Top Engineering Schools
Engineering is one of the highest-paying careers, considering the amount of education it requires. Engineering students need only a Bachelor of Science degree in whatever field of engineering they prefer. With this degree, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, they can earn an median annual salary between $72,490 and $108,020. And that’s just the average salary. Ten percent of Engineers earn more than $166,400 (Petroleum engineers). That’s a pretty good salary range for just four years of education, isn’t it? Odds of earning a salary like this only go up after attending one of the top engineering schools.
A List of the Top Engineering Schools
Now let’s get into the details about which schools are considered the top engineering schools. U.S. News and World Report came out with a list of the best undergraduate engineering schools for 2011. The top three schools include MIT, Stanford University, and the University of California ‚Äì Berkeley. Tuition costs for these three schools range on the high end: $39,212, $39,201, and $33,747, respectively. Unfortunately, competition is fierce for anyone wishing to be accepting to these schools, or any of the top engineering schools.
If you can’t make it into one of the top 3 in the list of the best engineering schools, here are a few of the other top engineering schools you may want to consider: California Institute of Technology, Georgia Institute of Technology, University of Illinois ‚Äì Urbana-Champaign, University of Michigan- Ann Arbor, Carnegie Mellon University, Cornell University, and Purdue University. These schools are a mix of both private and public universities. Many also offer graduate, and even doctorate degrees in the engineering field of your choice. Obviously, the higher the degree, the higher the pay. But of course, either way, a lot of training that engineers undergo occurs actually on the job.
What Are My Options for Attending one of the Best Undergraduate Engineering Schools?
It should be obvious that the top engineering schools listed above have very stringent requirements for acceptance, not to mention the requirements to get into their engineering programs. If your ACT and SAT scores aren’t as high as they need to be, you may have to attempt admittance into one of the less-ranked universities. Another great option to combat this is to start taking your basic undergraduate courses from a different university, or even an online college or university. If you get a high enough GPA in these basic courses, you may find it easier to transfer into the school of your choice.
If you are bound and determined to attend one of the best engineering schools, you are going to need to kick it into high gear. It will take hard work and diligence to be accepted and then to actually complete the program. But just remember, it’s only for four years. Once you’ve received your degree from one of the top engineering schools, you’ll be able to continue the learning in a more practical setting and even get paid for it!
