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2024 Best Systems Engineering Schools

63 Colleges in the United States
3,904 Systems Engineering Degrees Awarded
$89,736 Avg Early-Career Salary
Systems Engineering isn't the most popular major in the world, but it's not the least popular either. To be more precise it ranks #160 in popularity out of 395 majors in the country. So, you may have to do some digging around to find quality schools that offer the degree program. This list can help with that.

College Factual looked at 63 colleges and universities when compiling its 2024 Best Systems Engineering Schools ranking. When you put them all together, these colleges and universities awarded 3,904 degrees in systems engineering during the 2020-2021 academic year.

Jump to one of the following sections: * Degree-Level Rankings

Choosing a Great Systems Engineering School

Best Systems Engineering Schools Your choice of systems engineering school matters, so we have put together these rankings to help you make your decision. In order to come up with a best overall ranking for systems engineering schools, we combine our degree-level rankings, weighting them by the number of degrees awarded at each level.

You may want to choose one of the degree levels below to find the schools of most interest to you.

Systems Engineering Rankings by Degree Level

Bachelor's Degrees in Systems Engineering
Master's Degrees in Systems Engineering
Doctor's Degrees in Systems Engineering

When choosing the right school for you, it's important to arm yourself with all the facts you can. To that end, we've created a number of major-specific rankings, including this Best Systems Engineering Schools list to help you make the college decision. More interested in schools in a specific area of the country? Filter this list by region or state.

To further help you make the college decision, we've developed a unique tool called College Combat that allows you to compare schools based on the factors that matter the most to you. Go ahead and give it a try, or bookmark the link so you can check it out later.

Read more about College Factual's methodology.

Best Schools for Systems Engineering in the United States

If you aren't interested in a particular degree level and want to know which schools are the overall best at delivering an education for the systems engineering degrees they offer, see the list below.

10 Top Schools in Systems Engineering

1
Doctor's Degree Highest Degree Type
208 Systems Engineering Degrees Awarded
11.5% Growth in Graduates

It is difficult to beat Massachusetts Institute of Technology if you want to pursue a degree in systems engineering. Located in the city of Cambridge, MIT is a private not-for-profit school with a fairly large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #1 out of 2,217 colleges nationwide means MIT is a great school overall.

There were approximately 208 systems engineering students who graduated with this degree at MIT in the most recent data year. Those systems engineering students who get their degree from Massachusetts Institute of Technology earn $43,949 more than the average systems engineering graduate.

More information about a degree in systems engineering from Massachusetts Institute of Technology

2
Doctor's Degree Highest Degree Type
54 Systems Engineering Degrees Awarded
$73,035 Median Starting Salary

Washington University in St Louis is a wonderful decision for students interested in a degree in systems engineering. Located in the large suburb of Saint Louis, WUSTL is a private not-for-profit university with a fairly large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #17 out of 2,217 colleges nationwide means WUSTL is a great university overall.

There were roughly 54 systems engineering students who graduated with this degree at WUSTL in the most recent data year. Students who receive their degree from the systems engineering program earn an average of $73,035 for their early career.

More information about a degree in systems engineering from Washington University in St Louis

3
Master's Degree Highest Degree Type
206 Systems Engineering Degrees Awarded
24.3% Growth in Graduates

Johns Hopkins University is a good choice for students interested in a degree in systems engineering. Johns Hopkins is a very large private not-for-profit university located in the large city of Baltimore. A Best Colleges rank of #23 out of 2,217 schools nationwide means Johns Hopkins is a great university overall.

There were about 206 systems engineering students who graduated with this degree at Johns Hopkins in the most recent data year. Degree recipients from the systems engineering major at Johns Hopkins University earn $24,419 above the typical graduate in this field when they enter the workforce.

More information about a degree in systems engineering from Johns Hopkins University

4
Doctor's Degree Highest Degree Type
167 Systems Engineering Degrees Awarded
$93,863 Median Starting Salary

University of Virginia - Main Campus is one of the best schools in the country for getting a degree in systems engineering. University of Virginia is a very large public university located in the small suburb of Charlottesville. A Best Colleges rank of #33 out of 2,217 colleges nationwide means University of Virginia is a great university overall.

There were about 167 systems engineering students who graduated with this degree at University of Virginia in the most recent year we have data available. Systems Engineering degree recipients from University of Virginia - Main Campus earn a boost of around $4,127 over the average earnings of systems engineering majors.

More information about a degree in systems engineering from University of Virginia - Main Campus

5
Master's Degree Highest Degree Type
$125,714 Median Starting Salary

USC is a very large private not-for-profit university located in the large city of Los Angeles. A Best Colleges rank of #11 out of 2,217 colleges nationwide means USC is a great university overall.

There were about 28 systems engineering students who graduated with this degree at USC in the most recent data year. Systems Engineering degree recipients from University of Southern California receive an earnings boost of about $35,978 over the typical income of systems engineering majors.

More information about a degree in systems engineering from University of Southern California

6
UF crest
University of Florida
Gainesville, FL
Doctor's Degree Highest Degree Type
285 Systems Engineering Degrees Awarded
25.6% Growth in Graduates

Located in the midsize city of Gainesville, UF is a public university with a very large student population. This university ranks 1st out of 77 schools for overall quality in the state of Florida.

There were roughly 285 systems engineering students who graduated with this degree at UF in the most recent data year. Students who receive their degree from the systems engineering program earn around $82,686 in their early career salary.

More information about a degree in systems engineering from University of Florida

7
UPenn crest
University of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, PA
Master's Degree Highest Degree Type
2nd Most Popular In PA
81 Systems Engineering Degrees Awarded

Located in the large city of Philadelphia, UPenn is a private not-for-profit university with a fairly large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #4 out of 2,217 colleges nationwide means UPenn is a great university overall.

There were approximately 81 systems engineering students who graduated with this degree at UPenn in the most recent year we have data available.

More information about a degree in systems engineering from University of Pennsylvania

8
Doctor's Degree Highest Degree Type
77 Systems Engineering Degrees Awarded
9.1% Growth in Graduates

Located in the small city of Champaign, UIUC is a public university with a fairly large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #34 out of 2,217 schools nationwide means UIUC is a great university overall.

There were about 77 systems engineering students who graduated with this degree at UIUC in the most recent data year. Students who graduate with their degree from the systems engineering program report average early career income of $61,753.

More information about a degree in systems engineering from University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

9
Doctor's Degree Highest Degree Type
122 Systems Engineering Degrees Awarded
$112,037 Median Starting Salary

GWU is a fairly large private not-for-profit university located in the large city of Washington. This university ranks 2nd out of 8 colleges for overall quality in the state of District of Columbia.

There were approximately 122 systems engineering students who graduated with this degree at GWU in the most recent data year. Systems Engineering degree recipients from George Washington University receive an earnings boost of approximately $22,301 above the typical income of systems engineering graduates.

More information about a degree in systems engineering from George Washington University

10
Master's Degree Highest Degree Type
93 Systems Engineering Degrees Awarded
$95,847 Median Starting Salary

Cornell is a fairly large private not-for-profit university located in the city of Ithaca. A Best Colleges rank of #22 out of 2,217 schools nationwide means Cornell is a great university overall.

There were about 93 systems engineering students who graduated with this degree at Cornell in the most recent data year. Systems Engineering degree recipients from Cornell University get an earnings boost of around $6,111 above the typical earnings of systems engineering majors.

More information about a degree in systems engineering from Cornell University

Additional Noteworthy Schools

These are some additional schools worth mentioning that are also great but just didn't quite make the cut to earn our top Best Systems Engineering Schools award.

Rank College Location
11 Stevens Institute of Technology Hoboken, NJ
12 Case Western Reserve University Cleveland, OH
13 Colorado School of Mines Golden, CO
14 Georgia Institute of Technology - Main Campus Atlanta, GA
15 University of Arizona Tucson, AZ

Systems Engineering by Region

View the Best Systems Engineering Schools for a specific region near you.

Region
Southeast
New England
Rocky Mountains
Plains States
Middle Atlantic
Far Western US
Southwest
Other U.S. Territories
Great Lakes

View All Rankings >

Systems Engineering is one of 41 different types of Engineering programs to choose from.

Systems Engineering Concentrations

Major Annual Graduates
General Systems Engineering 3,904

View All Systems Engineering Concentrations >

Related Major Annual Graduates
Mechanical Engineering 46,178
Electrical Engineering 28,844
Civil Engineering 21,388
Computer Engineering 17,987
Chemical Engineering 12,917
Biomedical Engineering 12,811
General Engineering 11,796
Industrial Engineering 9,072
Aerospace & Aeronautical Engineering 8,001
Materials Engineering 3,415

View All Systems Engineering Related Majors >

Notes and References

More about our data sources and methodologies.

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