Anonymous
Post 06/11/2026 22:29     Subject: What do the engineering rankings actually measure?

These are the best undergrad engineering schools which offer a PhD:

https://www.usnews.com/best-colleges/rankings/engineering-doctorate
Anonymous
Post 06/11/2026 21:28     Subject: What do the engineering rankings actually measure?

Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:But what if it’s from Swarthmore?

Excellent if you want to go for careers requiring phD in engineering(R&D): they place into top5 phD regularly


Satire is so infrequent here. Touche'
Anonymous
Post 06/11/2026 20:03     Subject: What do the engineering rankings actually measure?

Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Names would be nice, ones that aren't MIT and Caltech


Best privates known for rigorous engineering coursework (and not much weedout because getting in is the weedout):
Stanford, CMU, ivies with real engineering(Princeton, Cornell, Penn, Columbia, Harvard, and yes even Yale is now on that list),
Northwestern, JHU, Rice, Duke, WashU, Vanderbilt.

Top publics: UCB, GT, Michigan, UIUC, UWash, Purdue

Some of these are absolute tops for BME others are tops for mechanical or nano, others are strong in every E discipline. You have to look through each department in the Eschool.


Pretty much this. Would probably add Texas to the list of publics.
Anonymous
Post 06/11/2026 19:58     Subject: What do the engineering rankings actually measure?

Anonymous wrote:But what if it’s from Swarthmore?

Excellent if you want to go for careers requiring phD in engineering(R&D): they place into top5 phD regularly
Anonymous
Post 06/11/2026 13:12     Subject: What do the engineering rankings actually measure?

Anonymous wrote:But what if it’s from Swarthmore?


i would say it depends on what one's educational goals are. If a student wants to go into aerospace or nuclear engineering, it's probably not a good fit. If a student is less pre-professionally focused and see this as a part of a broader liberal-arts education, it may be a good fit. It's a small program and grads seem to get absorbed into the workforce or head to graduate school. Engineering is a good training background for a host of non-engineering specific jobs.

Anonymous
Post 06/11/2026 11:08     Subject: What do the engineering rankings actually measure?

Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:No one uses US News for engineering rankings.


The only people who say this are those whose favored school is low-ranked.


Yep +1 and it's so obvious.
Anonymous
Post 06/11/2026 10:55     Subject: What do the engineering rankings actually measure?

Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:No one uses US News for engineering rankings.


The only people who say this are those whose favored school is low-ranked.


Bingo.
Anonymous
Post 06/11/2026 09:26     Subject: What do the engineering rankings actually measure?

But what if it’s from Swarthmore?
Anonymous
Post 06/10/2026 20:00     Subject: What do the engineering rankings actually measure?

Anonymous wrote:First figure out what kind of engineering they’re interested in. Big state schools are often great for engineering.


This.

And as a contrived example, not all engineering programs offer all engineering degrees. Make sure the schools the student applies to actually offer the specific engineering degree sought.

Also consider the likely specialization(s) within the degree when picking colleges to apply to. If one wants to be an EE working in semiconductor materials (rather than in VHDL logic design or 3-phase power) then pick colleges where that specialty is well supported in the ECE Dept.

Unless headed for a finance job, avoid degrees in "General Engineering". As an employer, I never hire those simply because they don't bring _specific_ skills that I need to their workplace.
Anonymous
Post 06/10/2026 17:44     Subject: What do the engineering rankings actually measure?

Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Names would be nice, ones that aren't MIT and Caltech


Best privates known for rigorous engineering coursework (and not much weedout because getting in is the weedout):
Stanford, CMU, ivies with real engineering(Princeton, Cornell, Penn, Columbia, Harvard, and yes even Yale is now on that list),
Northwestern, JHU, Rice, Duke, WashU, Vanderbilt.

Top publics: UCB, GT, Michigan, UIUC, UWash, Purdue

Some of these are absolute tops for BME others are tops for mechanical or nano, others are strong in every E discipline. You have to look through each department in the Eschool.


+1

Anonymous
Post 06/10/2026 17:07     Subject: What do the engineering rankings actually measure?

First figure out what kind of engineering they’re interested in. Big state schools are often great for engineering.
Anonymous
Post 06/10/2026 15:52     Subject: What do the engineering rankings actually measure?

Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:As a hiring manager, I do not care much about rankings. Top few might be better, but my experience is that what really matters for on the job performance -- so what I mostly care about when hiring -- are:

Which specific degree?
Which specialty within that degree?
Did the student take the rigorous upper-level in-major courses?
What concrete skills do they bring?
If they did a senior project, what was it?

ABET sets a high floor. In my experience, almost all engineering programs are rigorous. No one accidentally gets an engineering degree. It takes a lot of hard work, even for the bright capable students.



C'mon now. If you work for a major engineering recruiter and I mean a real player, you know darn well there are certain schools that are targeted for recruiting because they produce the best. If you work in the field, you already know this and the schools that are targeted. If you work for just a company that hires engineers and not a real player, then this might not make sense to you. I get that.




Hee hee. Is this a company/firm that hires engineers and pays them? As opposed to...umm...what exactly? Im curious as to an example of a "real player" vs a 'fake player', i guess.


I think if you don't know then you are not one.

Given you can't define the difference, apparently you aren't either This is childish...
Anonymous
Post 06/10/2026 15:40     Subject: What do the engineering rankings actually measure?

Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Names would be nice, ones that aren't MIT and Caltech


Best privates known for rigorous engineering coursework (and not much weedout because getting in is the weedout):
Stanford, CMU, ivies with real engineering(Princeton, Cornell, Penn, Columbia, Harvard, and yes even Yale is now on that list),
Northwestern, JHU, Rice, Duke, WashU, Vanderbilt.

Top publics: UCB, GT, Michigan, UIUC, UWash, Purdue

Some of these are absolute tops for BME others are tops for mechanical or nano, others are strong in every E discipline. You have to look through each department in the Eschool.


Almost seems like you're saying don't go to Dartmouth or Brown for engineering!


DP.
Why would you? Dartmouth does not have a real ABET accredited 4yr-degree . You need a 5th yr .
Brown is not Top25 (based on research not USNews ) in any engineering field. All other ivies have at least one if not multiple divisions in the top25 on those criteria.
Anonymous
Post 06/10/2026 13:14     Subject: What do the engineering rankings actually measure?

Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:As a hiring manager, I do not care much about rankings. Top few might be better, but my experience is that what really matters for on the job performance -- so what I mostly care about when hiring -- are:

Which specific degree?
Which specialty within that degree?
Did the student take the rigorous upper-level in-major courses?
What concrete skills do they bring?
If they did a senior project, what was it?

ABET sets a high floor. In my experience, almost all engineering programs are rigorous. No one accidentally gets an engineering degree. It takes a lot of hard work, even for the bright capable students.



C'mon now. If you work for a major engineering recruiter and I mean a real player, you know darn well there are certain schools that are targeted for recruiting because they produce the best. If you work in the field, you already know this and the schools that are targeted. If you work for just a company that hires engineers and not a real player, then this might not make sense to you. I get that.


Hee hee. Is this a company/firm that hires engineers and pays them? As opposed to...umm...what exactly? Im curious as to an example of a "real player" vs a 'fake player', i guess.


I think if you don't know then you are not one.
Anonymous
Post 06/10/2026 13:12     Subject: What do the engineering rankings actually measure?

Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Names would be nice, ones that aren't MIT and Caltech


Best privates known for rigorous engineering coursework (and not much weedout because getting in is the weedout):
Stanford, CMU, ivies with real engineering(Princeton, Cornell, Penn, Columbia, Harvard, and yes even Yale is now on that list),
Northwestern, JHU, Rice, Duke, WashU, Vanderbilt.

Top publics: UCB, GT, Michigan, UIUC, UWash, Purdue

Some of these are absolute tops for BME others are tops for mechanical or nano, others are strong in every E discipline. You have to look through each department in the Eschool.


Almost seems like you're saying don't go to Dartmouth or Brown for engineering!