors open that others don't ... at first. I have been in this business for 40+ years and we only hired one MIT grad during that time ... very intelligent and interviewed great. After a while we had to let the MIT grad go since the grad could never finish a project. Education is what you make of it e.g. Bill Gates and Steve Jobs.

Perhaps also ranking their top PUBLIC UNIVERSITIES Engineering Schools may be a useful list. In these tough economic times many students are finding difficult to financially invest to attend some of these prestigious univerisites or travel across country. It may also be enlightening to the public to find if any of their states tax-supported public institutions compare favorably.

For my undergraduate BSME, I went to an ABET-accredited college ranked slightly below the middle. It was mostly a friendly school, and I enjoyed learning and studying there. It was in some ways the best time of my life. I’m not bragging, but just to establish the situation: I did very well there, being first in the Mechanical Engineering Department out of 92 people.
For my graduate MSME, I went to Stanford. I was rather naïve, and didn’t even realize that it had such a good reputation. I was pushed into applying there by several of my professors; without my even knowing much about Stanford itself.
There is no doubt that attending this institution has caused people to pay more attention to my resume, and opened some doors to me that would have remained closed if I’d stayed at my 3rd tier undergraduate school.
Nearly all of the students at Stanford were very bright, some true geniuses. But also, some of them were literally high-functioning autistics - with no social skills at all, often very rude or non-communicative. At my previous lower-ranked undergraduate school, the upper quarter of the class was also fairly bright. The main difference from Stanford, was that the bottom half of the class wasn’t so bright; and probably stood little chance of getting a real engineering job, unless they had connections.
In Stanford, I was under the most stress I have ever been in my life. It was very competitive. Everyone was out for themselves, and no one helped anyone else. The course load was very hectic, and I came close to having a nervous breakdown. Even though most of the students were supposedly selected based on academic achievement and merit; there was a very elitist, snobby, moneyed attitude present. Coming from the middle class, I felt patronized by the rich students. The popular topic of conversation around the dinner table was where everyone had gone on their third trip to Europe, and what wonderful art museums they had seen there. (I had never even been outside of the US.)
And some of the teachers at Stanford were really not all that good. Because the school selected only the highest-ranked students, they could have probably just taught basket-weaving to the students for the whole time they were there. Once graduated, because of their innate talent, most the students would have probably done all right anyway, and adapted to the real-world needs of their jobs.
I had always intended to get my Phd. However, all of the stress was too much for me. After getting my MSME; I fled to a situation where I could go home at 5 in the evening and relax; instead of studying 80 or 90 hours a week. I became too busy with work and home life to ever pursue a Phd again. Stanford, and its elitist attitude, broke my self-confidence. I now regard attending this so-called top-ranked school, as being one of my life’s greatest mistakes.
Looking back over 35 years now, the main moral is: A school’s ranking isn’t everything. Select a school that you’re comfortable in. It may not necessarily be the top-ranked school, but rather a school that fits your personality and lifestyle.

That list includes many prestigious schools with very well structured programs; they turn out some of our Country's top engineers.
The best engineers have the drive to learn and master their respective discipline to their fullest potential in any college or university.

There are many great engineering schools across the country (and Canada), but MIT stands above most every other engineering school. I suggest watching a lecture (available on YouTube) from Walter Lewin. This is a good example of how MIT teaches students deep understanding of concepts, rather than brief overviews of topics followed by homework assignments. Also, if you look at alumnus, the list of their achievements to engineering fields, and the type of research that they perform, they are truly on the cutting edge of engineering and technology. I am not an MIT grad (just a lowly Midwestern EE graduate..:), but I find it very difficult to argue against MIT being first.

How can you have a list like this without Lehigh ?

Manhattan College! Small, affordable, committed teaching staff, in New York City. Also among the highest ranked in terms of the number of students who go on to pursue graduate degrees.

I graduated 35 years ago from TAMU specializing in power. I think I got a good education. Why mention power? Well, no school is good at all sub-disciplines so you should pick the best for what you plan on specializing in. I have no idea if the power program is still good at TAMU as they seem to be specilizing in football now. I think all revenue brought in by an university from sports should go straight to the state's general fund. This would solve a lot of problems with the education system in the US.

I graduated from Southern Illinois University 36 years ago with a MSEE. It was very inexpensive to attend back then, but a great bargain for the money. The professors were great and made all the difference. My thesis adivisor was the best. He eventually left teaching and started his own company.

University of Central Florida! Huge student body and way overlooked. Contenders next to those big names in competitions. Check out DARPA and IEEE Future Energy Challenge among many other top finishes.

Lets look at CAL State Northridge, alot of the engineers I work with are graduates from that school and they are incredibly bright engineers. Our company has not outsourced to India or China at all. And we are not key-board monkeys...although some act like monkeys...lol!

My Goodness, what a bunch of dissatisfied Engineers!! Outsourced? Key Jockeys? Welcome to the New Order where all professionals are demeaned. Where Dr.s become "Providers" and an Engineer is someone from New Delhi with a Tech Certificate. Oh, except for our Lawyers who have been the root of this problem...Why don't we re-name them just Paper Shuffler's?...And fix their salary? Ah No! as they write the Laws and make the Rules...Cry Havoc and unleash the 'Hogs' of War...HA!! Welcome to the Revolution!!

How about which school actually mentions the dehumanizing treatment by most corporate employers? Coming from the U Mich (A2) in 1980, it was assumed everybody'd get their PE and land a long career--except who knew then that the PC and globalism would turn most engineers into commoditized keyboard-jockeys working in psycho-cubicles? Who is Dilbert Galt?

The best school is one that teaches you that engineers will likely have their positioned outsourced!

Schools with small student bodies (

I would add the Canadian schools to the list of Best Engineering schools, and when you figure in the tuition costs of $25K, and courses taught by professors, it is a bargain.

The best school is the one that inspires you and sets you up on the path of a life-time of learning.
As others have mentioned, there are no criteria given for what constitutes best. The lists are just the usual big name, big bucks schools.
In my experience, grads from state schools and smaller colleges usually make more productive employees. They arrive ready to work, and don't act so arrogant and entitled.

There are good one out there not in the top 20. I worked for one as a computer specialist that professors taught every class and the Department head held tutoring sessions on Thursday nights.
Research was very important and undergrads were involed in the work. They had more grad students than undergrads and were always in the top three money raisers on campus.
My son flunked out of that deparment nearly 20 years ago. His advisor still asks about him today. It took a while but my son found his way.
Don't pass up small well funded schools with top people in their feild that match what you want to do. It may come down to one proffesor.
gc

A list of the "best" schools that offer a co-op program (they generally use the quarter system) would be nice. It takes longer to get a degree but (a) it helps pay the way and (b) you learn a good bit about what engineering really is. Hint: in you co-op job you will probably not be soling any differential equations.

What matters to me is what I expect to be able to do when I am done. Some schools turn out students to turn out students. Some students go to school just to get the degree for a promotion. To me, you want to know your purpose. You don't spend the money to go to MIT just to get a promotion. If you want to actually be able to do something when you get out, you might consider schools like Colorado State University. It is one thing to have a degree and another to actually be able to know how to think about a problem and how to solve it. There are many layersto the educational onion not being addressed by the Top 10 statistics reported here.

So the article is rather obvious. And I agree with many of the points and those of other responders.
Rankings are fairly meaningless unless the specific criteria and methodology are clearly stated. This one doesn't. Your needs and success will vary...
Having been at big name schools I would have to say that at least for undergrads one is far better off attending a jr college where class sizes are small and relatively inexpensive then moving to a good quality local four year. Professors are there to teach while at major universities they are there to do research, fetch grant money and publish, not to help you learn.
One is unlikely to gain anything other than social status and a big debt from attending a big name school. If they offer a full ride scholarship by all means go, otherwise seek a better value.
Rarely will you get what you pay for, but you will always pay for what you get.
Graduate school is a different game...

I can recommend New Mexico Tech (nmt.edu). Small school (under 2K students), small classes, good instructors, quality education - I have been eating off the CS systems theory for 25 years (economy allowing...). Look at the tuition and room/board.
You just need to be able to amuse yourself. Socorro, NM is pretty small (10K people, no census on dogs/cats/snakes/etc). Make it past the first semester and you are golden. Albuquerque is 1.5 hours north.

Having hired 100's of Engineers, if you want a person who can design products that you can sell to a customer and make a profit - Hire a grad from UC Berkeley or Cal Poly!

West Point? Maybe when U.S. Grant and R.E. Lee were going there.

What seems to be left out in these discussions is that the "best" schools in the list are competitive schools that attract smart, highly motivated students from around the world. Those students compete with one another for their grades. Graduating from one of these schools with good grades shows potential employers that a student can perform at a high level in a stressful environment. These graduates know their stuff but it really says very little about the quality of instruction.

The optimum school is the one that best teaches what you want to learn. Catch is, a freshman will know what he wants at the end of senior year. Choose a school with classrooms populated with equals, with a curricula covering whatever you may want to learn. Do not go to a top school if you are a dummie (you cannot cope), and do not go to an average school if you are gifted (you will be bored out of your mind). If you know your special interest that's fine, otherwise choose a school with wide offerings. Full professors in all your classes is fine, but only for the students that can cope! My choice was Princeton: it worked for me (professors, loans, heavy course load) but it is certainly not best for everyone!

Interesting list, I spent six months as a cadet at USAFA before realizing I hated the military and finishing my BSEE at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo. The only concern I have with the military academies on the list is that having a top notch engineering degree doesn't do much for you when you become an officer and let the degree gather dust.

I went to a small regional undergraduate engineering school in the Midwest. Classes were small and taught by professors, and there were opportunities for research if one was interested. Beyond size and prestige, I think retention and 4-yr graduation rates are important, not to mention the experiences/opportunities available outside the classroom. And I definitely don't see the value of graduating from a so-called prestige university with a boat-load of debt.

I agree with R Rikoski. My degree is from University of Colorado at Colorado Springs. As part of my undergraduate work there was a semester internship, plus co-authoring an IEEE paper with the school's PhD Chairman of Engineering Dept and a PhD candidate. The school's faculty was very reachable. And from both of these experiences I learned skills I still use. Graduate TAs didn't teach the classes I attended, though they taught the "help you with your homework" recitation classes. I consider mine to be a great educational experience and recommend to anyone.

Having just had my son graduate from one of the schools listed in the "Best Undergraduate/Doctorate Highest" I can state that some of the schools are not good for a BS degree. The professors want to do research and not teach undergraduates. One professor at this school only passed a couple of kids in a class and flunked the rest (about 30 students including my son) because he had tenure and had already made it known he only wanted to do research. After this, the school gave him what he wanted and removed him from teaching duties.
If you want a degree from a major school, go elsewhere for your BS, and THEN go for the big name school for your higher degree.

The schools on this list are the same schools as were on the list 30 years. Maybe the order is a bit different. In any area other such as Top Corporations, where have things remained static? The top corporations 30 years ago are very very different than the top corporations today. Why do universities have the perception of no change? Could it be that people just look at the list from the previous years and put the same names back on the list? This is not to say that the universities on this list are not excellent, only to say that I cannot believe there wouldn't be some new additions and some wouldn't drop back a bit. Just my take on it.

Not includrd is the City College of New York.
You really learn Maxwell's equations
George Kiriazides, CCNY BEE 57

I graduated from SIU-Edwardsville with a BSEE and an MSEE (17 years apart)in terms of bang for my buck, SIU-Edwardsville was a huge bargain compared to Washington University (in Saint louis). Lectures were taught by professors, labs were taught by Grad students.

Forgot to follow up on the bang for the tuition dollar comment... GCC's per year room and board + tuition is less than $20k. It was a good deal.

I have worked with the big name and small name schools. In the big research mill schools, you do not get an education. You are expected to know the material already and be ready to help grad students do research. Profs spend no time actually teaching. If you are a ordinary student who actually wants to be taught anything, smaller schools like Cal Poly or midwest schools actually give you something for your money and care about teaching. Look carefully at what you want, pay little attention to ratings based on number of Nobel laureates who want nothing to do with you.

You asked about getting the most for your tuition dollar. My son just graduated with a BSME from Grove City College in western PA. I was educated at the University of Washington (BSME) and Standord (MSME). Talking with him about his homework, tests, and projects, and the pace and intensity of the work, I was impressed more with his education than what I experienced as an undergraduate and graduate student. Grove City tends to attract a surprisingly high SAT score freshman class (especially in engineering) and the competition remains stiff throughout all four years. And... his "Human Powered Vehicle" team bested all comers in the East Coast competition between college engineering departments when he was a sophmore.

If you like to rank schools, you could learn from asian countries. They use a centralized examine to rate the quality of students. The best students go to the best schools.

The best should include the best in securing employment in today's economy after graduating with a BS in Engineering from the forementioned institutions.

What about the Milwaukee School of Engineering? This is no "Chump Change School"! They have a fantastic placement record. And they don't have the usual academia types. Their "Professor Roots" are from industry where application of engineering skills really pays the bills. They also have a great Biomedical Engineering program, and Nursing program.

> What does "best" mean, anyways?
To make it concrete, imagine an 18-year-old whose hobby
since grade school has been building radios, and whose
career goal is to have a technical leadership role at a
company like Qualcomm.
The student realizes that a Ph.D. from a short list of
schools whose research groups make regular appearances
at ISSCC is a good route to the goal, and the purpose of
the undergrad EE degree degree is to get into one of those
top-flight RF groups as a grad student.
The best way to do that is to be an undergrad at one
of the target grad schools, do undergraduate research in the RF
group at the school (ideally leading to a publication),
and have the professors you worked with on the project
write graduate school letters saying you are "the best
undergrad interested in RF the professor has seen in
the last 10 years" (there are actually checkboxes on
graduate letter admissions forms with the "10-year" phrase).
Given that scenario, many of the best choices for an
undergrad school are on the US News "schools that
have a graduate program" list. So in that way, this
list actually makes sense to me, and usually I have
little good to say about these lists ...

I concur with Rick. What is the criteria for ranking engineering schools if the are all ABET accredited? Is it the amount of research funds they bring in, number of research grants, etc.?

Here's a good list, too. Maybe more relevant.
1. Pennsylvania State University
2. Texas A&M University
3. University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
4. Purdue University
5. Arizona State University
//online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704554104575435563989873060.html?mod=WSJ_hpp_MIDDLENexttoWhatsNewsTop

13 Years in a row for Rose-Hulman to be ranked #1 by US News and World Report. Not bad for a small engineering school in the middle of the heartland.

This kind of ranking is mildly interesting but only that. What does 'best' mean anyway? All of the programs are ABET accredited. Texts and curricula are more or less standardized regardless of the school. Nobel prize winning faculty? In those places, undergrads get graduate TA's instead of Dr. Prestige as instructors, which might be a good thing actually. Does the research trickle down to the undergrads? In this economy, engineering job placement ought to be a significant factor.