<p>Although the YDN doesn’t offer any exact statistics and is therefore impossible to draw conclusions from, it is quite possible that Yale’s engineering program is smaller in terms of # of undergraduates – this is a major national trend, not something unique to Yale. But Yale engineering is definitely not smaller in terms of the # of faculty or research groups. If you look at the USNWR engineering list, you’ll see the list is basically related to program size/quantity, not quality. Of the top 50 programs in that magazine, Yale is by far the smallest, which is actually a pretty good indication of its quality given that it shows up in the survey despite its relatively small size. In quality-based rankings, as you know, Yale is ranked #1 by ISI, just above Stanford and Caltech. ISI is easily the most respected data organization in the world (publisher of SCI).</p>