2024 Best Colleges for Civil Engineering

SUMMARY

A degree in Civil Engineering is not only a valuable choice, but commonly a necessary first step for pupils endeavoring to pursue a career as a senior civil engineer, a senior structural engineer, or a water resources engineer. Interestingly, civil engineering is pretty common coming in at the 35th most popular degree. Last academic year alone, there were 14,832 civil engineering degrees conferred. In-state tuition for civil engineering at private universities is, on average, 4.2 times more expensive than their public fellows.

There are 280 universities that offer civil engineering. This number of schools is fairly average in terms of the number of institutions which offer each degree. If you're looking to surround yourself with other civil engineering majors, look at institutions in California which have the most undergraduates admitted to civil engineering annually. More generally, the top region to study civil engineering is in the Southeast region with Louisiana State University and Agricultural & Mechanical College, North Carolina State University at Raleigh, and Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University best representing the region. Interestingly, our pick for the best conference to study civil engineering is the Southeastern Conference with University of Florida, Louisiana State University and Agricultural & Mechanical College, and Texas A & M University-College Station representing the conference. From our extensive list on the best colleges, our selection for the best school for civil engineering is Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

The 'best' school does not have to be the best school for you. There are tons of factors to weigh when choosing institution. Features such as campus amenities, transportation services, and food would definitely alter your choice of where to go to school. Here at Authority, we weighed the pros and cons for you. If, as an example, you are intrigued by which civil engineering university has the top campus, the winner is Northeastern University. If, for example, you are very interested in which university boasts the top campus, we have an entire list dedicated to that. We have carefully pored through student reviews, professor reviews, government databases, and more in order to compare every U.S. major in an unbiased and informative way. Here you can find our well researched list for the schools with the best student life&nbspand from that list, our pick of the university with the best student life for civil engineering is Cornell University. Curious why? Keep scrolling to discover more about our top selections. Some of our picks will probably shock you.

If price is a significant deciding factor in your decisions, you might consider avoiding Cornell University. Cornell University&nbspappears to be the most expensive university for civil engineering, at least regarding out of state enrollment. We have an entire list of the most expensive&nbspuniversities that might put the cost at Cornell University&nbspinto perspective. Additionally, you may want to know that civil engineering is the 110th most expensive program in the US, with an average cost of $38,300. To zoom out a little, the most expensive state for civil engineering on our list is Pennsylvania with costs at the primary three colleges Bucknell University at $57,882, Carnegie Mellon University at $55,816, and expenses at Lehigh University of $55,816. Even more broadly, the most expensive region for civil engineering is the Mid East region which is best demonstrated with George Washington University with a cost of $54,453, Columbia University in the City of New York with a cost of $57,763, and Bucknell University with a cost of $57,882.

Our cheapest region for civil engineering is the Rocky Mountains region which is represented by Brigham Young University-Idaho with a cost of $4,208, 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 civil engineering is South Dakota School of Mines and Technology. Our full list of the most affordable universities can be explored here.

In-state learners can expect to pay about $10,600 for a degree in civil engineering. The price inflates intensely to a median of $25,900 for the out-of-state public-school student. On that note, our choice for the school representing the best value for civil engineering: Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Through this link you will see our comprehensive list for the universities we believe to be the best value&nbspin general. With that said, this list is based on out-of-state tuition costs. The value proposition changes when in-state tuition costs are considered, but as we do not know what state(s) you might qualify for in-state tuition, we are approaching this discussion through out-of-state tuition costs.

Earnings for civil engineering majors range widely, but within two years graduation students will often make around $66,100. While there can be much variation in earnings potential; top positions can experience pay up to $100,600. Straight out of school, the minimum earning jobs within the civil engineering field earn $43,200, which isn't that bad. The top earning graduates for civil engineering attended Massachusetts Institute of Technology&nbspand if you want to find the colleges with all of the highest earning graduates, Authority has that too.

The prevailing diversity of civil engineering is high, falling in the 78th percentile of all majors. The university with the most composite diversity for civil engineering is Massachusetts Institute of Technology&nbspand here you can find our general list of the schools with the most diversity. The financial diversity of the Civil Engineering major only is within the 44th percentile compared to all other majors. Racial diversity is actually greater, ranking in the 78th percentile. White collegians compose the largest share, 49%, of students studying civil engineering. Additionally, 72% of undergrads seeking a civil engineering major are men.

The median ranking of civil engineering's professors is 4 stars, a score which is actually the average for every major; which is a fine. If you are curious about the most popular civil engineering instructor in the nation, look no further than Daniel Abbott from Missouri University of Science and Technology. It may surprise you, but the top rated instructors of civil engineering according to students are found at Missouri University of Science and Technology. As we including data beyond simply rankings it becomes clear that the school possessing the overall best professors for civil engineering is Massachusetts Institute of Technology. One can find more detail on our evolving ranking methodology for the best overall professors here, as well as many of the best examples of professors nationwide.

Finally, the most difficult college to get into for civil engineering is Stanford University. While we do not necessarily see the value in it, we have an extensive page for the hardest colleges to get into. That being said, we do hope you believe that considering academics from examples primarily built on superlatives might cause problems. We at Authority encourage you to look at some of our other pages on different topics and read a few of Authority's helpful background pages on beneficial details to consider as your school search continues.