2024 Best Colleges for Environmental Engineering

SUMMARY

Going to school for Environmental Engineering is not only a valuable choice, but typically a required first step for students intending to enter a career as a senior environmental engineer, an environmental remediation engineer, or an environmental protection specialist. Interestingly, environmental engineering is a ​unique major coming in at the 160th most popular major. Last academic year alone, there were 1,712 environmental engineering diplomas received. In-state tuition for environmental engineering at private institutions is, on average, 4.4 times more costly than their public fellows.

With just 106 colleges having programs for environmental engineering there might be a smaller selection of institutions which will have a degree program for you. If you're hoping to surround yourself with other environmental engineering undergrads, consider looking at universities in California which have more undergraduates admitted to environmental engineering than any other state. Zooming out, the top region to study environmental engineering is in the Mid East region with University of Delaware, SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry, and Pennsylvania State University-Main Campus best representing the region. Interestingly, our pick for the top conference to study environmental 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. Based on our list on the best colleges, our choice for the best college for environmental engineering is Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

The objectively 'best' school does not mean it is the best school for every student. There can be lots of angels to weigh when selecting institution. Things such as campus amenities, transportation services, and food might definitely impact your choice on which university to attend. Here at Authority, we weighed the pros and cons for you. If, as an example, you are intrigued by which environmental engineering college boasts the top campus, the answer is Stanford University. If you are very interested in which university boasts the top campus, we have an entire list dedicated to that. We have carefully pored through professor reviews, student reviews, government databases, and more so we can evaluate every major in an unbiased and informative way. Here you can explore our comprehensive list for the colleges with the best student life&nbspand, from that list, our pick for the college with the best student life for environmental engineering is Cornell University. Are you curious why? Keep scrolling to learn more about Authority's top selections. Many of our decisions will probably shock you.

If expense is a major factor in your decision on where to go to college, you might be cautious about Columbia University in the City of New York. Columbia University in the City of New York&nbspis the most expensive university for environmental engineering, at least regarding out of state students. That being said, we have an entire page for the most expensive&nbspuniversities that might put the price tag of Columbia University in the City of New York&nbspinto perspective. Additionally, you may care to know that environmental engineering is the 76th most expensive major in the US, with an average expense of $41,200. To zoom out a little, the most expensive state for environmental engineering nationally is Maryland demonstrated by a tuition of $55,350 at the main university in the state Johns Hopkins University. Even more broadly, the most costly region for environmental engineering is the New England region which is best demonstrated with Yale University with a cost of $55,500, Massachusetts Institute of Technology with a cost of $53,450, and Tufts University with a cost of $57,324.

Our cheapest region for environmental engineering is the Southeast region which is represented by Florida Atlantic University with a cost of $14,374, Louisiana State University and Agricultural & Mechanical College with a cost of $8,038, and Kennesaw State University with a cost of $15,704. In better news, the most affordable college for environmental engineering is SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry. Our entire list of the most affordable colleges can be found here.

In-state attendees can expect to pay in the neighborhood of $11,600 for a degree in environmental engineering. That cost increases dramatically to a median of $30,600 for the out-of-state public-school student. On that note, our selection for the university constituting the best value for environmental engineering: Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Through this link you can find our comprehensive list about the schools we see as being the best value&nbspin general. With that said, this list is predicated on the assumption that you are an out-of-state student. A discussion of value changes when it comes to in-state tuition, as such, we are using out-of-state tuition as the baseline.

Earnings for environmental engineering students can differ, but within two-years of graduation students will regularly make in the neighborhood of $63,800. While there can be much variation in earnings potential; top earners can bring in up to $98,600. Even straight out of university, the lowest earning positions within the environmental engineering space earn $40,900, which isn't that bad. The top earning graduates from environmental engineering have come from Massachusetts Institute of Technology&nbspand if you are looking for universities with all of the highest earning graduates, we have that too.

The prevailing diversity of environmental engineering sits on the higher end, falling in the 64th percentile of all majors. The school with the highest composite diversity for environmental engineering is Massachusetts Institute of Technology&nbspand here you can find our comprehensive list for the universities which have the most diversity. The financial diversity of Environmental Engineering only is within the 68th percentile of all majors. Racial diversity is even less in the 55th percentile. White students make up the largest share at 60% of students majoring in environmental engineering. Additionally, 51% of students seeking an environmental engineering major are men.

The median ranking for environmental engineering professors is 4.5 stars, a rating which is 13% higher than the average score across every major; which is a fairly good score. If you are looking for the most popular environmental engineering instructor in the nation, consider looking up Lynda Wilson at Valencia College. It might surprise you, but the best rated instructors of environmental engineering by student are found at Pennsylvania State University-Main Campus. If we including data beyond basic rankings it becomes clear that the university with comprehensively the best professors for environmental engineering is Massachusetts Institute of Technology. You can find more detail on our evolving ranking methodology for the best overall professors here, along with some of the top instructors nationwide.

Finally, the hardest college to get into for environmental engineering is Stanford University. While we think of this list more as a novelty, we do have a detailed list for the hardest colleges to get into. Although, here at Authority we hope you understand that considering higher education with context mainly informed by superlatives could be said to be the root of many of higher education's fundamental issues. We hope you explore our other pages on individual colleges and explore a few of our background articles on useful details to consider as you continue your college search.