Best universities for engineering degrees in the US 2023

Explore the best universities for engineering degrees in the US using data from the Times Higher Education World University Rankings

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December 2 2022

Top 10 universities for engineering in the US 2023

Scroll down for the full list of best universities for engineering in the US

US engineering rank 2023	WUR engineering rank 2023	University	State
1	1	Harvard University	Massachusetts
2	2	Stanford University	California
3	3	University of California, Berkeley	California
4	4	Massachusetts Institute of Technology	Massachusetts
5	6	California Institute of Technology	California
6	9	Princeton University	New Jersey
7	11	Georgia Institute of Technology	Georgia
8	16	University of California, Los Angeles	California
9	17	Yale University	Connecticut
10	18	University of Michigan-Ann Arbor	Michigan

Through the US college system, undergraduate students can study a number of different subjects before deciding on a major.

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For prospective engineering students, however, it’s worth having an idea of which field of engineering you’d like to specialise in for your major when you apply. This is because you’ll often need to have completed a specific set of foundational classes in mathematics, physics and materials science in order to pursue your chosen engineering specialism.

There are many different branches of engineering in which students can specialise, including civil engineering, electrical engineering, aerospace engineering and more. Many students will choose to stay for a postgraduate course in order to further develop their speciality before entering the world of work.

These are the top universities in the US for engineering degrees.

5. California Institute of Technology

California Institute of Technology offers programmes for undergraduates, graduates and postdoctoral candidates through their division of chemistry and chemical engineering.

Admission to Caltech is competitive with the college accepting 230 new students each year and 10 to 15 upperclassmen, allowing class sizes to remain small.

Students will undergo broad and detailed training in chemical engineering, balancing classroom lectures with laboratory experience. Students will learn about the societal impact of chemical engineering within the courses.

At the California Institute of Technology engineering students will be given the opportunity to choose one of four divisions of chemical engineering in which to specialise, choosing from biomolecular, environmental, materials or process systems. Students will then have the opportunity to pursue independent research for their thesis in their second and third years.

4. Massachusetts Institute of Technology

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s School of Engineering is the largest of MIT’s five schools.

When students join MIT, they take courses across all five school and then choose their major from whichever school they wish. About 70 per cent of undergraduates declare engineering as their major, according to the university.

The school has nine engineering departments covering the following areas: aeronautics and astronautics; biological; chemical; civil and environmental; electrical and computer science; medical engineering and science; materials science; mechanical; and nuclear science.

The engineering master’s programme at MIT runs for two years and is available across a range of courses, including mechanical engineering and aeronautics and astronautics. Students may also be awarded the engineer’s degree at a postgraduate level. This programme provides a higher level of professional competence than is required by the master’s degree, but there is less emphasis on research than in the doctoral programme.

Engineering students at MIT have a range of opportunities to access during their studies, including study-abroad options, entrepreneurship support, research experiences and hands-on practical learning.

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3. University of California, Berkeley

The University of California, Berkeley College of Engineering has nine undergraduate engineering programmes: chemical; civil; computer; electrical; environmental; industrial; materials; mechanical; and bioengineering.

Students at the College of Engineering must take at least six courses to satisfy their humanities and social sciences requirement, as well as maintaining a minimum overall grade point average of 2.00.

Undergraduate students may apply directly to an engineering programme of their choice or remain undeclared if they wish first to explore different areas of engineering.

The master of engineering focuses on business and engineering management within your chosen engineering discipline. The university also offers a MBA/MEng programme that enables students to earn two master’s degrees in the time it takes to complete one. Students in this programme will take both business and engineering courses.

Berkeley students have access to many teaching and research facilities, including the Jacobs Institute for Design Innovation, which offers practical design and prototyping experience. There is also the Sutardja Centre for Entrepreneurship and Technology, aiding students in launching new companies. The Fung Institute for Engineering Leadership is an educational facility on campus that encourages innovation.

About a quarter of engineering students at Berkeley are international.

2. Stanford University

Stanford University’s engineering department offers 16 undergraduate majors for engineering students, including: aeronautics, bioengineering, environmental systems, materials science, mechanical engineering, engineering physics and product design among others.

The master of science in engineering is available across all nine departments of engineering and combines academic course work with research.

Stanford undergraduates may also apply to master’s programmes as coterminal students, which means that they are classified as both undergraduate and postgraduate students and may take courses across both curricula.

Undergraduate students also have the opportunity to take part in the research experience for undergraduates (REU), providing the chance to work with faculty members on advanced research topics. The top 30 students of each undergraduate class are presented with the Frederick Emmons Terman Engineering Scholastic Award, named after the fourth dean of the school.

Stanford University has a range of facilities accessible to students, from the Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment, to the Aerospace Robotics Lab and the Stanford Artificial Intelligence Laboratory.

1. Harvard University

Harvard University offers several engineering undergraduate programmes: materials science and mechanical engineering; environmental science and engineering; electrical engineering; computer science; bioengineering; and applied mathematics.

The engineering faculty also offers a broad range of graduate and professional programmes for postgraduate students.

For most of Harvard’s engineering programmes, students will start their first year learning the foundational concepts, including mathematics and physics.

Engineering students at Harvard can get involved in a number of extracurricular clubs, from the Climate Governance Initiative to the Harvard College Engineering Society. These student-run organisations allow like-minded students to come together and develop their interests. The engineering campus is split between two areas, one in Cambridge near Harvard Yard, and the other on Western Avenue in Allston. The Cambridge campus is home to classrooms and laboratories, while the Allston campus houses the Science and Engineering Complex, as well as the Engineering Yard and Harvard Innovation Lab.

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What can you do with a mechanical engineering degree?

Top universities in the US for engineering degrees 2023

Click each institution to view its full World University Rankings 2023 results.

US engineering rank 2023	WUR engineering rank 2023	University	State
1	1	Harvard University	Massachusetts
2	2	Stanford University	California
3	3	University of California, Berkeley	California
4	4	Massachusetts Institute of Technology	Massachusetts
5	6	California Institute of Technology	California
6	9	Princeton University	New Jersey
7	11	Georgia Institute of Technology	Georgia
8	16	University of California, Los Angeles	California
9	17	Yale University	Connecticut
10	18	University of Michigan-Ann Arbor	Michigan
11	22	Carnegie Mellon University	Pennsylvania
12	23	University of Texas at Austin	Texas
13	24	Cornell University	New York
14	25	Columbia University	New York
15	28	University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign	Illinois
16	=30	Northwestern University	Illinois
17	33	Johns Hopkins University	Maryland
18	36	University of Pennsylvania	Pennsylvania
19	37	University of California, San Diego	California
20	38	Purdue University West Lafayette	Indiana
21	43	University of California, Santa Barbara	California
22	47	University of Washington	Washington
23	52	Duke University	North Carolina
24	=60	Texas A&M University	Texas
25	=69	University of Southern California	California
26	=72	Rice University	Texas
27	=74	Brown University	Rhode Island
28	78	Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University	Virginia
29	82	Penn State (Main campus)	Pennsylvania
30	=83	University of Wisconsin-Madison	Wisconsin
31	=85	University of California, Davis	California
32	=88	Ohio State University (Main campus)	Ohio
33	=93	University of California, Irvine	California
34	95	University of Minnesota	Minnesota
=35	101–125	University of Maryland, College Park	Maryland
=35	101–125	New York University	New York
=35	101–125	University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill	North Carolina
=35	101–125	North Carolina State University	North Carolina
=35	101–125	The University of Tennessee-Knoxville	Tennessee
=40	126–150	Arizona State University (Tempe)	Arizona
=40	126–150	Boston University	Massachusetts
=40	126–150	University of California, Riverside	California
=40	126–150	University of Colorado Boulder	Colorado
=40	126–150	Colorado School of Mines	Colorado
=40	126–150	University of Massachusetts	Massachusetts
=46	151–175	Case Western Reserve University	Ohio
=46	151–175	University of Delaware	Delaware
=46	151–175	Drexel University	Pennsylvania
=46	151–175	Northeastern University	Illinois
=46	151–175	University of Notre Dame	Indiana
=51	176–200	Michigan State University	Michigan
=51	176–200	Rutgers University – New Brunswick	New Jersey
=51	176–200	Vanderbilt University	Tennessee
=54	201–250	University at Buffalo	New York
=54	201–250	University of California, Santa Cruz	California
=54	201–250	Dartmouth College	New Hampshire
=54	201–250	University of Florida	Florida
=54	201–250	Florida International University	Florida
=54	201–250	Missouri University of Science and Technology	Missouri
=54	201–250	University of Nebraska-Lincoln	Nebraska
=54	201–250	SUNY Binghamton University	New York
=54	201–250	University of Texas at Arlington	Texas
=54	201–250	University of Texas at Dallas	Texas
=54	201–250	Washington State University	Washington
=65	251–300	University of Arizona	Arizona
=65	251–300	University of Houston	Texas
=65	251–300	University of Illinois at Chicago	Illinois
=65	251–300	Illinois Institute of Technology	Illinois
=65	251–300	Indiana University	Indiana
=65	251–300	Iowa State University	Iowa
=65	251–300	University of Pittsburgh-Pittsburgh campus	Pennsylvania
=65	251–300	University of South Florida	Florida
=65	251–300	Stony Brook University	New York
=65	251–300	Temple University	Pennsylvania
=65	251–300	The University of Tulsa	Oklahoma
=65	251–300	Washington University in St Louis	Missouri
=77	301–400	Auburn University	Alabama
=77	301–400	University of California, Merced	California
=77	301–400	University of Central Florida	Florida
=77	301–400	Colorado State University, Fort Collins	Colorado
=77	301–400	University of Connecticut	Connecticut
=77	301–400	Florida State University	Florida
=77	301–400	George Mason University	Virginia
=77	301–400	George Washington University	Washington DC
=77	301–400	University of Iowa	Iowa
=77	301–400	University of Kentucky	Kentucky
=77	301–400	Mississippi State University	Mississippi
=77	301–400	New Jersey Institute of Technology	New Jersey
=77	301–400	University of Rochester	New York
=77	301–400	University of South Carolina-Columbia	South Carolina
=77	301–400	Stevens Institute of Technology	New Jersey
=77	301–400	The University of Texas at San Antonio	Texas
=77	301–400	University of Toledo	Ohio
=77	301–400	Tufts University	Massachusetts
=77	301–400	University of Utah	Utah
=77	301–400	University of Virginia (Main campus)	Virginia
=97	401–500	Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University	Florida
=97	401–500	University of Maryland, Baltimore County	Maryland
=97	401–500	University of Miami	Florida
=97	401–500	Mizzou - University of Missouri	Missouri
=97	401–500	Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute	New York
=97	401–500	University of Rhode Island	Rhode Island
=97	401–500	Syracuse University	New York
=97	401–500	Wake Forest University	North Carolina
=105	501–600	The University of Alabama	Alabama
=105	501–600	Clemson University	South Carolina
=105	501–600	Lehigh University	Pennsylvania
=105	501–600	Louisiana State University	Louisiana
=105	501–600	Marquette University	Wisconsin
=105	501–600	University of Memphis	Tennessee
=105	501–600	University of Texas at El Paso	Texas
=105	501–600	Wayne State University	Michigan
=105	501–600	Western Michigan University	Michigan
=105	501–600	University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee	Wisconsin
=105	501–600	Worcester Polytechnic Institute	Massachusetts
=116	601–800	University of Arkansas	Arkansas
=116	601–800	University of Dayton	Ohio
=116	601–800	Florida Atlantic University	Florida
=116	601–800	University of Georgia	Georgia
=116	601–800	University of Hawai’i at Mānoa	Hawai'i
=116	601–800	Howard University	Washington DC
=116	601–800	University of Kansas	Kansas
=116	601–800	Kansas State University	Kansas
=116	601–800	Montana State University	Montana
=116	601–800	University of Nevada, Las Vegas	Nevada
=116	601–800	University of New Mexico (Main campus)	New Mexico
=116	601–800	New Mexico State University (Main campus)	New Mexico
=116	601–800	University of North Carolina at Charlotte	North Carolina
=116	601–800	Northern Illinois University	Illinois
=116	601–800	Oklahoma State University	Oklahoma
=116	601–800	San Diego State University	California
=116	601–800	Southern Illinois University Carbondale	Illinois
=116	601–800	Texas Tech University	Texas
=116	601–800	Virginia Commonwealth University	Virginia
=116	601–800	University of Wyoming	Wyoming
=136	801–1000	Baylor University	Texas
=136	801–1000	Clarkson University	New York
=136	801–1000	University of Colorado Denver/Anschutz Medical Campus	Colorado
=136	801–1000	Georgia Southern University	Georgia
=136	801–1000	Oakland University	Michigan
=136	801–1000	Ohio University (Main campus)	Ohio
=136	801–1000	Old Dominion University	Virginia
=136	801–1000	Portland State University	Ohio
=136	801–1000	Rochester Institute of Technology	New York
=136	801–1000	Texas State University	Texas
=146	1001+	Florida Institute of Technology	Florida
=146	1001+	Rowan University	New Jersey
=146	1001+	University of Texas Rio Grande Valley	Texas