USNWR Top 30 Undergrad ENGINEERING Programs

[Anonymous]

So here’s my question …
Is it harder to get into Wisconsin for engineering than to get into Harvard engineering?
Harder to get into Purdue engineering than Columbia gnegineering?
I just find it really challenging to built a “target” or “reach” list for engineering schools. I don’t really have a sense of how hard it is to get into those top 30 engineering schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So here’s my question …
Is it harder to get into Wisconsin for engineering than to get into Harvard engineering?
Harder to get into Purdue engineering than Columbia gnegineering?
I just find it really challenging to built a “target” or “reach” list for engineering schools. I don’t really have a sense of how hard it is to get into those top 30 engineering schools.

Troll

[Anonymous]

Surprised Cornell isn't in the top 3.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So here’s my question …
Is it harder to get into Wisconsin for engineering than to get into Harvard engineering?
Harder to get into Purdue engineering than Columbia gnegineering?
I just find it really challenging to built a “target” or “reach” list for engineering schools. I don’t really have a sense of how hard it is to get into those top 30 engineering schools.

It's significantly harder to get into Harvard or Columbia for engineering than Purdue or Wisconsin, simply because the Ivy League schools are more selective overall. However, most of the top 30 public engineering schools, like Purdue and Wisconsin are accessible to strong students. My current freshman was accepted at several of the Big 10 engineering schools but wouldn't have had a shot at an Ivy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So here’s my question …
Is it harder to get into Wisconsin for engineering than to get into Harvard engineering?
Harder to get into Purdue engineering than Columbia gnegineering?
I just find it really challenging to built a “target” or “reach” list for engineering schools. I don’t really have a sense of how hard it is to get into those top 30 engineering schools.

It's significantly harder to get into Harvard or Columbia for engineering than Purdue or Wisconsin, simply because the Ivy League schools are more selective overall. However, most of the top 30 public engineering schools, like Purdue and Wisconsin are accessible to strong students. My current freshman was accepted at several of the Big 10 engineering schools but wouldn't have had a shot at an Ivy.

That's very comforting -- thanks. I know my kid doesn't have a shot at any of the Ivys, but I am just having a really hard time gauging whether he has any shot at any of these better engineering schools that are located at universities that are usually considered somewhat less selective. The list we've generated is already incredibly long because I really don't know how to handicap the odds since things like Naviance aren't specific for the engineering school versus arts/sciences.
If anyone has any suggestions for how to figure this out for engineering, I'd be really happy to hear it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Surprised Cornell isn't in the top 3.

Not me. Those are some heavy hitters in the Engineering world.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So here’s my question …
Is it harder to get into Wisconsin for engineering than to get into Harvard engineering?
Harder to get into Purdue engineering than Columbia gnegineering?
I just find it really challenging to built a “target” or “reach” list for engineering schools. I don’t really have a sense of how hard it is to get into those top 30 engineering schools.

It's significantly harder to get into Harvard or Columbia for engineering than Purdue or Wisconsin, simply because the Ivy League schools are more selective overall. However, most of the top 30 public engineering schools, like Purdue and Wisconsin are accessible to strong students. My current freshman was accepted at several of the Big 10 engineering schools but wouldn't have had a shot at an Ivy.

That's very comforting -- thanks. I know my kid doesn't have a shot at any of the Ivys, but I am just having a really hard time gauging whether he has any shot at any of these better engineering schools that are located at universities that are usually considered somewhat less selective. The list we've generated is already incredibly long because I really don't know how to handicap the odds since things like Naviance aren't specific for the engineering school versus arts/sciences.
If anyone has any suggestions for how to figure this out for engineering, I'd be really happy to hear it.

If your kid has the stats to be competitive at Harvard then they will get into Wisconsin and Purdue for School of Engineering. Those schools are close t0 around a 40% or a bit less for an admission rate.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So here’s my question …
Is it harder to get into Wisconsin for engineering than to get into Harvard engineering?
Harder to get into Purdue engineering than Columbia gnegineering?
I just find it really challenging to built a “target” or “reach” list for engineering schools. I don’t really have a sense of how hard it is to get into those top 30 engineering schools.

It's significantly harder to get into Harvard or Columbia for engineering than Purdue or Wisconsin, simply because the Ivy League schools are more selective overall. However, most of the top 30 public engineering schools, like Purdue and Wisconsin are accessible to strong students. My current freshman was accepted at several of the Big 10 engineering schools but wouldn't have had a shot at an Ivy.

That's very comforting -- thanks. I know my kid doesn't have a shot at any of the Ivys, but I am just having a really hard time gauging whether he has any shot at any of these better engineering schools that are located at universities that are usually considered somewhat less selective. The list we've generated is already incredibly long because I really don't know how to handicap the odds since things like Naviance aren't specific for the engineering school versus arts/sciences.
If anyone has any suggestions for how to figure this out for engineering, I'd be really happy to hear it.

If your kid has the stats to be competitive at Harvard then they will get into Wisconsin and Purdue for School of Engineering. Those schools are close t0 around a 40% or a bit less for an admission rate.

Not for out of state engineering. It’s closer to 15-20%. Lower for the top schools

umich - 13%
Ga tech - 10%
Berkley - 7%

[Anonymous]

I think if you only use that list which is best undergrad engineering from schools that offer doctorate, you are missing some very strong programs off of their best undergraduate engineering from schools that do not offer a doctorate.
https://www.usnews.com/best-colleges/rankings/engineering-overall?myCollege=engineering-no-doctorate&_sort=myCollege&_sortDirection=asc

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So here’s my question …
Is it harder to get into Wisconsin for engineering than to get into Harvard engineering?
Harder to get into Purdue engineering than Columbia gnegineering?
I just find it really challenging to built a “target” or “reach” list for engineering schools. I don’t really have a sense of how hard it is to get into those top 30 engineering schools.

It's significantly harder to get into Harvard or Columbia for engineering than Purdue or Wisconsin, simply because the Ivy League schools are more selective overall. However, most of the top 30 public engineering schools, like Purdue and Wisconsin are accessible to strong students. My current freshman was accepted at several of the Big 10 engineering schools but wouldn't have had a shot at an Ivy.

That's very comforting -- thanks. I know my kid doesn't have a shot at any of the Ivys, but I am just having a really hard time gauging whether he has any shot at any of these better engineering schools that are located at universities that are usually considered somewhat less selective. The list we've generated is already incredibly long because I really don't know how to handicap the odds since things like Naviance aren't specific for the engineering school versus arts/sciences.
If anyone has any suggestions for how to figure this out for engineering, I'd be really happy to hear it.

If your kid has the stats to be competitive at Harvard then they will get into Wisconsin and Purdue for School of Engineering. Those schools are close t0 around a 40% or a bit less for an admission rate.

Not for out of state engineering. It’s closer to 15-20%. Lower for the top schools

umich - 13%
Ga tech - 10%
Berkley - 7%

True. For 2029 GT OOS overall acceptance rate was about 9%. Even lower for Engineering specifically.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So here’s my question …
Is it harder to get into Wisconsin for engineering than to get into Harvard engineering?
Harder to get into Purdue engineering than Columbia gnegineering?
I just find it really challenging to built a “target” or “reach” list for engineering schools. I don’t really have a sense of how hard it is to get into those top 30 engineering schools.

It's significantly harder to get into Harvard or Columbia for engineering than Purdue or Wisconsin, simply because the Ivy League schools are more selective overall. However, most of the top 30 public engineering schools, like Purdue and Wisconsin are accessible to strong students. My current freshman was accepted at several of the Big 10 engineering schools but wouldn't have had a shot at an Ivy.

That's very comforting -- thanks. I know my kid doesn't have a shot at any of the Ivys, but I am just having a really hard time gauging whether he has any shot at any of these better engineering schools that are located at universities that are usually considered somewhat less selective. The list we've generated is already incredibly long because I really don't know how to handicap the odds since things like Naviance aren't specific for the engineering school versus arts/sciences.
If anyone has any suggestions for how to figure this out for engineering, I'd be really happy to hear it.

If your kid has the stats to be competitive at Harvard then they will get into Wisconsin and Purdue for School of Engineering. Those schools are close t0 around a 40% or a bit less for an admission rate.

Not for out of state engineering. It’s closer to 15-20%. Lower for the top schools

umich - 13%
Ga tech - 10%
Berkley - 7%

True. For 2029 GT OOS overall acceptance rate was about 9%. Even lower for Engineering specifically.

You might want to consider Virginia Tech, which recently released their admissions data for 2025-2026 showing a 58% out-of-state acceptance rate for engineering. Purdue has a lower OOS acceptance rate at 35%, but admitted students typically have very high stats.

Penn State, University of Minnesota, and University of Colorado are also good options for out-of-state students, with engineering acceptance rates likely falling somewhere between Virginia Tech and Purdue's rates.

[Anonymous]

Where are you all finding the admit rates for out of state engineering applicants? Where is this published?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So here’s my question …
Is it harder to get into Wisconsin for engineering than to get into Harvard engineering?
Harder to get into Purdue engineering than Columbia gnegineering?
I just find it really challenging to built a “target” or “reach” list for engineering schools. I don’t really have a sense of how hard it is to get into those top 30 engineering schools.

Of course not. Ivies/stanford etc are far and away harder to get in and have much stronger students: average SAT metrics show it.
Acceptance rate does not mean much.
Us news “ranking” of engineering schools is not a ranking of the most rigorous, the most open doors to the top-paying engineering careers, or the most likely to place into top phD programs. Ivy+ and top publics such as UCB win on these metrics. Not coincidentally they also have the highest-scoring students.
For example VT: ranked above known rigorous engineering on this list and yet the SAT math average is 700 for entering engineering students. The curriculum has minimum ABET hours, much less rigorous than the top schools require.
No one seriously academic uses the usnews list to find the most rigorous engineering program: it is a useless list for that because the metrics they use do not relate directly to the quality of the education.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yea, ok, so how many kids do you know who turn down Harvard for Penn State for engineering?

I'll answer: zero.

Because of all the rankings that don't matter, it's the engineering undergrad rankings. You go to any one of these schools -- or the next 30 for that matter -- and get through the program, and you'll get a great job.

Based on these rankings, Harvard and Penn State are tied so if you got into both the Harvard name cache would probably put it over the edge.

But here's a real world example that's recent: my neighbor's DS got into Purdue and Dartmouth last Spring for engineering and chose Purdue. Purdue is ranked higher for engineering but some think because Dartmouth is an ivy that it's better period. Our neighbors went for engineering excellence over general pedigree.

Dartmouth does not have a real 4 year BSE program though! Not a valid comparison! The ivies with real engineering are better than purdue(Princeton, Penn, Harvard Columbia for sure, and possibly even Yale, newer but moving up fast in the engineering realm)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So here’s my question …
Is it harder to get into Wisconsin for engineering than to get into Harvard engineering?
Harder to get into Purdue engineering than Columbia gnegineering?
I just find it really challenging to built a “target” or “reach” list for engineering schools. I don’t really have a sense of how hard it is to get into those top 30 engineering schools.

It's significantly harder to get into Harvard or Columbia for engineering than Purdue or Wisconsin, simply because the Ivy League schools are more selective overall. However, most of the top 30 public engineering schools, like Purdue and Wisconsin are accessible to strong students. My current freshman was accepted at several of the Big 10 engineering schools but wouldn't have had a shot at an Ivy.

+1