2025 Best Systems Engineering Schools in the Great Lakes Region
4Colleges in the Great Lakes Region
417Systems Engineering Degrees Awarded
$102,528Avg Early-Career Salary
Systems Engineering is about average in terms of popularity for degree programs. That is, it ranks #160 out of the 395 majors across the country that we analyze each year. 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 4 schools in the Great Lakes Region to determine which ones were the best for systems engineering students pursuing a degree. Combined, these schools handed out 417 degrees in systems engineering to qualified students.
Your choice of systems engineering school matters, so we have put together these rankings to help you make your decision. We derive our Best Overall Systems 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.
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 Systems Engineering Schools in the Great Lakes Region list to help you make the college 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 Systems Engineering in the Great Lakes Region
Although we recommend filtering by degree level first, you can view the list below to see which schools give the educational experience for the systems engineering degree levels they offer.
Top Great Lakes Region Schools in Systems Engineering
It's difficult to beat University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign if you wish to pursue a degree in systems engineering. Located in the small city of Champaign, UIUC is a public university with a fairly large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #41 out of 2,152 colleges nationwide means UIUC is a great university overall.
There were roughly 101 systems engineering students who graduated with this degree at UIUC in the most recent year we have data available. Students who receive their degree from the systems engineering program earn an average of $81,785 in the first couple years of their career.
It's difficult to beat University of Michigan - Ann Arbor if you want to pursue a degree in systems engineering. U-M is a fairly large public university located in the midsize 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 80 systems engineering students who graduated with this degree at U-M in the most recent year we have data available. Systems Engineering degree recipients from University of Michigan - Ann Arbor earn a boost of about $20,386 over the typical earnings of systems engineering graduates.
It is hard to beat University of Michigan - Dearborn if you want to pursue a degree in systems engineering. UM Dearborn is a medium-sized public university located in the medium-sized city of Dearborn. This university ranks 21st out of 56 colleges for overall quality in the state of Michigan.
There were about 18 systems engineering students who graduated with this degree at UM Dearborn in the most recent data year.
Otterbein University is a great option for students interested in a degree in systems engineering. Located in the suburb of Westerville, Otterbein is a private not-for-profit university with a small student population. This university ranks 41st out of 91 schools for overall quality in the state of Ohio.
There were roughly 7 systems engineering students who graduated with this degree at Otterbein in the most recent data year. Graduates who receive their degree from the systems engineering program earn around $63,243 in the first couple years of their career.
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 luis gomes.
Your choice of systems engineering school matters, so we have put together these rankings to help you make your decision. We derive our Best Overall Systems Engineering School rankings by rolling up our degree-level rankings after weighting them by the number of degrees awarded at each school.
