Top Engineering Schools in the US

This article is based on the results of the QS World University Rankings by Subject 2016. Click here to view the 2018 version of this article.

If you’re thinking of studying engineering in the United States, you might be wondering which top engineering schools are the best-regarded in your preferred branch of engineering. The QS World University Rankings by Subject currently covers five different types of engineering, with top universities in the US making a strong appearance in each.

Read on for a quick look at the US’s top engineering schools in each field…

Chemical engineering

US universities make up around a quarter (53) of the 200 universities featured in the latest chemical engineering ranking. Of these 53 US entries, 17 are ranked within the top 50 worldwide for chemical engineering. Of the top 10 below, Georgia Institute of Technology made the biggest improvement from the previous year’s position, climbing from joint 29^th to 21^st.

 The top engineering schools 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. University of Wisconsin-Madison
6. Princeton University
7. University of Minnesota
8. University of Texas at Austin
9. Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech)
10.  Yale University

Discover more of the world’s top universities for chemical engineering.

Civil & structural engineering

There are 37 top universities in the US featured in the civil engineering ranking, with MIT again the overall world leader. Several US universities improved their position for this subject in the latest ranking, including Stanford University (8^th to joint 5^th) and the University of Michigan (42^nd to joint 34^th), while Texas claims two universities in the US top 10:

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

See the full ranking of top civil engineering schools.

Electrical engineering

The US boasts 57 representatives out of 300 in the electrical engineering ranking, with the top three below also the top three in the world. UCLA gets its strongest rank for an engineering subject in this field, having climbed from 12^th to 5^th in the world for electrical engineering this year.

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

Get the full list of the world’s top electrical engineering schools.

Mechanical, aeronautical & manufacturing engineering

The latest mechanical, aeronautical and manufacturing engineering ranking sees 61 top universities in the US feature among the world’s top 300 schools for this subject area, again led by MIT (which has also been also been ranked 1^st in the overall  QS World University Rankings® five times in a row). The University of Michigan gets its highest score for an engineering subject in this field, at 6^th in the world.

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

Explore more of the world’s top mechanical engineering schools.

Mineral & mining engineering

Of the 100 mining engineering schools featured in this ranking – published for the first time in 2016 – almost a quarter (24) are in the US. The mineral and mining engineering ranking sees Colorado School of Mines beat MIT as the world’s leading institution for this branch of engineering. Colorado School of Mines specializes in engineering and applied science, “with special expertise in the development and stewardship of the Earth’s natural resources”.

1. Colorado School of Mines
2. Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
3. Stanford University
4. University of California, Berkeley (UCB)
5. California Institute of Technology (Caltech)
6. University of Texas at Austin
7. Texas A&M University
8. Pennsylvania State University
9. University of Wisconsin-Madison
10.  Columbia University

Find out more about this new ranking of the world’s top mining engineering schools.

Want more content like this? Register for free site membership to get regular updates and your own personal content feed.