3,476Materials Processing and Manufacturing Degrees Awarded
General Materials Engineering is above average in terms of popularity with it being the #199 most popular degree program in the country. This means you won't have too much trouble finding schools that offer the degree.
For its 2025 ranking, College Factual looked at 64 schools in the United States to determine which ones were the best for general materials engineering students pursuing a degree. When you put them all together, these colleges and universities awarded 3,476 degrees in general materials engineering annually.
Choosing a Great General Materials Engineering School
The materials processing and manufacturing program you select can have a big impact on your future. That's why we developed our collection of Best Schools for General Materials Engineering rankings. For our Best Overall General Materials 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.
General Materials Engineering Rankings by Degree Level
Since picking the right college can be one of the most important decisions of your life, we've developed the Best General Materials Engineering Schools ranking, along with many other major-related rankings, to help you make that decision.
You can also filter this list by location to find schools closer to you.
In addition to College Factual's rankings, you may want to take a look at College Combat, our unique tool that lets you pit your favorite schools head-to-head and compare how they rate on factors that most interest you.
When you have some time, check it out - you may want to bookmark the link so you don't forget it.
Best Schools for General Materials Engineering in the United States
The schools below may not offer all types of materials processing and manufacturing 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.
12 Top Schools in Materials Processing and Manufacturing
96Materials Processing and Manufacturing Degrees Awarded
It is difficult to beat Stanford University if you wish to pursue a degree in general materials engineering. Stanford is a large private not-for-profit university located in the suburb of Stanford. A Best Colleges rank of #10 out of 2,152 colleges nationwide means Stanford is a great university overall.
There were roughly 96 general materials engineering students who graduated with this degree at Stanford in the most recent data year.
66Materials Processing and Manufacturing Degrees Awarded
Every student who is interested in general materials engineering has to take a look at Northwestern University. Northwestern is a fairly large private not-for-profit university located in the city of Evanston. A Best Colleges rank of #5 out of 2,152 colleges nationwide means Northwestern is a great university overall.
There were about 66 general materials engineering students who graduated with this degree at Northwestern in the most recent year we have data available.
76Materials Processing and Manufacturing Degrees Awarded
Massachusetts Institute of Technology is one of the best schools in the United States for getting a degree in general materials engineering. Located in the midsize city of Cambridge, MIT is a private not-for-profit school with a large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #1 out of 2,152 colleges nationwide means MIT is a great school overall.
There were approximately 76 general materials engineering students who graduated with this degree at MIT in the most recent data year.
109Materials Processing and Manufacturing Degrees Awarded
Texas A&M University - College Station is one of the best schools in the United States for getting a degree in general materials engineering. Located in the medium-sized 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 approximately 109 general materials engineering students who graduated with this degree at Texas A&M College Station in the most recent data year.
66Materials Processing and Manufacturing Degrees Awarded
Cornell is a fairly large private not-for-profit university located in the small city of Ithaca. A Best Colleges rank of #9 out of 2,152 schools nationwide means Cornell is a great university overall.
There were approximately 66 general materials engineering students who graduated with this degree at Cornell in the most recent data year.
64Materials Processing and Manufacturing Degrees Awarded
Johns Hopkins is a very large private not-for-profit university located in the large city of Baltimore. A Best Colleges rank of #6 out of 2,152 schools nationwide means Johns Hopkins is a great university overall.
There were about 64 general materials engineering students who graduated with this degree at Johns Hopkins in the most recent data year.
140Materials Processing and Manufacturing Degrees Awarded
Located in the medium-sized city of Gainesville, UF is a public university with a fairly large student population. This university ranks 1st out of 70 colleges for overall quality in the state of Florida.
There were approximately 140 general materials engineering students who graduated with this degree at UF in the most recent data year.
123Materials Processing and Manufacturing Degrees Awarded
Located in the small city of Champaign, UIUC is a public university with a very large student population. This university ranks 3rd out of 85 colleges for overall quality in the state of Illinois.
There were about 123 general materials engineering students who graduated with this degree at UIUC in the most recent year we have data available.
120Materials Processing and Manufacturing Degrees Awarded
Located in the city of Atlanta, Georgia Tech is a public school with a fairly large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #19 out of 2,152 colleges nationwide means Georgia Tech is a great school overall.
There were about 120 general materials engineering students who graduated with this degree at Georgia Tech in the most recent year we have data available.
114Materials Processing and Manufacturing Degrees Awarded
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 114 general materials engineering students who graduated with this degree at Purdue in the most recent year we have data available.
74Materials Processing and Manufacturing Degrees Awarded
U-M is a fairly large public university located in the medium-sized city of Ann Arbor. A Best Colleges rank of #22 out of 2,152 colleges nationwide means U-M is a great university overall.
There were approximately 74 general materials engineering students who graduated with this degree at U-M in the most recent year we have data available.
84Materials Processing and Manufacturing Degrees Awarded
Located in the city of Philadelphia, UPenn is a private not-for-profit university with a very large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #2 out of 2,152 colleges nationwide means UPenn is a great university overall.
There were roughly 84 general materials engineering students who graduated with this degree at UPenn in the most recent data year.
Here are some additional great schools for General Materials Engineering students that almost earned our Best General Materials Engineering Schools award.
Rankings in Majors Related to Materials Processing and Manufacturing
General Materials Engineering is one of 0 different types of Materials Engineering programs to choose from.
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.
The materials processing and manufacturing program you select can have a big impact on your future. That's why we developed our collection of Best Schools for General Materials Engineering rankings. For our Best Overall General Materials Engineering School rankings, we roll up the results of our degree-level rankings, weighted by the number of degrees awarded at that level.
