2025 Best Engineering Doctor's Degree Schools in Illinois

a doctor's degree in engineering is more popular than many other degrees. In fact, it ranks #4 out of 36 on popularity of all such degrees in the nation. This means you won't have too much trouble finding schools that offer the degree.

College Factual looked at 2 colleges and universities when compiling its 2025 Best Engineering Doctor's Degree Schools in Illinois ranking. Combined, these schools handed out 490 doctor's degrees in engineering to qualified students.

What's on this page: * Our Methodology

• Best Doctor’s Degree Schools List

Average Earnings

To determine the overall quality of a graduate school, one factor we look at is the average early-career salary of those receiving their doctor's degree from the school. After all, your doctor'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 engineering students as compared to other majors.
• Major Demand - How many other engineering students want to attend this school to pursue a doctor'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 easy is it for engineering to pay back their student loans after receiving their doctor's degree.
• Accreditation - Whether a school is regionally accredited and/or accredited by a recognized engineering related body.

Our complete ranking methodology documents in more detail how we consider these factors to identify the best schools for engineering students working on their doctor's degree.

More Ways to Rank Engineering Schools

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 Doctor's Degree Schools in Illinois list to help you make the college decision.

Best Schools for Doctorate Students to Study Engineering in Illinois

Below you'll see a list of the best colleges and universities for pursuing a doctor's degree in engineering.

Top Illinois Schools for a Doctorate in Engineering

1

Northwestern University
Evanston, IL

Doctor's Degree Highest Degree Type

122 Annual Graduates

Every student who is interested in a doctor's degree in engineering has to take a look at Northwestern University. Located in the city of Evanston, Northwestern is a private not-for-profit university with a fairly large student population.More information about a doctorate in engineering from Northwestern University

2

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Champaign, IL

Doctor's Degree Highest Degree Type

241 Annual Graduates

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign is a good option for students interested in a doctor's degree in engineering. UIUC is a fairly large public university located in the small city of Champaign.More information about a doctorate in engineering from University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Best Engineering Colleges in the Great Lakes Region

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

State	Colleges	Degrees Awarded
Indiana	29	437
Michigan	29	437
Ohio	29	449
Wisconsin	27	168

View All Rankings >

Engineering Majors to Study

Major	Annual Graduates
Electrical Engineering	96
Mechanical Engineering	89
Chemical Engineering	73
Materials Engineering	68
Biomedical Engineering	50
Civil Engineering	46
Industrial Engineering	20
Aerospace & Aeronautical Engineering	12
Nuclear Engineering	9
Engineering Mechanics	6

Majors Similar to Engineering

Related Major	Annual Graduates
Biological & Biomedical Sciences	315
Physical Sciences	266
Agriculture & Agriculture Operations	164
Mathematics & Statistics	125
Natural Resources & Conservation	9
Architecture & Related Services	6

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 Petty Officer 3rd Class Declan Barnes. More about our data sources and methodologies.