For the 2010 academic year, "U.S. News & World Report" magazine ranked the top engineering undergraduate programs. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology topped the list for 2010, a position it has held since at least 2006. The remainder of the top 10 split evenly between state-run research institutions such as University of California Berkeley (UC Berkeley), University of Michigan Ann Arbor and University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and private, well-endowed research powerhouses such as Carnegie Mellon, Cornell and Stanford. Of the top 10, fourth-ranked California Institute of Technology had the lowest total enrollment while the Georgia Institute of Technology, or Georgia Tech, charged the lowest tuition. Among undergraduate institutions that did not offer graduate degrees, the top three engineering schools were Indiana's Rose Hulman Institute of Technology, California's Harvey Mudd College and Cooper Union in New York state.
In many respects, the 2010 "U.S. News & World Report" rankings for graduate schools mirrored the undergraduate top-10 list. MIT, Stanford and UC Berkeley repeated the top three ranking. State and privately operated research institutes dominated the remaining positions. The diversity of graduate offerings at University of Southern California and Georgia Tech attracted the most graduate students. Cornell, Stanford and MIT are the most selective in admissions.
"U.S. News & World Report" also distinguishes the top undergraduate engineering programs by engineering sub-discipline. In this analysis, the breadth of MIT's program ranks first in aerospace, computer, chemical, electrical, mechanical and materials engineering. Stanford, No. 2 overall, provides the top-ranked environmental engineering program, and Georgia Tech, ranked fourth overall, tops the field of industrial engineering. UC Berkeley appears in the top three in many categories but doesn't take the No. 1 spot in any of the engineering sub-disciplines. Students interested in agricultural engineering or biomedical engineering might want to consider Texas A&M or Johns Hopkins, the top-ranked schools in these fields, respectively.
The national rankings provide prospective engineers with a good starting point to measure schools. Students can consider other factors when selecting an engineering program. According to the "Revised Long-Range Academic Plan, 2006--2011" of the John Baskin School of Engineering at UC Santa Cruz, the top engineering schools all employ at least 130 full-time instructors across all engineering disciplines. This benchmark can help students inquire into the commitment to funding and research at a prospective school. Also, only a handful of schools provide programs in some engineering sub-disciplines, such as ceramic engineering. In this emerging field, Alfred University's Inamori School of Engineering tops the national rankings, with one out of every three ceramic engineers in the country having graduated from this program. Cost could also factor into an undergraduate's decision, depending on the candidate's state of residence. For example, California students receive a free graduate education at California state schools, including top-ranked UC Berkeley and UCLA. Other states also lower tuitions for in-state residents.