This is the ranking of the best colleges for Civil Engineering majors using our Real Rank analysis methodology.
Civil engineering is one of the oldest forms of engineering, dealing with the engineering of roads, buildings, hydroelectric stations and dams, and any type of structure. When you hear that the ancient Romans were great engineers, what that refers to is civil engineering. And, today, it is civil engineers who are intimately involved in the most high-tech design of structures such as water supply systems, massive public irrigation systems, dams, bridges, office buildings, condo complexes, toll roads to amusement park rides to stadiums.
Top 100 Best Colleges for Civil Engineering
Civil engineering is one of the basic and most widespread engineering fields, and this is the ranking of the top 100 programs.
| Rank | College | City | State |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | University of Texas | Austin | TX |
| 2 | Georgia Institute of Technology | Atlanta | GA |
| 3 | Purdue University | West Lafayette | IN |
| 4 | Massachusetts Institute of Technology | Cambridge | MA |
| 5 | University of Illinois | Champaign | IL |
| 6 | Stanford University | Palo Alto | CA |
| 7 | Texas A&M University | College Station | TX |
| 8 | Virginia Polytechnic University (Virginia Tech) | Blacksburg | VA |
| 9 | University of California - Berkeley | Berkeley | CA |
| 10 | University of Michigan | Ann Arbor | MI |
| 11 | Penn State | University Park | PA |
| 12 | California Institute of Technology | Pasadena | CA |
| 13 | Carnegie Mellon University | Pittsburgh | PA |
| 14 | University of Washington | Seattle | WA |
| 15 | University of California - Davis | Davis | CA |
| 16 | University of California - Los Angeles | Los Angeles | CA |
| 17 | Cornell University | Ithaca | NY |
| 18 | North Carolina State University | Raleigh | NC |
| 19 | University of Florida | Gainesville | FL |
| 20 | Michigan State University | East Lansing | MI |
| 21 | Lehigh University | Bethlehem | PA |
| 22 | University of California - San Diego | San Diego | CA |
| 23 | The Ohio State University | Columbus | OH |
| 24 | Columbia University | New York | NY |
| 25 | Princeton University | Princeton | NJ |
| 26 | Northwestern University | Evanston | IL |
| 27 | Colorado State University | Ft. Collins | CO |
| 28 | Iowa State University | Ames | IA |
| 29 | Rice University | Houston | TX |
| 30 | Arizona State University | Tempe | AZ |
| 31 | University Of Wisconsin | Madison | WI |
| 32 | University of Nevada - Las Vegas (UNLV) | Las Vegas | NV |
| 33 | University of Maryland | College Park | MD |
| 34 | United States Military Academy | West Point | NY |
| 35 | Stevens Institute of Technology | Hoboken | NJ |
| 36 | Duke University | Durham | NC |
| 37 | Oregon State University | Corvallis | OR |
| 38 | University of Central Florida | Orlando | FL |
| 39 | Washington State University | Pullman | WA |
| 40 | University of Nevada - Reno | Reno | NV |
| 41 | University of Colorado | Boulder | CO |
| 42 | University at Buffalo - SUNY | Buffalo | NY |
| 43 | University of Southern California | Los Angeles | CA |
| 44 | Johns Hopkins University | Baltimore | MD |
| 45 | California State University - Chico | Chico | CA |
| 46 | University of Notre Dame | South Bend | IN |
| 47 | University of Minnesota | Twin Cities | MN |
| 48 | University of Houston | Houston | TX |
| 49 | Missouri University of Science and Technology | Rolla | MO |
| 50 | Colorado School of Mines | Golden | CO |
| 51 | San Diego State University | San Diego | CA |
| 52 | Rensselear Polytechnic Institute | Troy | NY |
| 53 | University of Tennessee | Knoxville | TN |
| 54 | Clemson University | Clemson | SC |
| 55 | University of Oklahoma | Norman | OK |
| 56 | Michigan Technological University | Houghton | MI |
| 57 | Northeastern University | Boston | MA |
| 58 | Florida State University | Tallahassee | FL |
| 59 | University of Alabama | Tuscaloosa | AL |
| 60-75 | Louisiana State University | Baton Rouge | LA |
| 60-75 | Vanderbilt University | Nashville | TN |
| 60-75 | University of Iowa | Iowa City | IA |
| 60-75 | Virginia Military Institute | Lexington | VA |
| 60-75 | University of Arizona | Tuscon | AZ |
| 60-75 | University of Cincinnati | Cincinnati | OH |
| 60-75 | University of Massachusetts | Amherst | MA |
| 60-75 | University of Kentucky | Lexington | KY |
| 60-75 | Mississippi State University | Starkville | MS |
| 60-75 | University of South Carolina | Columbia | SC |
| 60-75 | Auburn University | Auburn | AL |
| 60-75 | University of Nebraska | Lincoln | NB |
| 60-75 | University of Pittsburgh | Pittsburgh | PA |
| 60-75 | University of Kansas | Lawrence | KS |
| 60-75 | Oklahoma State University | Stillwater | OK |
| 76-100 | Texas Tech University | Lubbock | TX |
| 76-100 | University of Arkansas | Fayetteville | AR |
| 76-100 | University of Mississippi | Oxford | MS |
| 76-100 | University of Virginia | Charlottesville | VA |
| 76-100 | Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art | New York | NY |
| 76-100 | University of Utah | Salt Lake City | UT |
| 76-100 | West Virginia University | Morgantown | WV |
| 76-100 | Kansas State University | Manhattan | KS |
| 76-100 | Washington University | St. Louis | MO |
| 76-100 | University of Maine | Orono | ME |
| 76-100 | University of Oregon | Eugene | OR |
| 76-100 | New York University | New York | NY |
| 76-100 | Rutgers University | Piscataway | NJ |
| 76-100 | Utah State University | Logan | UT |
| 76-100 | University of Hawaii - Manoa | Honolulu | HI |
| 76-100 | University of Delaware | Newark | DE |
| 76-100 | New Mexico State University | Las Cruces | NM |
| 76-100 | Brigham Young University | Salt Lake City | UT |
| 76-100 | University of Connecticut | Storrs | CT |
| 76-100 | University of California - Irvine | Irvine | CA |
| 76-100 | California Polytechnic University - San Louis Obispo | San Louis Obispo | CA |
| 76-100 | California State Polytechnic University - Pomona | Pomona | CA |
| 76-100 | Tufts University | Medford | MA |
| 76-100 | Howard University | Washington | DC |
| 76-100 | George Mason University | Fairfax | VA |
| 76-100 | University of Vermont | Burlington | VT |
| 76-100 | Syracuse University | Syracuse | NY |
| 76-100 | University of Missouri - Columbia | Columbia | MO |
| 76-100 | Marquette University | Milwaukee | WI |
| 76-100 | Case Western Reserve University | Cleveland | OH |
| 76-100 | George Washington University | Washington | DC |
More information on our RealRankTM analytics used in creating this ranking can be found on the About page.
Have you attended any of these college departments? What is your experience at these universities?
What is a Civil Engineering Major?
A typical civil engineering curriculum covers structural and fluid systems and analyses. Among the subjects covered in a typical Civil Engineering major are:
- Basic Core Sciences:
-
- chemistry
- physics
-
- Engineering Disciplines, such as:
-
- Structural Dynamics and simulation
- Transportation Engineering
- Fluid systems and hydraulics
- Engineering Design.
-
- Mathematics
Civil Engineering Careers
Students graduating with degrees in civil engineering qualify for a wide range of engineering, research and management oriented careers. As with other engineering disciplines, the entry level salaries for civil engineers tends to be at the high end of entry level jobs available to undergraduates. Examples of careers available in the field are:
- Construction Engineer
- Environmental Engineer
- Water Systems Designer
- Architectural Engineer
- Transportation Engineer
- Structural Engineer.
