2023 Best Materials Engineering Schools
Finding the Best Materials Engineering School for You
Materials Engineering is the #158 most popular major in the country with 3,415 degrees and certificates awarded in 2020-2021.
Today's students have lots of options to pick from when considering higher education opportunities. Along with traditional schools that require in-person attendence, you can attend one of many reputable online schools. Some programs even offer a hybrid experience. Alternatively, you may choose a trade school that prepares you to enter the workforce with knowledge in a specific field.
To help you arm yourself with the information you need to make your decision, Course Advisor has developed this Best Materials Engineering Schools ranking. Our analysis looked at 100 schools in the United States to see which programs offered the best educational experiences for students.
View our full ranking methodology.
2023 Best Materials Engineering Schools in the United States
The following schools top our list of the Best Materials Engineering Colleges.
Top 15% Best Materials Engineering Schools
Our analysis found Massachusetts Institute of Technology to be the best school for materials engineering students who want to pursue a degree in the United States. Located in the medium-sized city of Cambridge, MIT is a private not-for-profit school with a fairly large student population.
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You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend Northwestern University. It ranked #2 on our 2023 Best Materials Engineering Schools list. Northwestern is a fairly large private not-for-profit school located in the city of Evanston.
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A rank of #3 on this year’s list means Cornell University is a great place for materials engineering students. Cornell is a very large private not-for-profit school located in the city of Ithaca.
After completing their degree, materials engineering graduates from Cornell carry an average student debtload of $15,500.
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Out of the 100 schools in the United States that were part of this year’s ranking, University of Dayton landed the # 4 spot on the list. UDayton is a fairly large private not-for-profit school located in the medium-sized city of Dayton.
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You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend University of Michigan - Ann Arbor. It ranked #5 on our 2023 Best Materials Engineering Schools list. U-M is a fairly large public school located in the midsize city of Ann Arbor.
The average amount in student loans that materials engineering majors at U-M take out is $18,810.
Full Materials Engineering at University of Michigan - Ann Arbor Report
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Stanford University ranked #6 on this year’s Best Materials Engineering Schools list. Located in the suburb of Stanford, Stanford is a private not-for-profit school with a large student population.
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University of Notre Dame landed the #7 spot in the 2023 rankings for the best materials engineering programs. Notre Dame is a large private not-for-profit school located in the suburb of Notre Dame.
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Georgia Institute of Technology - Main Campus did quite well in this year’s ranking of the best schools for materials engineering students. It came in at #8 on the list. Located in the city of Atlanta, Georgia Tech is a public college with a very large student population.
On average, materials engineering graduates from Georgia Tech take out $21,375 in student loans while working on their degree.
Full Materials Engineering at Georgia Institute of Technology - Main Campus Report
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University of Virginia - Main Campus did quite well in this year’s ranking of the best schools for materials engineering students. It came in at #9 on the list. Located in the suburb of Charlottesville, University of Virginia is a public school with a fairly large student population.
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Purdue University - Main Campus came in at #10 in this year’s edition of the Best Materials Engineering Schools ranking. Purdue is a very large public school located in the small city of West Lafayette.
On average, materials engineering graduates from Purdue take out $18,125 in student loans while working on their degree.
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University of Florida came in at #11 in this year’s edition of the Best Materials Engineering Schools ranking. UF is a very large public school located in the medium-sized city of Gainesville.
Materials Engineering majors at UF take out an average of $14,000 in student loans while working on their egree.
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The University of Texas at Austin ranked #12 on this year’s Best Materials Engineering Schools list. UT Austin is a very large public school located in the large city of Austin.
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Duke University did quite well in this year’s ranking of the best schools for materials engineering students. It came in at #13 on the list. Duke is a large private not-for-profit school located in the city of Durham.
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University of Pennsylvania did quite well in this year’s ranking of the best schools for materials engineering students. It came in at #14 on the list. UPenn is a fairly large private not-for-profit school located in the large city of Philadelphia.
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With a ranking of #15, Lehigh University did quite well on this year’s best schools for materials engineering students. Lehigh is a moderately-sized private not-for-profit school located in the city of Bethlehem.
Materials Engineering majors at Lehigh take out an average of $26,000 in student loans while working on their egree.
Full Materials Engineering at Lehigh University Report
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Here are some additional great schools for Materials Engineering students that almost earned our Best Materials Engineering Schools award.
| Rank | College | Location |
|---|---|---|
| 16 | University of Wisconsin - Madison | Madison, WI |
| 17 | Villanova University | Villanova, PA |
| 18 | Michigan State University | East Lansing, MI |
| 19 | Michigan Technological University | Houghton, MI |
| 20 | Virginia Tech | Blacksburg, VA |
Materials Engineering by Region
View the Best Materials Engineering Schools for a specific region near you.
| Region |
|---|
| Southeast |
| New England |
| Rocky Mountains |
| Plains States |
| Middle Atlantic |
| Far Western US |
| Southwest |
| Great Lakes |
More Materials Engineering Rankings
Rankings in Majors Related to Materials Engineering
Materials Engineering is one of 40 different types of programs to choose from.
Most Popular Related Majors
| Related Major | Annual Graduates |
|---|---|
| Mechanical Engineering | 46,178 |
| Electrical Engineering | 28,844 |
| Civil Engineering | 21,388 |
| Computer Engineering | 17,987 |
| Chemical Engineering | 12,917 |
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 Panoramedia.
More about our data sources and methodologies.
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