2024 Best Colleges for Chemical Engineering
There are about 24,690 students enrolled in Chemical Engineering in the USA.
Menu: summary
popularity
Above Average
Compared to national avg.
Diplomas received last year
13,591
Vs. National Avg.
-14%
popularity Rank
#71
cost
Somewhat Expensive
Compared to national avg.
Median degree cost
$32K
Vs. National Avg.
31%
cost Rank
#113
salary
Above Average
Compared to national avg.
Average Salary Two Years Out of School
$51K
Vs. National Avg.
26%
salary Rank
#47
professors
Very Good
Compared to national avg.
Professor Rating
B-
Vs. National Avg.
27%
professors Rank
#41
students
Average
Compared to national avg.
Diversity Rating
B-
Vs. National Avg.
6%
students Rank
#135
SUMMARY
A degree in Chemical Engineering is a valuable choice and ordinarily an obligatory first step for scholars choosing to pursue a career as a senior chemical process engineer, a chemical engineer, or a research and development engineer. Interestingly, nationally, chemical engineering is a fairly common choice coming in at the 42nd most popular degree. In the last year, there were 11,423 chemical engineering graduates. In-state tuition for chemical engineering at private institutions is, on average, 4.3 times more spendy than their public peers.
There are 180 schools that offer chemical engineering. 180 institutions is on par with other degrees offered in the United States. If you're hoping to immerse yourself with other chemical engineering undergrads, look at universities in California which have more undergrads admitted to chemical engineering than any other state. More generally, the top region to get a degree in chemical engineering is in the Southeast region with The University of Alabama, Georgia Institute of Technology-Main Campus, and North Carolina State University at Raleigh best representing the region. Interestingly, our selection for the best conference to major in chemical engineering is the Big Ten Conference with Ohio State University-Main Campus, Pennsylvania State University-Main Campus, and Purdue University-Main Campus representing the conference. That being said, our belief is that the best college for chemical engineering is Massachusetts Institute of Technology. You may also want to check out our list of best colleges.
The objectively best school is not necessarily the 'best' school for you. There are many more perspectives to consider when choosing institution. Stuff like campus amenities, transportation services, and food might definitely sway your feelings of which college to attend. At authority.org, we have weighed the pros and cons for you. If, for example, you want to know which chemical engineering school has the best college campus, the winner is Northeastern University. If you are very interested in which college boasts the top campus, we have an entire page dedicated to that. We have carefully pored through government databases, professor reviews, student reviews, and more so we can evaluate every U.S. major in an unbiased and informative way. Here you can find our comprehensive list for the schools with the best student life and, from that list, our choice of the university with the best student life for chemical engineering is Cornell University. Curious why? Continue scrolling to find out more about our top selections. Many of our picks might surprise you.
If cost is a primary influence in your decision on where to go to university, you might be cautious about Columbia University in the City of New York. Columbia University in the City of New York appears to be the most expensive college for chemical engineering, at least regarding out of state students. We have a page for the most expensive universities that could put the expense of Columbia University in the City of New York into perspective. Additionally, you may be interested to know that chemical engineering is the 45th most expensive program in the nation, with an average associated cost of $49,500. On a broader scale, the most expensive state for chemical engineering on our list is Pennsylvania with tuition and fees at the primary three institutions amounting to $57,882 at Bucknell University, totalling $55,816 at Carnegie Mellon University, and expenses of $55,816 at Lehigh University. Even more broadly, the most expensive region for chemical engineering is the Mid East region which is best demonstrated with Columbia University in the City of New York with a cost of $57,763, Cornell University with a cost of $56,550, and Bucknell University with a cost of $57,882.
Our cheapest region for chemical engineering is the Rocky Mountains region which is represented by Montana State University with a cost of $23,890, Brigham Young University-Provo with a cost of $5,790, and University of Wyoming with a cost of $13,392. In better news, the most affordable university for chemical engineering is North Carolina State University at Raleigh. Authority's full list of the most affordable universities can be explored here.
In-state students can anticipate paying about $11,400 for a degree in chemical engineering. That cost balloons by a lot to an average of $28,600 for an out-of-state public-school student. Our choice for the university constituting the best value for chemical engineering: Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Here you will see our comprehensive list on the universities we see as being the best value overall. Do know, this section is predicated on being an out-of-state student. The value proposition changes when it comes to in-state tuition, but we do not know in which states any one student has residency.
Earnings for chemical engineering students differ widely, but within two years completing the major students will regularly make around $56,200. While there is much variation in earnings; top earners can bring in up to $97,200. Even right out of school, the minimum earning jobs within the chemical engineering field earn $32,100, which could be worse. The highest earning graduates for chemical engineering have come from Massachusetts Institute of Technology and if you are looking for colleges with all of the highest earning graduates, Authority has that too.
The overall diversity of chemical engineering is quite high, being within the 80th percentile of majors nationally. The university with the most composite diversity for chemical engineering is Massachusetts Institute of Technology and here you can find our general list of the schools which have the most diversity. The overall financial diversity of the Chemical Engineering major stands only within the 36th percentile of all majors. Racial diversity is greater than financial diversity, in the 74th percentile. White undergraduates compose the largest share, 52%, of those studying chemical engineering. Additionally, 65% of scholars pursuing a chemical engineering degree are men.
The median score of chemical engineering's professors is 2.8 stars, a rating which is 30% below the median score for every major; which is a subpar score. If you want the most popular chemical engineering professor nationally, take a look at Karen Nordheden at University of Kansas. It may surprise you, but the best rated instructors for chemical engineering by student are found at University of Kansas. If we incorporate information other than basic rankings it becomes clear that the college with the overall best professors for chemical engineering is Massachusetts Institute of Technology. You will find an explanation of our evolving ranking methodology of the best overall professors here, along with some of the top examples of instructors in the U.S.
Finally, the most difficult college to get into for chemical engineering is Stanford University. While we are unsure why you would be interested, we have a general list of the hardest colleges to get into. That being said, we do hope you believe that considering academics from examples primarily derived from superlatives could be said to be the root of many of higher education's fundamental issues. We at Authority encourage you to look at some of our other pages on different topics and explore a few of our insightful background pages on beneficial things to look for as you progress with your college search.
Top 25 Best Colleges for Chemical Engineering
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#3 2024 Best Colleges for Chemical Engineering
Princeton University
Princeton, NJ | www.princeton.edu/
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#5 2024 Best Colleges for Chemical Engineering
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Cambridge, MA | web.mit.edu/
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#6 2024 Best Colleges for Chemical Engineering
University of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, PA | www.upenn.edu/
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#7 2024 Best Colleges for Chemical Engineering
California Institute of Technology
Pasadena, CA | www.caltech.edu/
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#9 2024 Best Colleges for Chemical Engineering
Columbia University in the City of New York
New York, NY | www.columbia.edu/
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#10 2024 Best Colleges for Chemical Engineering
Vanderbilt University
Nashville, TN | www.vanderbilt.edu/
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#11 2024 Best Colleges for Chemical Engineering
Washington University in St Louis
Saint Louis, MO | www.wustl.edu/
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#12 2024 Best Colleges for Chemical Engineering
Northwestern University
Evanston, IL | www.northwestern.edu/
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#15 2024 Best Colleges for Chemical Engineering
University of Michigan-Ann Arbor
Ann Arbor, MI | https://umich.edu/
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#16 2024 Best Colleges for Chemical Engineering
University of California-Los Angeles
Los Angeles, CA | www.ucla.edu/
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#17 2024 Best Colleges for Chemical Engineering
University of Virginia-Main Campus
Charlottesville, VA | https://www.virginia.edu/
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#20 2024 Best Colleges for Chemical Engineering
Carnegie Mellon University
Pittsburgh, PA | www.cmu.edu/
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#21 2024 Best Colleges for Chemical Engineering
Georgia Institute of Technology-Main Campus
Atlanta, GA | www.gatech.edu/
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#22 2024 Best Colleges for Chemical Engineering
United States Military Academy
West Point, NY | www.westpoint.edu/
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#23 2024 Best Colleges for Chemical Engineering
Northeastern University
Boston, MA | www.northeastern.edu/
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#25 2024 Best Colleges for Chemical Engineering
University of Southern California
Los Angeles, CA | www.usc.edu/