2025 Best Materials Engineering Master's Degree Schools in Illinois

a master's degree in materials engineering is more popular than many other degrees. In fact, it ranks #108 out of 343 on popularity of all such degrees in the nation. So, you have a fair amount of options to choose from when looking for a school.

For its 2025 ranking, College Factual looked at 2 schools in Illinois to determine which ones were the best for materials engineering students pursuing a master's degree. Combined, these schools handed out 93 master's degrees in materials engineering to qualified students.

What's on this page: * Our Methodology

• Best Master’s Degree Schools List

Average Early-Career Salaries

Average early-career salary of those graduating with their master's degree is one indicator we use in our analysis to find the schools that offer the highest-quality education. After all, your master's degree won't mean much if it doesn't help you find a job that will help you earn a living.

Other Factors We Consider

The metrics below are just some of the other metrics that we use to determine our rankings.

• Major Focus - How many resources a school devotes to materials engineering students as compared to other majors.
• Major Demand - How many other materials engineering students want to attend this school to pursue a master's degree.
• Educational Resources - How many resources are allocated to students. These resources may include educational expenditures per student, number of students per instructor, and graduation rate among other things.
• Student Debt - How much debt materials engineering students go into to obtain their master's degree and how well they are able to pay back that debt.
• Accreditation - Whether a school is regionally accredited and/or accredited by a recognized materials engineering related body.

Our full ranking methodology documents in more detail how we consider these factors to identify the best colleges for materials engineering students working on their master's degree.

More Ways to Rank Materials Engineering Schools

Since picking the right college can be one of the most important decisions of your life, we've developed the Best Materials Engineering Master's Degree Schools in Illinois ranking, along with many other major-related rankings, to help you make that decision.

Best Schools for Master’s Students to Study Materials Engineering in Illinois

Explore the top ranked colleges and universities for materials engineering students seeking a a master's degree.

Top Illinois Schools for a Master's in Materials Engineering

1

Northwestern University
Evanston, IL

57 Annual Graduates

It's difficult to beat Northwestern University if you wish to pursue a master's degree in materials engineering. Located in the city of Evanston, Northwestern is a private not-for-profit university with a fairly large student population.More information about a master’s in materials engineering from Northwestern University

2

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Champaign, IL

23 Annual Graduates

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign is one of the best schools in the United States for getting a master's degree in materials engineering. UIUC is a fairly large public university located in the city of Champaign.More information about a master’s in materials engineering from University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Best Materials Engineering Colleges in the Great Lakes Region

Explore all the Best Materials Engineering Colleges in the Great Lakes Area or other specific states within that region.

State	Colleges	Degrees Awarded
Michigan	211	53
Ohio	207	59
Indiana	191	13
Wisconsin	173	14

View All Rankings >

Rankings in Majors Related to Materials Engineering

Materials Engineering is one of 41 different types of Engineering programs to choose from.

Materials Engineering Concentrations

Major	Annual Graduates
General Materials Engineering	93

Most Popular Majors Related to Materials Engineering

Related Major	Annual Graduates
Civil Engineering	331
Electrical Engineering	302
Mechanical Engineering	239
Industrial Engineering	150
Computer Engineering	127
Other Engineering	127
Biomedical Engineering	122
Aerospace & Aeronautical Engineering	65
Chemical Engineering	61
Construction Engineering	53

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).
• Credit for the banner image above goes to Panoramedia. More about our data sources and methodologies.