2023 Best Civil Engineering Doctor's Degree Schools
Finding the Best Civil Engineering Doctor's Degree School for You
Civil Engineering is the #50 most popular major in the country with 21,388 degrees and certificates awarded in 2020-2021.
It's not easy to decide which program to enroll in when you have so many options available. With more and more schools offering online options, you could even register for a great program on the other side of the country. On top of that, there are a considerable number of trade schools that offer fast-track entry to many fields.
Along with in-depth profiles of schools and the programs they offer, Course Advisor has created the Best Civil Engineering Doctor's Degree Schools to help you in your search for the best school for you. Our analysis looked at 125 schools in the United States to see which doctor's degree programs offered the best educational experiences for students. Factors related to overall quality of the school, post-graduation earnings, average student debt, and more accumulated were considered when coming up with this list.
View our full ranking methodology.
2023 Best Civil Engineering Doctor’s Degree Schools in the United States
Check out the civil eng doctor's degree programs at these schools if you want to get the best education that money can buy.
Top 15% Best Civil Engineering Doctor's Degree Schools
Our 2023 rankings named Massachusetts Institute of Technology the best school in the United States for civil engineering students working on their doctor’s degree. Located in the medium-sized city of Cambridge, MIT is a private not-for-profit college with a large student population.
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A rank of #2 on this year’s list means Duke University is a great place for civil engineering students working on their doctor’s degree. Duke is a large private not-for-profit school located in the city of Durham.
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Out of the 125 schools in the United States that were part of this year’s ranking, Princeton University landed the # 3 spot on the list. Located in the city of Princeton, Princeton is a private not-for-profit school with a moderately-sized student population.
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A rank of #4 on this year’s list means University of Notre Dame is a great place for civil engineering students working on their doctor’s degree. Notre Dame is a large private not-for-profit school located in the suburb of Notre Dame.
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You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around you if you attend Northwestern University. The school came in at #5 on this year’s Best Civil Engineering Doctor’s Degree Schools list. Northwestern is a fairly large private not-for-profit school located in the city of Evanston.
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Rice University ranked #6 on this year’s Best Civil Engineering Doctor’s Degree Schools list. Rice is a medium-sized private not-for-profit school located in the city of Houston.
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University of Virginia - Main Campus ranked #7 on this year’s Best Civil Engineering Doctor’s Degree Schools list. Located in the small suburb of Charlottesville, University of Virginia is a public college with a fairly large student population.
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With a ranking of #8, Vanderbilt University did quite well on this year’s best schools for civil engineering students working on their doctor’s degree. Vanderbilt is a large private not-for-profit school located in the large city of Nashville.
Full Civil Engineering at Vanderbilt University Report
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Cornell University landed the #9 spot in the 2023 rankings for the best doctor’s degree civil engineering programs. Cornell is a fairly large private not-for-profit school located in the city of Ithaca.
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The University of Texas at Austin ranked #10 on this year’s Best Civil Engineering Doctor’s Degree Schools list. UT Austin is a fairly large public school located in the city of Austin.
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Lehigh University did quite well in this year’s ranking of the best places for civil engineering students to get a doctor’s degree. It came in at #11 on the list. Lehigh is a moderately-sized private not-for-profit school located in the city of Bethlehem.
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Georgia Institute of Technology - Main Campus landed the #12 spot in the 2023 rankings for the best doctor’s degree civil engineering programs. Located in the large city of Atlanta, Georgia Tech is a public school with a fairly large student population.
Full Civil Engineering at Georgia Institute of Technology - Main Campus Report
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Purdue University - Main Campus ranked #13 on this year’s Best Civil Engineering Doctor’s Degree Schools list. Purdue is a very large public school located in the small city of West Lafayette.
Full Civil Engineering at Purdue University - Main Campus Report
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University of Southern California did quite well in this year’s ranking of the best places for civil engineering students to get a doctor’s degree. It came in at #14 on the list. Located in the city of Los Angeles, USC is a private not-for-profit college with a very large student population.
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Stanford University came in at #15 in this year’s edition of the Best Civil Engineering Doctor’s Degree Schools ranking. Located in the suburb of Stanford, Stanford is a private not-for-profit college with a fairly large student population.
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University of California - Berkeley came in at #16 in this year’s edition of the Best Civil Engineering Doctor’s Degree Schools ranking. UC Berkeley is a fairly large public school located in the city of Berkeley.
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With a ranking of #17, Texas A&M University - College Station did quite well on this year’s best schools for civil engineering students working on their doctor’s degree. Located in the midsize city of College Station, Texas A&M College Station is a public college with a fairly large student population.
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North Carolina State University landed the #18 spot in the 2023 rankings for the best doctor’s degree civil engineering programs. NC State is a fairly large public school located in the city of Raleigh.
Read full report on Civil Engineering at North Carolina State University
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Here are some additional great schools for Civil Engineering students that almost earned our Best Civil Engineering Doctor's Degree Schools award.
| Rank | College | Location |
|---|---|---|
| 19 | University of Michigan - Ann Arbor | Ann Arbor, MI |
| 20 | Michigan State University | East Lansing, MI |
| 21 | University of Wisconsin - Madison | Madison, WI |
| 22 | Virginia Tech | Blacksburg, VA |
| 23 | University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign | Champaign, IL |
| 24 | Colorado School of Mines | Golden, CO |
| 25 | University of Washington - Seattle Campus | Seattle, WA |
Civil Engineering by Region
View the Best Civil Engineering Doctor's Degree Schools for a specific region near you.
| Region |
|---|
| Southeast |
| New England |
| Rocky Mountains |
| Plains States |
| Middle Atlantic |
| Far Western US |
| Southwest |
| Great Lakes |
More Civil Engineering Rankings
Civil Engineering Related Rankings by Major
Civil Engineering is one of 40 different types of programs to choose from.
Most Popular Majors Related to Civil Eng
| Related Major | Annual Graduates |
|---|---|
| Mechanical Engineering | 46,178 |
| Electrical Engineering | 28,844 |
| Computer Engineering | 17,987 |
| Chemical Engineering | 12,917 |
| Biomedical Engineering | 12,811 |
Notes and References
*These averages are for the top 25 schools only.
- Read more about our ranking methodology.
- The Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) from the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), a branch of the U.S. Department of Education (DOE) serves as the core of the rest of our data about colleges.
- Some other college data, including much of the graduate earnings data, comes from the U.S. Department of Education’s (College Scorecard).
- Credit for the banner image above goes to Master Sgt. Roger Parsons.
More about our data sources and methodologies.