Best Engineering Colleges 2009

MIT and Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology grabbed the top spots in U.S. News & World Report’s annual engineering school rankings, released earlier this month.

U.S. News, which publishes the rankings annually, named MIT to the top spot among schools that offer a doctorate in engineering. Rose-Hulman of Indiana took honors in a category that includes schools at the bachelors and masters degree level. The rankings are based solely on a peer survey of deans and senior faculty at other engineering schools.

Other schools in the “doctorate top ten” included (in order): Stanford and University of California-Berkeley (tied for second); Cal Tech, Georgia Tech and the University of Illinois (tied for fourth); the University of Michigan; Cornell; Carnegie Mellon and Purdue.

Colleges rounding out the “bachelors-masters top ten” included: Harvey Mudd; Cooper Union; Cal Poly-San Luis Obispo; U.S. Military Academy; Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering; U.S. Naval Academy; Bucknell; U.S. Air Force Academy; and Villanova. Franklin W. Olin’s appearance on the list is considered an achievement because the school is less than a decade old.

Earlier this year, Design News examined the small engineering school experience in an article that profiles Rose-Hulman, Harvey-Mudd and Franklin Olin.