Top Engineering Schools in the US in 2018

Top Engineering Schools in the US in 2018

Sabrina Collier

Updated January 16, 2020 Updated January 16

If you want to study engineering in the US, there are a large number of excellent universities for the various branches. The QS World University Rankings by Subject is an excellent way to narrow down the strongest universities for your preferred branch, and you can also use the interactive table to narrow the results down by ranking indicators such as employer reputation.

Here’s a closer look at the top engineering schools in the US, by branch of engineering.

Chemical engineering

Of the 301 institutions in the chemical engineering ranking, almost a quarter (74) are in the US. Of these, 16 are in the global top 50. This year’s 10 top universities in the US for chemical engineering are:

  1. Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
  2. Stanford University
  3. University of California, Berkeley (UCB)
  4. California Institute of Technology (Caltech)
  5. Princeton University
  6. University of Wisconsin-Madison
  7. University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA)
  8. University of Minnesota
  9. University of Texas at Austin
  10. Yale University

You can view the full chemical engineering ranking here.

Civil & structural engineering

The civil and structural engineering ranking is made up of 200 institutions around the world, including 37 US entrants. The top 10 is again led by MIT and also includes two universities from Texas.

  1. Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
  2. University of California, Berkeley (UCB)
  3. Stanford University
  4. Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech)
  5. University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
  6. University of Texas at Austin
  7. Purdue University
  8. University of Michigan
  9. Texas A&M University
  10. California Institute of Technology (Caltech)

Discover more of the world’s top universities for civil and structural engineering.

Electrical engineering

Looking at the electrical engineering ranking, which features 400 top engineering schools for this branch, the US has 69 spots. All of the 10 institutions below are in the top 25, and as seen last year, the three top universities in the US below are also the top three in the world:

  1. Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
  2. Stanford University
  3. University of California, Berkeley (UCB)
  4. Harvard University
  5. University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA)
  6. California Institute of Technology (Caltech)
  7. Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech)
  8. Carnegie Mellon University
  9. University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
  10. University of Texas at Austin

View the full electrical engineering ranking here.

Mechanicalaeronautical & manufacturing engineering

The US claims 74 of the 400 places in the mechanical, aeronautical & manufacturing engineering ranking, including 14 in the top 50. This ranking is again led by MIT, and the University of Michigan receives its strongest score for an engineering subject in this area.

  1. Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
  2. Stanford University
  3. Harvard University
  4. University of California, Berkeley (UCB)
  5. University of Michigan
  6. Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech)
  7. California Institute of Technology (Caltech)
  8. University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA)
  9. Purdue University
  10. Princeton University

Discover more of the world’s top universities for mechanical, aeronautical & manufacturing engineering.

Mineral & mining engineering

First published in 2016, the US has seven representatives out of the 50 in the mineral & mining engineering ranking. Colorado School of Mines has been ranked first for this branch of engineering every year since 2016, and this is the only engineering ranking to not feature MIT.

  1. Colorado School of Mines
  2. Pennsylvania State University
  3. University of Arizona
  4. University of Utah
  5. Virginia Polytechnic Institute (Virginia Tech)
  6. University of Colorado at Boulder
  7. University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

View the full ranking of the world’s top mineral & mining engineering schools.

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This article was originally published in March 2018 . It was last updated in January 2020

Written by

The former Assistant Editor of TopUniversities.com, Sabrina wrote and edited articles to guide students from around the world on a wide range of topics. She has a bachelor's degree in English Literature and Creative Writing from Aberystwyth University and grew up in Staffordshire, UK. 

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