Top 10 Engineering Colleges

Higher studies are becoming crucial and selecting where to study is perhaps one of the most important decisions you’ll ever take in your life. We bring to you the list of top 10 Engineering Colleges which will help you get an idea of what these universities have to offer.

10. Imperial College London

We start our Top 10 engineering colleges list with Imperial College London. The university falls under the category of public and has 13,500 students as full-time students. The university has a student to faculty ratio of 12:1 with an admission rate of 15-20%. The University offers the following courses in Engineering;

• Aeronautics
• Bioengineering
• Chemical Engineering
• Civil and Environmental Engineering
• Computing
• Electrical and Electronic Engineering
• Earth Science and Engineering
• Materials
• Mechanical Engineering

The University provides scholarships to its students and has contributed a lot towards research and is classified as a research university.

9. Georgia Institute of Technology

At number 9 we have Georgia Institute of Technology. Situated in Atlanta, Georgia the university falls under the category of public university and has a student to faculty ratio of 19:1 with an admission rate of 58.7%. The university has 18,135 students as full-time students. The university is also classified as a research university because of the extensive research being carried out. The SAT score requirements are as follows; Section Score (25/75) percentile, Critical Reading 580/680, Math 650/750 and Writing 580/670. Engineering courses being offered are as follows;

• Aerospace- Aeronautical and Astronautical Engineering
• Biomedical/Medical Engineering
• Chemical Engineering
• Civil Engineering
• Computer Engineering- General
• Electrical- Electronics and Communications Engineering
• Engineering Mechanics
• Environmental/Environmental Health Engineering
• Industrial Engineering
• Materials Engineering
• Mechanical Engineering
• Nuclear Engineering
• Operations Research
• Textile Sciences and Engineering

The university contributes quite a lot towards research and ranks in the top 10 engineering colleges with the highest research expenditures. Around 70% of the students are supported via various assistant-ships and fellowships.

8. ETH Zürich – Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zürich

Located in Zurich, Switzerland, our number 8 is the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich. The university’s professors and alumni have claimed a total of 21 Nobel prizes. The university falls under the category of Public university and is bound to admit any Swiss citizen that applies to the university. However, don’t worry as it also admits foreign students. To have a look at the courses being offered, please click here. Most of the Undergraduate programs are in German and English. Some of the Engineering courses being offered are as follows;

• Civil Engineering
• Environmental Engineering
• Geomatic Engineering and Planning
• Mechanical Engineering
• Process Engineering
• Biomedical Engineering
• Chemical Engineering
• Chemical and Bioengineering

7. University of California, Los Angeles

Our number 7 on the list is located in the city of the angels; Los Angeles. University of California, Los Angeles is a public university and has 38,500 students as full-time students with a student to faculty ratio of 16:1 and an admission rate of 21.8%. The university is classified as a research university.  SAT score requirements are as follows; Section Score (25/75) percentile, Critical Reading 560/680, Math 590/720 and Writing 580/700. Engineering courses being offered are;

• Aerospace- Aeronautical and Astronautical Engineering
• Agricultural/Biological Engineering and Bioengineering
• Biomedical/Medical Engineering
• Chemical Engineering
• Civil Engineering
• Computer Engineering- General
• Electrical- Electronics and Communications Engineering
• Geological/Geophysical Engineering
• Manufacturing Engineering
• Materials Engineering
• Materials Science
• Mechanical Engineering

The University awarded 52% of its students with financial aid during 2009-2010 with the average reward being $17,008. For the need based grants, 49% of students were entertained and the average reward was $13,302.The Electrical Engineering program admission is very competitive; recently admitted students had a median GPA of 3.8 out of 4.00.

6. Stanford University

The number six; Stanford University. Situated in California and falling under the category of private univeristy but non-profit, the university has 14,793 students as full-time students and has a student to faculty ratio of 10:1 with an admission rate (rather less) of 7.31 %. It is classified as a research university because of the high activity of research being carried out here. The SAT score requirements are as follows; Section Score (25/75) percentile, Critical Reading 670/760, Math 690/790 and Writing 680/780. Engineering courses being offered include;

• Aerospace- Aeronautical and Astronautical Engineering
• Biomedical/Medical Engineering
• Chemical Engineering
• Civil Engineering
• Electrical- Electronics and Communications Engineering
• Environmental/Environmental Health Engineering
• Industrial Engineering
• Materials Engineering
• Mechanical Engineering
• Petroleum Engineering
• Systems Engineering

International students enjoy 11 percent of Undergraduate and 44 percent of Graduate degrees awarded in Engineering.  For those of you, who don’t have high scores, fear not for most departments here don’t have the minimum GRE requirements. Admissions are based on a number of factors that include but are not limited to; statement of purpose, letters of recommendation, transcripts, and test scores.

5. University of Cambridge

And here we have the well known Cambridge University, enjoying the 5^th spot on our list. The university falls under the category of public university and is also classified as a research university located in Cambridge, England. The university has over 18,000 students and 31 colleges to boast about. You would be surprised to know that Oxford and Cambridge, although following similar traditions and practices are at rivalry with each other ever since they were functional.  Some of the Engineering courses being offered are as follows;

• Chemical Engineering
• Computer Science
• Engineering
• Manufacturing Engineering

Since the university is old, well actually very old, one will find a number of myths and legends related to it. The university has contributed a lot towards research and science. Alumni of this university have won a total of 61 Nobel prizes while the affiliates of university have won between 85 and 88 Nobel Prizes. This is one main reason of it making to number 5 in our Top 10 engineering colleges ranking.

4. University of California, Berkeley

Next stop we have number four and this spot is enjoyed by the University of California, Berkeley. This university falls under the category of public and has 34,149 students as full-time students. The student to faculty ratio is 16:1 with an admission rate of 21.6%. It is classified as a research university because of the very high volume of research activity that is carried out within the premises. The SAT score requirements for this particular university are as follows; Section Score (25/75) percentile, Critical Reading 590/710, Math 640/750 and Writing 610/720.Engineering courses being offered are as follows;

• Agricultural/Biological Engineering and Bioengineering
• Biomedical/Medical Engineering
• Chemical Engineering
• Civil Engineering
• Electrical- Electronics and Communications Engineering
• Engineering Physics
• Engineering Science
• Environmental/Environmental Health Engineering
• Materials Science
• Mechanical Engineering
• Nuclear Engineering
• Operations Research

Including 8 current faculty members, a total of 21 faculty members are Nobel laureates. During the decade of 2000-2009, highest number of graduate research fellowships was awarded to this university by National Science Foundation. The criterion for being admitted in Electrical and Computer Science is very high; last year’s successful students had GPAs above 3.7 and GRE quantitative scores above 90%.

3. Massachusetts Institute of Technology

The number three on our list; Massachusetts Institute of Technology is a private university but non-profit. It has 10,360 full-time students with a student to faculty ratio of 8:1 and an admission rate of 10%. The university is classified as a Research university. The university is a bit considerate about the SAT scores unlike the next two universities and has the following requirements; Section Score (25/75) percentile, Critical Reading 670/760, Math 740/800 and Writing 670/770. They have a lot to offer in their Engineering courses;

• Aerospace- Aeronautical and Astronautical Engineering
• Biomedical/Medical Engineering
• Chemical Engineering
• Civil Engineering
• Electrical- Electronics and Communications Engineering
• Environmental/Environmental Health Engineering
• Materials Engineering
• Mechanical Engineering
• Nuclear Engineering
• Operations Research
• Systems Engineering

The university can provide accommodation to one-third of its graduate students and grants admission purely on the ability of students to its various courses while mentoring and advising them. A study shows that about 200-400 companies are started each year by MIT alumni and faculty. Data from 2009 states; 25,800 companies have been founded by alumni, employing almost 3.3 million employees and contributing $2 trillion to the annual revenue. As is expected of such an institute, the admission is tough and there’s a lot of competition to deal with.

2.  Princeton University

The prestigious, quite well known, Princeton University enjoys the number two spot in Top 10 engineering colleges. Located in the state of New Jersey and falling under the category of private university( non- profit ), the university has a high number of full time students; 7,731 with relatively low admission rate of 8.8%. The University has a very good student to faculty ratio of 6:1. The admission bar is high, as the following SAT score requirements depict; Section Score (25/75) percentile, Critical Reading 690/790, Math 710/790 and Writing 700/790. The Engineering courses are as follows;

• Chemical Engineering
• Civil Engineering
• Computer Engineering- General
• Electrical- Electronics and Communications Engineering
• Mechanical Engineering
• Operations Research

The University has a very low acceptance rate and the recently admitted students had to score over 550 on the GRE verbal section and over 700 on the GRE quantitative portion. Nonetheless, the University is an astounding one!

1.  California Institute of Technology

At the number 1 spot of Top 10 Engineering Colleges, we have the prestigious California Institute of Technology. Situated in California and falling under the category of private university(non-profit), this university has a student to faculty ratio of 3:1 and an admission rate of 12.5% with 2,175 full-time students. It falls under the classification of Research Universities. The university has set a high bar standard for admission. Let’s take a look at their criteria for SAT score, Section Score (25/75) percentile, Critical Reading 700/780, Math 770/800 and Writing 710/780. The Engineering courses being offered are as follows;

• Aerospace- Aeronautical and Astronautical Engineering
• Chemical Engineering
• Civil Engineering
• Electrical- Electronics and Communications Engineering
• Engineering Mechanics
• Environmental/Environmental Health Engineering
• Materials Science
• Mechanical Engineering

The campus is a city in itself spreading over 124 acre area in Pasadena, almost 11 miles northeast of downtown Los Angeles. The university’s faculty and alumni are distinguished members of science society and of engineering world. There have been 31 recipients of Nobel Prize in Alumni. The University is considerate towards students and more than 90% are offered scholarship based on merit.