MIT Dominates Rankings of Best Engineering Programs

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology School of Engineering has once again been deemed the nation's top engineering Ph.D. program. It placed first in U.S. News's 2012 rankings of Best Engineering Schools, which comes as no surprise given the school's long run atop the engineering rankings. 

The engineering rankings tend to stay relatively stagnant compared to fields like business or law, illustrated by the fact that the top 10 schools remained the same from last year's rankings—save for the University of Texas—Austin Cockrell School of Engineering jumping over the University of Michigan—Ann Arbor College of Engineering for the eighth spot overall. 

There were some changes lower in the rankings, however. The Brown University Division of Engineering was the biggest mover inside the top 50, jumping 12 spots from 57th last year to 45th this year. Further down the list, the Syracuse University College of Engineering and Computer Science moved up from 81st last year to 70th this year. The Tufts University School of Engineering, now ranked 70th, and Yale University, now ranked 35th, moved up the list six and four spots, respectively. 

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Because of the competitive nature of engineering programs, the top schools require near perfect performances on standardized tests in order to gain admission. In fact, Yale reported that the average quantitative GRE score among students admitted in 2010 was a perfect 800. Other schools, including the seventh-ranked California Institute of Technology, 18th ranked Harvard University School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, 18th ranked Princeton University School of Engineering and Applied Science, and MIT reported average quantitative GRE scores of at least 780. 

[Learn about upcoming changes to the GRE.] 

Among the top 50 schools, the Georgia Institute of Technology College of Engineering, ranked fourth overall, has the largest student body, reporting 4,607 graduate engineering students in 2010. The University of Southern California Viterbi School of Engineering was next largest with 4,268 graduate engineering students. 

Conversely, some top schools have relatively small programs. Harvard, for instance, only had 394 students in 2010, and Yale, even fewer, with 188. CalTech, with only 556 students, is also the most selective engineering program, admitting a mere 9 percent of applicants in 2010. MIT, by comparison, admitted 18 percent of applicants. 

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UPDATED: 3/18/11