Best Engineering graduate schools
Graduate engineering schools. Unlike the professional degrees above, most research-track engineering study is funded rather than paid for — which changes the cost calculation completely.
Before the ranking matters
- PhD study is usually funded; master's usually isn't
- Research-track PhD admits in engineering typically come with a tuition waiver plus a stipend via a research or teaching assistantship. Course-based master's degrees are generally self-funded and can cost as much as an MBA.
- You apply to a department, and often to a supervisor
- Admission is decided at department and research-group level. A school ranked lower overall may be far stronger in your specific subfield, and the individual faculty you'd work under matters more than the institution's band.
- Accreditation and licensure are separate from ranking
- Practising as a licensed engineer is a national or state process (the PE licence in the US, chartered status in the UK). An unaccredited-but-prestigious programme can complicate that route.
These rank programmes, not universities. A school's band here is independent of its university's overall position on this site — professional schools admit separately, are funded separately, and are ranked by different publications on different criteria. Where a row shows a university rank too, treat the two numbers as answering different questions.
Consensus band across US News Best Engineering Schools for the US tier, and QS/THE Engineering & Technology for the international tier. Positions are bands, never a single publication's exact number for a single year (2025–26 rankings cycle). Coverage stops at the well-documented top tier; absence means outside that tier, not unranked.
Starring a row saves the university to your shortlist, since that's the level the rest of this site works at. Standalone graduate schools with no undergraduate institution here can't be starred.