If you pursue a degree in general engineering, you won't be alone. The field of study is the #96 most popular program in the country. So, there are lots of possibilities to explore when you're trying to determine where you want to get your degree.
College Factual looked at 166 colleges and universities when compiling its 2024 Best General Engineering Schools ranking. When you put them all together, these colleges and universities awarded 9,018 degrees in general engineering during the 2020-2021 academic year.
The engineering program you select can have a big impact on your future. That's why we developed our collection of Best Schools for General Engineering rankings. For our Best Overall General Engineering School rankings, we roll up the results of our degree-level rankings, weighted by the number of degrees awarded at that level.
You may want to choose one of the degree levels below to find the schools of most interest to you.
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 General 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.
Best Schools for General Engineering in the United States
The schools below may not offer all types of engineering degrees so you may want to filter by degree level first. However, they are great for the degree levels they do offer. Only those schools that rank in the top 15% of all the schools we analyze get awarded with a place on this list.
Any student pursuing a degree in general engineering needs to look into University of Wisconsin - Madison. Located in the large city of Madison, UW - Madison is a public university with a very large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #30 out of 2,217 colleges nationwide means UW - Madison is a great university overall.
There were about 64 general engineering students who graduated with this degree at UW - Madison in the most recent data year.
Every student pursuing a degree in general engineering has to check out Brown University. Located in the city of Providence, Brown is a private not-for-profit university with a large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #21 out of 2,217 schools nationwide means Brown is a great university overall.
There were roughly 142 general engineering students who graduated with this degree at Brown in the most recent data year.
It is difficult to beat Dartmouth College if you wish to pursue a degree in general engineering. Dartmouth is a moderately-sized private not-for-profit college located in the town of Hanover. A Best Colleges rank of #25 out of 2,217 colleges nationwide means Dartmouth is a great college overall.
There were roughly 153 general engineering students who graduated with this degree at Dartmouth in the most recent data year.
Any student pursuing a degree in general engineering needs to check out Carnegie Mellon University. Located in the large city of Pittsburgh, Carnegie Mellon is a private not-for-profit university with a large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #9 out of 2,217 schools nationwide means Carnegie Mellon is a great university overall.
There were roughly 35 general engineering students who graduated with this degree at Carnegie Mellon in the most recent data year.
UC Berkeley is a very large public university located in the medium-sized city of Berkeley. A Best Colleges rank of #18 out of 2,217 schools nationwide means UC Berkeley is a great university overall.
There were approximately 5 general engineering students who graduated with this degree at UC Berkeley in the most recent year we have data available.
UMCP is a very large public university located in the large suburb of College Park. This university ranks 2nd out of 36 schools for overall quality in the state of Maryland.
There were approximately 381 general engineering students who graduated with this degree at UMCP in the most recent year we have data available.
Located in the large suburb of Needham, Olin College is a private not-for-profit college with a fairly small student population.
There were approximately 33 general engineering students who graduated with this degree at Olin College in the most recent year we have data available.
Harvey Mudd College is a fairly small private not-for-profit college located in the large suburb of Claremont. A Best Colleges rank of #35 out of 2,217 schools nationwide means Harvey Mudd College is a great college overall.
There were roughly 58 general engineering students who graduated with this degree at Harvey Mudd College in the most recent year we have data available.
Located in the large city of Los Angeles, UCLA is a public university with a very large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #26 out of 2,217 schools nationwide means UCLA is a great university overall.
There were about 58 general engineering students who graduated with this degree at UCLA in the most recent year we have data available.
Purdue is a very large public university located in the small city of West Lafayette. A Best Colleges rank of #40 out of 2,217 colleges nationwide means Purdue is a great university overall.
There were roughly 96 general engineering students who graduated with this degree at Purdue in the most recent year we have data available.
Located in the medium-sized city of College Station, Texas A&M College Station is a public university with a very large student population. This university ranks 3rd out of 115 schools for overall quality in the state of Texas.
There were approximately 70 general engineering students who graduated with this degree at Texas A&M College Station in the most recent year we have data available.
UNL is a fairly large public university located in the large city of Lincoln. This university ranks 2nd out of 19 colleges for overall quality in the state of Nebraska.
There were about 48 general engineering students who graduated with this degree at UNL in the most recent year we have data available.
Northeastern is a fairly large private not-for-profit university located in the large city of Boston. This university ranks 7th out of 63 schools for overall quality in the state of Massachusetts.
There were roughly 320 general engineering students who graduated with this degree at Northeastern in the most recent data year.
Vanderbilt is a large private not-for-profit university located in the city of Nashville. A Best Colleges rank of #19 out of 2,217 colleges nationwide means Vanderbilt is a great university overall.
There were roughly 10 general engineering students who graduated with this degree at Vanderbilt in the most recent year we have data available.
Located in the suburb of Storrs, UCONN is a public university with a fairly large student population. This university ranks 2nd out of 28 colleges for overall quality in the state of Connecticut.
There were approximately 49 general engineering students who graduated with this degree at UCONN in the most recent data year.
Case Western is a large private not-for-profit university located in the large city of Cleveland. This university ranks 1st out of 96 schools for overall quality in the state of Ohio.
There were about 13 general engineering students who graduated with this degree at Case Western in the most recent data year.
Northwestern is a fairly large private not-for-profit university located in the city of Evanston. A Best Colleges rank of #5 out of 2,217 schools nationwide means Northwestern is a great university overall.
There were about 6 general engineering students who graduated with this degree at Northwestern in the most recent data year.
Located in the midsize city of Santa Clara, SCU is a private not-for-profit university with a moderately-sized student population. This university ranks 12th out of 168 schools for overall quality in the state of California.
There were roughly 5 general engineering students who graduated with this degree at SCU in the most recent data year.
Located in the suburb of Villanova, Villanova is a private not-for-profit university with a fairly large student population. This university ranks 5th out of 109 schools for overall quality in the state of Pennsylvania.
There were about 18 general engineering students who graduated with this degree at Villanova in the most recent year we have data available.
Located in the small city of Fayetteville, UARK is a public university with a fairly large student population. This university ranks 1st out of 34 schools for overall quality in the state of Arkansas.
There were approximately 106 general engineering students who graduated with this degree at UARK in the most recent data year.
Located in the 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 roughly 14 general engineering students who graduated with this degree at UIUC in the most recent data year.
Located in the suburb of Golden, Mines is a public school with a moderately-sized student population. This school ranks 1st out of 33 colleges for overall quality in the state of Colorado.
There were approximately 8 general engineering students who graduated with this degree at Mines in the most recent year we have data available.
Johns Hopkins is a very large private not-for-profit university located in the city of Baltimore. A Best Colleges rank of #23 out of 2,217 colleges nationwide means Johns Hopkins is a great university overall.
There were about 6 general engineering students who graduated with this degree at Johns Hopkins in the most recent year we have data available.
CU - Boulder is a very large public university located in the midsize city of Boulder. This university ranks 2nd out of 33 schools for overall quality in the state of Colorado.
There were approximately 35 general engineering students who graduated with this degree at CU - Boulder in the most recent year we have data available.
The bars on the spread charts above show the distribution of the schools on this list +/- one standard deviation from the mean.
The Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) from the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), a branch of the U.S. Department of Education (DOE) serves as the core of the rest of our data about colleges.
Some other college data, including much of the graduate earnings data, comes from the U.S. Department of Education’s (College Scorecard).
Credit for the banner image above goes to Rémi Kaupp.
college factual
The engineering program you select can have a big impact on your future. That's why we developed our collection of Best Schools for General Engineering rankings. For our Best Overall General Engineering School rankings, we roll up the results of our degree-level rankings, weighted by the number of degrees awarded at that level.
