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.
For its 2025 ranking, College Factual looked at 112 schools in the United States to determine which ones were the best for general engineering students pursuing a degree. 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 20% of all the schools we analyze get awarded with a place on this list.
Every student pursuing a degree in general engineering has to look into Carnegie Mellon University. Located in the city of Pittsburgh, Carnegie Mellon is a private not-for-profit university with a fairly large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #8 out of 2,152 colleges nationwide means Carnegie Mellon is a great university overall.
There were approximately 40 general engineering students who graduated with this degree at Carnegie Mellon in the most recent year we have data available.
Every student who is interested in general engineering needs to check out Brown University. Located in the city of Providence, Brown is a private not-for-profit university with a fairly large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #26 out of 2,152 schools nationwide means Brown is a great university overall.
There were about 177 general engineering students who graduated with this degree at Brown in the most recent year we have data available.
University of California - Los Angeles is one of the finest schools in the country for getting a degree in general engineering. Located in the large city of Los Angeles, UCLA is a public university with a very large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #28 out of 2,152 colleges 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.
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 #12 out of 2,152 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.
UMCP is a very large public university located in the suburb of College Park. A Best Colleges rank of #37 out of 2,152 colleges nationwide means UMCP is a great university overall.
There were about 201 general engineering students who graduated with this degree at UMCP in the most recent data year.
Located in the city of Madison, UW - Madison is a public university with a very large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #40 out of 2,152 schools nationwide means UW - Madison is a great university overall.
There were roughly 78 general engineering students who graduated with this degree at UW - Madison 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 fairly large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #34 out of 2,152 schools nationwide means Villanova is a great university overall.
There were approximately 6 general engineering students who graduated with this degree at Villanova 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 very large student population. This university ranks 1st out of 115 schools for overall quality in the state of Texas.
There were about 99 general engineering students who graduated with this degree at Texas A&M College Station 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 #36 out of 2,152 schools nationwide means Harvey Mudd College is a great college overall.
There were about 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 large suburb of Golden, Mines is a public school with a moderately-sized student population. This school ranks 1st out of 31 colleges 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.
Vanderbilt is a large private not-for-profit university located in the large city of Nashville. A Best Colleges rank of #18 out of 2,152 colleges nationwide means Vanderbilt is a great university overall.
There were approximately 35 general engineering students who graduated with this degree at Vanderbilt in the most recent data year.
Northeastern is a fairly large private not-for-profit university located in the city of Boston. A Best Colleges rank of #33 out of 2,152 colleges nationwide means Northeastern is a great university overall.
There were approximately 205 general engineering students who graduated with this degree at Northeastern in the most recent data year.
UNL is a fairly large public university located in the large city of Lincoln. This university ranks 2nd out of 19 schools 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.
Located in the medium-sized city of Santa Clara, SCU is a private not-for-profit university with a moderately-sized student population. This university ranks 9th out of 161 colleges for overall quality in the state of California.
There were about 4 general engineering students who graduated with this degree at SCU in the most recent year we have data available.
ASU - Tempe is a fairly large public university located in the city of Tempe. This university ranks 2nd out of 26 schools for overall quality in the state of Arizona.
There were roughly 186 general engineering students who graduated with this degree at ASU - Tempe in the most recent year we have data available.
Located in the city of Champaign, UIUC is a public university with a fairly 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 14 general engineering students who graduated with this degree at UIUC in the most recent data year.
Purdue is a very large public university located in the small city of West Lafayette. This university ranks 3rd out of 41 schools for overall quality in the state of Indiana.
There were about 92 general engineering students who graduated with this degree at Purdue in the most recent year we have data available.
Located in the fringe town of Storrs, UCONN is a public university with a very large student population. This university ranks 3rd out of 18 colleges for overall quality in the state of Connecticut.
There were roughly 50 general engineering students who graduated with this degree at UCONN in the most recent data year.
NC State is a fairly large public university located in the city of Raleigh. This university ranks 4th out of 93 schools for overall quality in the state of North Carolina.
There were about 47 general engineering students who graduated with this degree at NC State in the most recent year we have data available.
CU - Boulder is a fairly large public university located in the city of Boulder. This university ranks 2nd out of 31 schools for overall quality in the state of Colorado.
There were about 34 general engineering students who graduated with this degree at CU - Boulder in the most recent year we have data available.
Located in the small city of Morgantown, WVU is a public university with a fairly large student population. This university ranks 2nd out of 25 colleges for overall quality in the state of West Virginia.
There were approximately 42 general engineering students who graduated with this degree at WVU 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.
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.
