When it comes to popularity, a bachelor's degree in systems engineering sits in the middle of the road, ranking #179 out of 363 majors in the country. As such, the degree program isn't offered at every college in the United States, but there are schools that do have a program in the field that are top-notch when it comes to quality.
For its 2025 ranking, College Factual looked at 2 schools in Virginia to determine which ones were the best for systems engineering students pursuing a bachelor's degree. Combined, these schools handed out 84 bachelor's degrees in systems engineering to qualified students.
To determine the overall quality of a graduate school, one factor we look at is the average early-career salary of those receiving their bachelor's degree from the school. This is because one of the main reasons people pursue their bachelor's degree is to enable themselves to find better-paying positions.
Other Factors We Consider
The metrics below are just some of the other metrics that we use to determine our rankings.
Major Focus - How much a school focuses on systems engineering students vs. other majors.
Major Demand - The number of systems engineering students who choose to seek a bachelor's degree at the school.
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 systems engineering to pay back their student loans after receiving their bachelor's degree.
Accreditation - Whether a school is regionally accredited and/or accredited by a recognized systems engineering related body.
Our complete ranking methodology documents in more detail how we consider these factors to identify the best colleges for systems engineering students working on their bachelor's degree.
The systems engineering school you choose to invest your time and money in matters. To help you make the decision that is right for you, we've developed a number of major-specific rankings, including this list of the Best Systems Engineering Bachelor's Degree Schools in Virginia.
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 Bachelor’s Students to Study Systems Engineering in Virginia
Below you'll see a list of the best colleges and universities for pursuing a bachelor's degree in systems engineering.
Top Virginia Schools for a Bachelor's in Systems Engineering
University of Virginia - Main Campus is one of the finest schools in the country for getting a bachelor's degree in systems engineering. University of Virginia is a very large public university located in the midsize suburb of Charlottesville.
Bachelor's recipients from the systems engineering major at University of Virginia - Main Campus get $3,118 more than the average graduate with the same degree shortly after graduation.
Every student who is interested in a bachelor's degree in systems engineering needs to check out George Mason University. Located in the large suburb of Fairfax, GMU is a public university with a very large student population.
Students who graduate with their bachelor's from the systems engineering program state that they receive average early career wages of $84,942.
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).
