The 49 colleges that score highest for Materials science and engineering on public federal data: selectivity, graduate earnings, program size, academic strength and graduate depth. It is a starting point for your research, not a judgment of quality.
49 colleges · each name links to its page, with sources · data snapshot October 2, 2026 · Updated October 2, 2026
How we rank programs · showing the top 49 of 49 core colleges ranked, those with enough graduates and earnings data · All top-programs lists
Enter your ZIP to see distances and filter by miles. It stays in your browser.
| Rank | College | State | What we measured | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Stanford University | CA | Median earnings $115,859 (field-wide) · 12 graduates last year · under 1% of the school's degrees | |
| 2 | University of Pennsylvania | PA | Median earnings $118,549 (field-wide) · 18 graduates last year · under 1% of the school's degrees | |
| 3 | Massachusetts Institute of Technology | MA | Median earnings $131,088 (field-wide) · 23 graduates last year · 2% of the school's degrees | |
| 4 | University of California-Los Angeles | CA | Median earnings $119,280 (field-wide) · 34 graduates last year · under 1% of the school's degrees | |
| 5 | University of California-Berkeley | CA | Median earnings $144,360 (field-wide) · 28 graduates last year · under 1% of the school's degrees | |
| 6 | Cornell University | NY | Median earnings $119,865 (field-wide) · 26 graduates last year · under 1% of the school's degrees | |
| 7 | Northwestern University | IL | Median earnings $110,609 (field-wide) · 22 graduates last year · under 1% of the school's degrees | |
| 8 | Carnegie Mellon University | PA | Median earnings $119,715 · 32 graduates last year · 2% of the school's degrees | |
| 9 | University of Michigan-Ann Arbor | MI | Median earnings $98,879 · 33 graduates last year · under 1% of the school's degrees | |
| 10 | Georgia Institute of Technology-Main Campus | GA | Median earnings $92,260 · 60 graduates last year · 1% of the school's degrees | |
| 11 | University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign | IL | Median earnings $97,924 · 65 graduates last year · under 1% of the school's degrees | |
| 12 | University of Washington-Seattle Campus | WA | Median earnings $95,314 · 41 graduates last year · under 1% of the school's degrees | |
| 13 | Purdue University-Main Campus | IN | Median earnings $107,557 · 62 graduates last year · under 1% of the school's degrees | |
| 14 | University of California-Irvine | CA | Median earnings $106,547 · 22 graduates last year · under 1% of the school's degrees | |
| 15 | Texas A&M University-College Station | TX | Median earnings $100,068 (field-wide) · 56 graduates last year · under 1% of the school's degrees | |
| 16 | University of Wisconsin-Madison | WI | Median earnings $91,265 · 40 graduates last year · under 1% of the school's degrees | |
| 17 | University of Florida | FL | Median earnings $87,779 · 35 graduates last year · under 1% of the school's degrees | |
| 18 | University of Maryland-College Park | MD | Median earnings $97,714 · 12 graduates last year · under 1% of the school's degrees | |
| 19 | Case Western Reserve University | OH | Median earnings $95,909 (field-wide) · 14 graduates last year · under 1% of the school's degrees | |
| 20 | Pennsylvania State University-Main Campus | PA | Median earnings $92,864 · 57 graduates last year · under 1% of the school's degrees | |
| 21 | Ohio State University-Main Campus | OH | Median earnings $86,084 · 30 graduates last year · under 1% of the school's degrees | |
| 22 | University of California-Davis | CA | Median earnings $89,983 · 14 graduates last year · under 1% of the school's degrees | |
| 23 | California Polytechnic State University-San Luis Obispo | CA | Median earnings $100,599 · 59 graduates last year · 1% of the school's degrees | |
| 24 | University of Pittsburgh-Pittsburgh Campus | PA | Median earnings $88,746 (field-wide) · 25 graduates last year · under 1% of the school's degrees | |
| 25 | Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University | VA | Median earnings $90,828 · 37 graduates last year · under 1% of the school's degrees | |
| 26 | North Carolina State University at Raleigh | NC | Median earnings $89,968 · 25 graduates last year · under 1% of the school's degrees | |
| 27 | University of Minnesota-Twin Cities | MN | Median earnings $83,945 · 25 graduates last year · under 1% of the school's degrees | |
| 28 | Arizona State University Campus Immersion | AZ | Median earnings $89,913 · 31 graduates last year · under 1% of the school's degrees | |
| 29 | University of Connecticut | CT | Median earnings $93,464 · 13 graduates last year · under 1% of the school's degrees | |
| 30 | Auburn University | AL | Median earnings $95,978 (field-wide) · 11 graduates last year · under 1% of the school's degrees | |
| 31 | Clemson University | SC | Median earnings $85,883 · 16 graduates last year · under 1% of the school's degrees | |
| 32 | Michigan State University | MI | Median earnings $95,761 · 15 graduates last year · under 1% of the school's degrees | |
| 33 | The University of Tennessee-Knoxville | TN | Median earnings $87,429 (field-wide) · 12 graduates last year · under 1% of the school's degrees | |
| 34 | University of Central Florida | FL | Median earnings $93,145 (field-wide) · 12 graduates last year · under 1% of the school's degrees | |
| 35 | University of California-Riverside | CA | Median earnings $89,322 (field-wide) · 21 graduates last year · under 1% of the school's degrees | |
| 36 | University of Delaware | DE | Median earnings $95,595 (field-wide) · 15 graduates last year · under 1% of the school's degrees | |
| 37 | Drexel University | PA | Median earnings $94,694 · 17 graduates last year · under 1% of the school's degrees | |
| 38 | Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute | NY | Median earnings $82,947 · 15 graduates last year · 1% of the school's degrees | |
| 39 | University of Utah | UT | Median earnings $88,756 (field-wide) · 18 graduates last year · under 1% of the school's degrees | |
| 40 | University of Arizona | AZ | Median earnings $91,153 (field-wide) · 11 graduates last year · under 1% of the school's degrees | |
| 41 | Michigan Technological University | MI | Median earnings $92,070 · 24 graduates last year · 2% of the school's degrees | |
| 42 | Iowa State University | IA | Median earnings $83,416 · 30 graduates last year · under 1% of the school's degrees | |
| 43 | Winona State University | MN | Median earnings $91,528 · 22 graduates last year · 2% of the school's degrees | |
| 44 | University of North Texas | TX | Median earnings $78,250 · 14 graduates last year · under 1% of the school's degrees | |
| 45 | University of Kentucky | KY | Median earnings $84,796 · 19 graduates last year · under 1% of the school's degrees | |
| 46 | University of Alabama at Birmingham | AL | Median earnings $83,985 · 12 graduates last year · under 1% of the school's degrees | |
| 47 | University of California-Merced | CA | Median earnings $94,300 (field-wide) · 10 graduates last year · under 1% of the school's degrees | |
| 48 | Boise State University | ID | Median earnings $82,607 (field-wide) · 13 graduates last year · under 1% of the school's degrees | |
| 49 | University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire | WI | Median earnings $66,989 (field-wide) · 15 graduates last year · under 1% of the school's degrees |
Coming soon
Match by GPA, budget, AP scores and intended major, and track every deadline. Leave your email and we’ll tell you at launch.