2025 Best Systems Engineering Schools
45
Colleges in the United States
3,802
Systems Engineering Degrees Awarded
$102,528
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.
For its 2025 ranking, College Factual looked at 45 schools in the United States to determine which ones were the best for systems engineering students pursuing a degree. When you put them all together, these colleges and universities awarded 3,802 degrees in systems engineering during the 2021-2022 academic year.
Jump to one of the following sections: * Degree-Level Rankings
Choosing a Great Systems Engineering School
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
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
It's difficult to beat Massachusetts Institute of Technology if you wish to pursue a degree in systems engineering. Located in the medium-sized city of Cambridge, MIT is a private not-for-profit school with a large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #1 out of 2,152 colleges nationwide means MIT is a great school overall.
There were about 219 systems engineering students who graduated with this degree at MIT in the most recent year we have data available. Degree recipients from the systems engineering program at Massachusetts Institute of Technology make $48,743 above the standard college grad with the same degree when they enter the workforce.
More information about a degree in systems engineering from Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Johns Hopkins University is a great choice for students pursuing a degree in systems engineering. Johns Hopkins is a fairly large private not-for-profit university located in the city of Baltimore. A Best Colleges rank of #6 out of 2,152 schools nationwide means Johns Hopkins is a great university overall.
There were approximately 162 systems engineering students who graduated with this degree at Johns Hopkins in the most recent data year. Degree recipients from the systems engineering program at Johns Hopkins University get $32,579 more than the standard college grad in this field shortly after graduation.
More information about a degree in systems engineering from Johns Hopkins University
University of Virginia - Main Campus is one of the best schools in the country for getting a degree in systems engineering. Located in the medium-sized suburb of Charlottesville, University of Virginia is a public university with a very large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #35 out of 2,152 schools nationwide means University of Virginia is a great university overall.
There were about 138 systems engineering students who graduated with this degree at University of Virginia in the most recent data year. Soon after graduating, systems engineering degree recipients typically earn an average of $99,016 at the beginning of their careers.
More information about a degree in systems engineering from University of Virginia - Main Campus
Every student who is interested in systems engineering has to take a look at University of Florida. Located in the city of Gainesville, UF is a public university with a very large student population. This university ranks 1st out of 70 schools for overall quality in the state of Florida.
There were roughly 300 systems engineering students who graduated with this degree at UF in the most recent year we have data available. Soon after graduation, systems engineering degree recipients generally earn about $90,497 at the beginning of their careers.
More information about a degree in systems engineering from University of Florida
Master's Degree
Highest Degree Type
2nd
Most Popular In PA
66
Systems Engineering Degrees Awarded
Located in the city of Philadelphia, UPenn is a private not-for-profit university with a fairly large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #2 out of 2,152 colleges nationwide means UPenn is a great university overall.
There were roughly 66 systems engineering students who graduated with this degree at UPenn in the most recent data year.
More information about a degree in systems engineering from University of Pennsylvania
Located in the suburb of Saint Louis, WUSTL is a private not-for-profit university with a large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #21 out of 2,152 colleges nationwide means WUSTL is a great university overall.
There were about 37 systems engineering students who graduated with this degree at WUSTL in the most recent year we have data available. Soon after graduating, systems engineering degree recipients generally make about $83,874 in their early careers.
More information about a degree in systems engineering from Washington University in St Louis
USC is a very large private not-for-profit university located in the large city of Los Angeles. A Best Colleges rank of #13 out of 2,152 colleges nationwide means USC is a great university overall.
There were roughly 46 systems engineering students who graduated with this degree at USC in the most recent year we have data available. Those systems engineering students who get their degree from University of Southern California receive $15,835 more than the typical systems engineering graduate.
More information about a degree in systems engineering from University of Southern California
Cornell is a very large private not-for-profit university located in the small city of Ithaca. A Best Colleges rank of #9 out of 2,152 colleges nationwide means Cornell is a great university overall.
There were roughly 121 systems engineering students who graduated with this degree at Cornell in the most recent data year. Degree recipients from the systems engineering degree program at Cornell University make $14,927 above the typical college graduate with the same degree shortly after graduation.
More information about a degree in systems engineering from Cornell University
Located in the small city of Champaign, UIUC is a public university with a very large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #41 out of 2,152 schools nationwide means UIUC is a great university overall.
There were about 101 systems engineering students who graduated with this degree at UIUC in the most recent year we have data available. Students who graduate with their degree from the systems engineering program state that they receive average early career income of $81,785.
More information about a degree in systems engineering from University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
GWU is a very large private not-for-profit university located in the large city of Washington. A Best Colleges rank of #25 out of 2,152 schools nationwide means GWU is a great university overall.
There were approximately 138 systems engineering students who graduated with this degree at GWU in the most recent year we have data available. Those systems engineering students who get their degree from George Washington University earn $16,730 more than the average systems engineering grad.
More information about a degree in systems engineering from George Washington University