Top EE Programs by State

College Majors Engineering Majors
1

My ‘27 HS grad has been researching electrical engineering programs. I let him try things on his own but his only source of information is online rankings, which seems to be the case for most everyone these days.

As a manager at a research lab, I’ve compiled a list of top EE programs by state. Order is key if there is separation.

CA:

Stanford

UC Berkeley

Caltech

UCLA

USC

UCSD

NY:

Cornell

Columbia

NYU

RPI

UBuffalo

Stony Brook

MA:

MIT

Harvard

Northeastern

BU

TX:

UT Austin

Texas A&M

Rice

PA:

CMU

UPenn

Penn State

IL:

UIUC

Northwestern

MI:

UMich

IN:

Purdue

Notre Dame

OH:

OSU

CWRU

FL:

UF

UCF

GA:

GT

NJ:

Princeton

MD:

JHU

WA:

UW

VA:

VT

MN:

UM

WI:

UWM

CO:

CU Boulder

AZ:

ASU

TN:

Vanderbilt

UT:

U of U

2

You seem to have omitted some states. Is there some reason why?

DH is a University of Hartford EE grad. Program is well regarded in CT.

University of Maine has great engineering programs.

University of Delaware has great engineering also.

There are a LOT of ABET accredited EE engineering programs that you haven’t listed. Why is that?

Your son should be able to search for ABET engineering programs. That really is what he needs.

6 Likes
3

This is just a random list - not, by the way, much different than a US News ranking.

Here’s the reality of the major - it’s unlikely there’s a “best” short of a few schools.

Uconn - they note 76% employed and 8% seeking - this is 6 months after graduation. They don’t give a knowledge rate. $70.4K mean.

Alabama - 6 months out - 66% employed, 3% still seeking. They have a 92% knowledge rate. Average salary $82.7I.

Ga Tech - 77% that want a job have one (other schools include grad school and more - Ga Tech doesn’t. They give a 35% knowledge rate for the school but you don’t know the major. $91,500 median

Purdue - $83.2K six months out - 5% seeking employment. I don’t see a knowledge rate.

UMN - $79K but in 2024. No other stats.

Rose Hulman - $83.7K. 92% have jobs (their knowledge rate is higher than Bamas)

RPI - $82.8K.

There is no “best” in each state. Jobs hire by location moreso than anything else.

Sure, the MITs of the world and other top schools likely have more not doing engineering - but high end boutique jobs.

There’s LACs, small schools, large flagships with small majors and some with large majors.

Some have higher salaries but less a % getting hired, etc.

But I find the exercise silly - personally.

I’m not sure how you are labeling best - short of 3 or 5 schools.

And there are cost differences and more - which also may impact a “return.”

Good luck to your son.

PS - I live in TN - I know few who apply to Vandy for engineering - most go to UTK or Alabama. Some Auburn but the cost is much higher. I’m sure some top top kids go to Vandy but known for engineering it is not. Mississippi State is an up and comer.

1 Like
4

Link to the ABET “Find Programs” page:

4 Likes
5

As he researches schools, especially if looking at ranking, look at the criteria.

US News, for example, in my opinion is a popularity contest and nothing more. Others disagree. But here is the criteria.

No where are they looking at outcomes, etc.

If your kid is aggressive in seeking employment, they can have success - really from most anywhere. My son’s company hires 150 - some portion engineers and the rest supply chain and ergonomic people. You know who they hire - Michigan…and W Michigan. Cal Poly…and Utah. Akron and Alabama but also RPI and Case Western.

Look at NASA - you have kids from schools like OK State and RPI and Alabama and UAH and Florida Tech and U Houston and more.

The student should find where they fit - that is the top rank!!! Finances are a part of fit, especially if you have budget strain - and for many, they take advantage of healthy stats and find less expensive programs. Others don’t.

I’d start with budgt and then figure out other things - school size, weather desired, big time sports?, religious desire? Urban, suburban or rural? Access to airport? Good food? Direct admission or have to apply after a year and hope you get your major (Purdue, Texas A&M, etc.) Whatever is important to them - and build from there.

In spring and summer of 2026, deans and senior faculty rated the academic quality of peer programs they were familiar with on a 5-point scale: outstanding (5), strong (4), good (3), adequate (2) or marginal (1). Individuals who were unfamiliar with a particular program were asked to select “don’t know.”

Each qualifying school or program was sent two peer assessment surveys.

An average peer assessment score was calculated for each program using a trimmed mean, which removes the two highest and two lowest scores to reduce the impact of outliers. Programs with at least 10 ratings after trimming were then ranked in descending order based on this score.

6

The problem with such schools is they’re heavily regional. While you might perceive them as top programs because of a good regional job market, it’s hard to get hired by bigger companies elsewhere in the nation. Rose-Hulman, while I admit it has an excellent engineering program, is the victim of great bias because of the high acceptance rate and low median SAT; employers like mine didn’t take applicants from Rose-Hulman seriously because there’s no selectivity. This is the difference between top schools and regional schools with decent engineering programs. The latter is not reserved for bright minds that’ll make good engineers. This is not to say that good engineers don’t matriculate into these schools, but bad engineers can also pass through.

This is just my experience. My lab is heavily research-based and I understand others are more into the hardcore engineering at firms. This is why I wanted to get some advice from others in the field. The ranking contest doesn’t cut it when it comes to engineering. Even this post is futile because of how skewed everything is. What is clear is that MIT, Stanford, Caltech, Cornell, UIUC, UMich, Purdue, GT, and UT Austin prevail. However, these aren’t always viable options for OOS or above average students.

1 Like
7

I only included top programs, just divided them by state. Sure, those two are great, but I wouldn’t necessarily think of UHart. Maybe UConn.

8

We can agree to disagree.

Kids get jobs where they apply.

My son turned down your best school in Indiana (and you are missing #1 in the country for non-PHD Rose Hulman). He went to Bama. While I cringed, he told me rank wasn’t relevant to companies and he wanted his own dorm room vs. at the time what would have been a triple or even off campus. Many go to Bama for either NMF (free) or the dorm.

He had I think 6 offers by xmas Senior year and his intern company in the Spring. His offers were in the NE, midwest, out West, Tampa was the closest to school and more. He applied only for rotational programs.

His first rotation was in Utah - where he hiked, biked and skii’d. At trivia night, he met a Columbia grad from a neighboring company and my son was surprised to find out he made more $$. He worked in CA, FL, AZ in addition during his rotations and now is in Irvine. He says there are lots of “roll tide” comments in CA, alums and more.

My daughter - not engineering - went to a regional school in South Carolina and works in Denver. Why? She applied for jobs in Denver.

Most hiring today is done online. Yes, many kids, like at UMD - settle locally - but that’s a choice. They also derive higher salaries - likely due to the high cost of living but also many employed by the government. The career stats show most pay roughly the same. UVA doesn’t show EE salaries by the way. Va Tech also doesn’t - says not enough grads reporting. I worry about schools that can’t wrangle data from their grads. btw - how many jobs in general are local to Blacksburg, VA or Lafayette IN or Terre Haute IN?

Budget should be the first factor to drive a decision if it’s important - but short of the Stanford/MITs of the world, I think there’s a lot less variance than you are stating.

My opinion from having been through it.

If you want to work somewhere, then you apply to that somewhere.

If I recall, there was an Omaha kid at Bama on here. They wanted to intern near home. Guess what - they did.

You will find successes from most any school - and not just local. But you will drive your success - and have a say in where you will work - industry and location - because you will be applying to places that interest you.

Good luck.

9

What does your child care about in their school environment? What’s the budget? Have you made any college visits? If there are schools near you, go look at big and small schools, urban and rural, public and private, schools that are more theoretical and those that are more hands on, and see what resonates with your child. There is so much more to finding a good fit than rankings.

Things my kid wanted - large, rural, collaborative, hands on, heavy focus on co-ops but not mandatory, strong career center, ability to continue music/theater. She also wanted schools that were generous with AP credits. She didn’t know any of that until we started touring schools. Many higher ranked schools got crossed off her list because they didn’t meet one of her must haves. Then she did a deep dive to industry ties, honors colleges, and looking closely at the four year plans of study.

9 Likes
10

This is interesting. I have a theory that EE is a lot more technical than MechE. We only hire EEs due to the nature of our work. The EE programs really do vary in terms of what kids get exposed to. My son’s torn between a state school like GT (no aid) and a top school that isn’t known for EE (Northwestern, etc). He fears he won’t get the hands-on exposure and techy labs at the latter.

11

He’s very open in terms of environment. Recently he’s become more inclined to private colleges because of more resources and better scholarships. At the same time, he’s not really sure as to what he’s looking for, more concerned about the quality of the program.

12

What makes you think the privates have better resources? Scholarships are - well - I look at Cost of Attendance.

Some schools full pay are less expensive than other schools with merit aid.

There’s many great programs and he should visit some. Of course, you also have to get in.

There’s a parent here - who eschews UVA. Not because it’s not good - but because of the onerous OOS cost and value. In their opinion, it’s not worth it.

There’s a Ga Tech mom whose kid I think couldn’t get a job for - 10 months and finally got a contract job. Haven’t seen @momsearcheng in a while but Ga Tech shows their hiring rate by - % of those who want a job who have - and it’s a lot who don’t.

So I think there’s a mixed bag with lots of great schools and you have to find your place - but ensure it has ABET accreditation. There are parents on here who swear about K State or School of Mines and many more. I know Purdue is beloved as is Pitt (not sure about engineering).

You have strong opinions while working in the field - and that’s great. It’s your call but I personally would find the right school. Some go close to home because leaving home is tough. So if you’re in Iowa, you might go to Iowa State or U Iowa just for that.

Some may say - RPI or Case Western are great but they’re from Arizona and get home sick but nothing wrong with U of A or ASU, etc. Some may go because of a great club or because of a club (even if not great) where they can get hands on experience as a first year, etc. There’s really many variations of schools that are very good.

But it’s a personal call.

Anyway, good luck to you and I hope you do a chance me at some point.

1 Like
13

We know many Northwestern engineers. They have their Engineering First program which is hands on work from the get go. NU is also a research powerhouse. They also have Purdue’s old president at the helm starting this year who is an engineer and very STEM focused. I don’t think you need to worry about your concerns.

What should be on the radar is that NU is on the quarter system and their school calendar is very different than many schools. It can make getting internships tricky, especially at a larger company that wants to start onboarding their intern cohort on the same day. We know many students that ran into trouble getting permission to take exams early and start their jobs. Some had to put off required courses to get in their internships. The quarter system also means a much quicker pace for courses which can be grueling. NU is an intense place. The flip side is it makes it easier to double major or have multiple minors.

Be aware that NU doesn’t offer merit scholarships. Everything is need based. RD is also a significantly harder admit than ED.

Lastly, I’d look closely at the EE offerings, how many EE majors there actually are, what research is happening on campus, what companies hire, etc… (And I’d do that for all the schools under contention).

6 Likes
14

The salaries and outcomes I gave above are EE, not MechE. Every major school that has EEs has kids get jobs. There are G Tech level kids prob at most every engineering school in the country. If you make it out of engineering (only 50% do nationally), I think you are very accomplished.

2 Likes
15

Thanks. We had our concerns about the quarter system. I’m trying to get better at researching each school on that level - I think that’s what many students are missing, and perhaps my lab as well. Our perception of top schools has not been updated in decades.

2 Likes
16

Very insightful. I do agree that most engineering students are accomplished. I’m just worried about increasing competition. It used to be that 1 or 2 in an entire school pursued engineering. My son’s school has at the very least 25 students majoring in engineering.

17

Some common math “weed-out” classes include calculus II, multivariable calculus, differential equations, & linear algebra, taught by professors & instructors or adjuncts outside of engineering.

Some major-specific “weed-out” classes for mechanical engineering include statics and dynamics (forces on stationary and moving bodies) & for electrical engineering include microelectronics or electromagnetics (complex circuit and field behavior).

3 Likes
18

RIT -

$76K (class of 2025) - 100% outcome rate/ 76% knowledge rate -(6 months) Salary and Career Info for Electrical Engineering BS | Career Services and Co-op | RIT (better than stonybrook Buf doesn’t seem to publish?)

(COMP E separate, unlike some schools) is 96K Computer Engineering BS | RIT

3 Likes
19

leaving off Mines is a choice…

AND UMD?!?!

4 Likes
20

you put Buffalo and Stonybrook on your list, which are heavily regional though?

I am in new england and you NEVER hear about them. Engineering kids don’t apply there- MUCH more likely to apply to UMD, WI, or even UMN or even Mines (vibes!).

1 Like