2025 Best Engineering & Applied Physics Schools in the Great Lakes Region
4Colleges in the Great Lakes Region
354Applied Physics Degrees Awarded
Engineering & Applied Physics is above average in terms of popularity with it being the #448 most popular degree program in the country. So, you have a fair amount of options to choose from when looking for a school.
For its 2025 ranking, College Factual looked at 4 schools in the Great Lakes Region to determine which ones were the best for engineering & applied physics students pursuing a degree. Combined, these schools handed out 354 degrees in engineering & applied physics to qualified students.
Choosing a Great Engineering & Applied Physics School
The applied physics program you select can have a big impact on your future. That's why we developed our collection of Best Schools for Engineering & Applied Physics rankings. For our Best Overall Engineering & Applied Physics School rankings, we roll up the results of our degree-level rankings, weighted by the number of degrees awarded at that level.
In order to find the schools that are the best fit for you, you may want to filter to one of the degree levels below.
Engineering & Applied Physics 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 Engineering & Applied Physics Schools in the Great Lakes Region 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 Engineering & Applied Physics in the Great Lakes Region
The schools below may not offer all types of applied physics degrees so you may want to filter by degree level first. However, they are great for the degree levels they do offer.
It is hard to beat University of Michigan - Ann Arbor if you want to pursue a degree in engineering & applied physics. Located in the city of Ann Arbor, U-M is a public university with a very large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #22 out of 2,152 schools nationwide means U-M is a great university overall.
There were approximately 14 engineering & applied physics students who graduated with this degree at U-M in the most recent data year.
Every student who is interested in engineering & applied physics needs to look into University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. UIUC is a fairly large public university located in the small city of Champaign. A Best Colleges rank of #41 out of 2,152 schools nationwide means UIUC is a great university overall.
There were roughly 79 engineering & applied physics students who graduated with this degree at UIUC in the most recent data year.
Any student pursuing a degree in engineering & applied physics needs to take a look at Ohio State University - Main Campus. Located in the large city of Columbus, Ohio State is a public university with a very large student population. This university ranks 1st out of 91 schools for overall quality in the state of Ohio.
There were about 35 engineering & applied physics students who graduated with this degree at Ohio State in the most recent year we have data available.
University of Wisconsin - Platteville is a wonderful option for students pursuing a degree in engineering & applied physics. Located in the town of Platteville, UW - Platteville is a public university with a medium-sized student population. This university ranks 20th out of 46 colleges for overall quality in the state of Wisconsin.
There were roughly 24 engineering & applied physics students who graduated with this degree at UW - Platteville in the most recent data year.
One of 0 majors within the Engineering Physics area of study, Engineering & Applied Physics has other similar majors worth exploring.
Notes and References
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).