Top Engineering Schools:

Are you thinking about going off to graduate school for engineering? Finding the best engineering school can be a difficult task as there are lots of quality colleges to consider. Firstly, you need to know which field of engineering you want to pursue - biomedical, chemical, civil, computer, electrical, industrial, mechanical, nuclear, petroleum, or aeronautical. Some engineering colleges rank high in many specialties while others focus on one particular concentration. What we are going to do is give you a list of the top engineering schools so you can look into their graduate programs. Several sources are available in magazines and online to research which schools of engineering rate the highest across the country. We will also try to supply the necessary websites and requirements for getting into the school of your choice. Engineering has become a very crowded and popular field as that is where the jobs are, so applying and being accepted into engineering graduate school is harder than ever.

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The most reputable ranking of engineering schools is usually done by the U.S. News and World Report which puts out a yearly review and ranking system for the top graduate schools. We noticed that many of the same schools reach the Top 10 year after year, but periodically a newcomer will be given a top spot. Keep in mind that graduate engineering schools at places like Stanford and MIT are going to cost you $35,000/year versus Cal Berkeley which is less than half that amount and UC Berkeley is ranked #3 (right behind the other two). We searched online message boards and looked in graduate school forums to get some feedback on which schools are "best". Many students mentioned that some schools have a certain amount of prestige built around them but ultimately it's choosing the school that fits best with your personality and style. Grades are one thing but hands on experience is another. A few hiring managers in the engineering field said that getting practical experience as an intern during your schooling can be invaluable at job interviews. Those that just studied to get straight A's and took no initiative to get outside work experience are often at a loss when defining their field of knowledge. The hiring managers are looking for employees that perhaps worked (i.e. at a radio or tv station and learned how the equipment works or maybe even repaired broken equipment) while in college. It's these extra things that can really make the difference between getting hired or being passed over for the job. When you look at average GRE scores you are going to need a score of 760 or better in most cases to get accepted. In 2007, MIT had an acceptance rate of 23.5% with an average GRE of 777. MIT gets top billing in engineering specialties like computer engineering, mechanical engineering, and chemical engineering. Most ranking systems are based on educational quality, faculty accessibility, university funding, academic success, encouraged creativity, and the usefulness of the work in the program. I grew up in the Bay Area and a few of my friends attended UC Berkeley for engineering and they have actually done better than those that went to private schools like Cornell University. Another friend went to the aeronautical engineering graduate program at UCLA and he too has done quite well eventhough UCLA is not a Top 10 school in that specialty. The point I'm trying to make is that going to the most accredited school with the best reputation may not be the "best choice" since it doesn't always relate to finding the best job and making the most money.

Best Engineering Schools - Rankings:

Each year the U.S. News & World Report ranks the "best engineering schools". They give you a detailed list of the Top 10 engineering schools and other information like graduate engineering enrollment, tuition, required fees, full-time faculty, application fee, application deadlines, websites, and charts where you can compare schools to one another. Both public and private engineering schools are listed.

• Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
• Stanford University
• University of California -Berkeley
• Georgia Institute of Technology
• University of Illinois -Urbana-Champaign
• California Institute of Technology
• Carnegie Mellon University
• University of Southern California (Viterbi)
• Cornell University
• University of Michigan - Ann Arbor

Mechanical Engineering Schools:

US News does provide a top 10 list for the specialty engineering graduate schools around the United States. Mechanical engineering is a very popular field and certainly entrance requirements are quite competitive to all schools. Beyond the usuals like MIT, Stanford, and the California Institute of Technology, you will find mechanical engineering schools like Purdue University--West Lafayette, Princeton University, and University of Texas--Austin (Cockrell) ranked highly as well. California has plenty of engineering schools in all categories and many students prefer the Silicon Valley area for schooling simply because that is the hot bed of ingenuity. You find that Stanford graduate and PhD students are starting companies and becoming millionaires so that attracts more students to those programs.

Engineering Graduate School Requirements:

Every engineering school has slighly different requirements for acceptance into their program, but you will find a basic set of courses and examinations that are commonly accepted as requirements. We suggest using the online tool we found at Gradschools.com. You can search a field like Engineering, Technology, & Architecture and then select a "subject" to further refine your results. Lastly, choose a location (state) and the database will pull up a list of schools that meet your criteria. You can then research and find out what the entrance requirements are and successfully apply to programs that you would like to be a part of.

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