If you pursue a degree in general industrial engineering, you won't be alone. The field of study is the #95 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 95 schools in the United States to determine which ones were the best for general industrial engineering students pursuing a degree. When you put them all together, these colleges and universities awarded 8,087 degrees in general industrial engineering annually.
Choosing a Great General Industrial Engineering School
The general ie program you select can have a big impact on your future. That's why we developed our collection of Best Schools for General Industrial Engineering rankings. We derive our Best Overall General Industrial Engineering School rankings by rolling up our degree-level rankings after weighting them by the number of degrees awarded at each school.
You may want to choose one of the degree levels below to find the schools of most interest to you.
Pick Your General Industrial Engineering 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 General Industrial 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 Industrial Engineering in the United States
Although we recommend filtering by degree level first, you can view the list below to see which schools give the educational experience for the general ie degree levels they 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 industrial engineering has to take a look at Northwestern University. Northwestern is a very large private not-for-profit university located in the city of Evanston. A Best Colleges rank of #5 out of 2,152 schools nationwide means Northwestern is a great university overall.
There were approximately 79 general industrial engineering students who graduated with this degree at Northwestern in the most recent data year.
Any student who is interested in general industrial engineering has to take a look at Georgia Institute of Technology - Main Campus. Located in the city of Atlanta, Georgia Tech is a public school with a very large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #19 out of 2,152 schools nationwide means Georgia Tech is a great school overall.
There were roughly 459 general industrial engineering students who graduated with this degree at Georgia Tech in the most recent data year.
Columbia University in the City of New York is a great option for students interested in a degree in general industrial engineering. Located in the city of New York, Columbia is a private not-for-profit university with a fairly large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #15 out of 2,152 schools nationwide means Columbia is a great university overall.
There were roughly 104 general industrial engineering students who graduated with this degree at Columbia in the most recent data year.
Texas A&M University - College Station is a wonderful choice for students pursuing a degree in general industrial engineering. Located in the city of College Station, Texas A&M College Station is a public university with a fairly large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #42 out of 2,152 colleges nationwide means Texas A&M College Station is a great university overall.
There were about 391 general industrial engineering students who graduated with this degree at Texas A&M College Station in the most recent year we have data available.
U-M is a very large public university located in the city of Ann Arbor. A Best Colleges rank of #22 out of 2,152 schools nationwide means U-M is a great university overall.
There were about 247 general industrial engineering students who graduated with this degree at U-M in the most recent data year.
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 schools nationwide means USC is a great university overall.
There were roughly 83 general industrial engineering students who graduated with this degree at USC in the most recent data year.
Clemson is a fairly large public university located in the midsize suburb of Clemson. This university ranks 2nd out of 45 schools for overall quality in the state of South Carolina.
There were about 352 general industrial engineering students who graduated with this degree at Clemson in the most recent data year.
Located in the city of Blacksburg, Virginia Tech is a public school with a fairly large student population. This school ranks 2nd out of 57 colleges for overall quality in the state of Virginia.
There were about 231 general industrial engineering students who graduated with this degree at Virginia Tech in the most recent year we have data available.
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 roughly 331 general industrial engineering students who graduated with this degree at Purdue in the most recent year we have data available.
Located in the small city of Bethlehem, Lehigh is a private not-for-profit university with a moderately-sized student population. This university ranks 4th out of 103 schools for overall quality in the state of Pennsylvania.
There were roughly 66 general industrial engineering students who graduated with this degree at Lehigh in the most recent data year.
Located in the large city of Madison, UW - Madison is a public university with a fairly 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 approximately 159 general industrial engineering students who graduated with this degree at UW - Madison in the most recent data year.
Ohio State is a fairly large public university located in the city of Columbus. This university ranks 1st out of 91 colleges for overall quality in the state of Ohio.
There were about 181 general industrial engineering students who graduated with this degree at Ohio State in the most recent data year.
Located in the city of Ames, Iowa State is a public university with a fairly large student population. This university ranks 2nd out of 37 colleges for overall quality in the state of Iowa.
There were approximately 160 general industrial engineering students who graduated with this degree at Iowa State in the most recent year we have data available.
Located in the city of Minneapolis, UMN Twin Cities is a public university with a fairly large student population. This university ranks 1st out of 52 colleges for overall quality in the state of Minnesota.
There were about 97 general industrial engineering students who graduated with this degree at UMN Twin Cities in the most recent data year.
Located in the city of Seattle, UW Seattle is a public university with a very large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #44 out of 2,152 colleges nationwide means UW Seattle is a great university overall.
There were about 70 general industrial engineering students who graduated with this degree at UW Seattle 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 colleges for overall quality in the state of North Carolina.
There were roughly 133 general industrial engineering students who graduated with this degree at NC State in the most recent year we have data available.
Located in the 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 109 general industrial engineering students who graduated with this degree at UIUC in the most recent data year.
RPI is a moderately-sized private not-for-profit school located in the small city of Troy. This school ranks 6th out of 136 schools for overall quality in the state of New York.
There were roughly 57 general industrial engineering students who graduated with this degree at RPI in the most recent data year.
Located in the large city of Pittsburgh, Pitt is a public university with a very large student population. This university ranks 6th out of 103 colleges for overall quality in the state of Pennsylvania.
There were about 93 general industrial engineering students who graduated with this degree at Pitt in the most recent year we have data available.
Rest of the Top Best General Industrial Engineering Schools
Additional Noteworthy Schools
Here are some additional great schools for General Industrial Engineering students that almost earned our Best General Industrial Engineering Schools award.
General Industrial Engineering Related Rankings by Major
One of 0 majors within the Industrial Engineering area of study, General Industrial Engineering 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).
The general ie program you select can have a big impact on your future. That's why we developed our collection of Best Schools for General Industrial Engineering rankings. We derive our Best Overall General Industrial Engineering School rankings by rolling up our degree-level rankings after weighting them by the number of degrees awarded at each school.
