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. Combined, these schools handed out 8,480 degrees in general engineering to qualified students.
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.
Every student who is interested in general engineering has 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 approximately 78 general engineering students who graduated with this degree at UW - Madison in the most recent data year.
Any student pursuing a degree in general engineering needs to take a look at 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 colleges nationwide means Brown is a great university overall.
There were roughly 177 general engineering students who graduated with this degree at Brown in the most recent year we have data available.
It is hard 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 remote town of Hanover. A Best Colleges rank of #25 out of 2,217 schools nationwide means Dartmouth is a great college overall.
There were roughly 134 general engineering students who graduated with this degree at Dartmouth in the most recent year we have data available.
Any student who is interested in general engineering needs to look into Carnegie Mellon University. Located in the large city of Pittsburgh, Carnegie Mellon is a private not-for-profit university with a fairly large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #9 out of 2,217 colleges nationwide means Carnegie Mellon is a great university overall.
There were roughly 40 general engineering students who graduated with this degree at Carnegie Mellon in the most recent year we have data available.
UC Berkeley is a fairly large public university located in the 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 11 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 suburb of College Park. This university ranks 2nd out of 36 colleges for overall quality in the state of Maryland.
There were roughly 201 general engineering students who graduated with this degree at UMCP in the most recent data year.
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 approximately 51 general engineering students who graduated with this degree at Harvey Mudd College in the most recent year we have data available.
Located in the city of Los Angeles, UCLA is a public university with a fairly 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 72 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 city of West Lafayette. A Best Colleges rank of #40 out of 2,217 schools nationwide means Purdue is a great university overall.
There were approximately 92 general engineering students who graduated with this degree at Purdue in the most recent year we have data available.
Located in the midsize city of College Station, Texas A&M College Station is a public university with a fairly large student population. This university ranks 3rd out of 115 colleges for overall quality in the state of Texas.
There were approximately 99 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 very 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 approximately 56 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 city of Boston. This university ranks 7th out of 63 colleges for overall quality in the state of Massachusetts.
There were approximately 205 general engineering students who graduated with this degree at Northeastern in the most recent year we have data available.
Vanderbilt is a large private not-for-profit university located in the large city of Nashville. A Best Colleges rank of #19 out of 2,217 schools nationwide means Vanderbilt is a great university overall.
There were about 35 general engineering students who graduated with this degree at Vanderbilt in the most recent year we have data available.
Located in the large 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 about 50 general engineering students who graduated with this degree at UCONN in the most recent year we have data available.
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 year we have data available.
Northwestern is a fairly large private not-for-profit university located in the small city of Evanston. A Best Colleges rank of #5 out of 2,217 colleges nationwide means Northwestern is a great university overall.
There were about 4 general engineering students who graduated with this degree at Northwestern in the most recent year we have data available.
Located in the medium-sized city of Santa Clara, SCU is a private not-for-profit university with a medium-sized student population. This university ranks 12th out of 168 colleges for overall quality in the state of California.
There were approximately 4 general engineering students who graduated with this degree at SCU in the most recent year we have data available.
Located in the suburb of Villanova, Villanova is a private not-for-profit university with a large student population. This university ranks 5th out of 109 schools for overall quality in the state of Pennsylvania.
There were roughly 6 general engineering students who graduated with this degree at Villanova in the most recent data year.
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 colleges for overall quality in the state of Arkansas.
There were approximately 105 general engineering students who graduated with this degree at UARK in the most recent year we have data available.
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 colleges nationwide means UIUC is a great university overall.
There were about 14 general engineering students who graduated with this degree at UIUC in the most recent year we have data available.
Located in the large suburb of Golden, Mines is a public school with a moderately-sized student population. This school ranks 1st out of 33 schools for overall quality in the state of Colorado.
There were roughly 21 general engineering students who graduated with this degree at Mines in the most recent data year.
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 schools nationwide means Johns Hopkins is a great university overall.
There were roughly 9 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 medium-sized city of Boulder. This university ranks 2nd out of 33 schools for overall quality in the state of Colorado.
There were roughly 34 general engineering students who graduated with this degree at CU - Boulder in the most recent data year.
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.