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Chemical Engineering

Colleges offering this major Rankings Trends

What you'll do in college

Chemical engineers learn to design processes that turn raw materials into useful products at industrial scale—everything from gasoline and plastics to drugs and food. Coursework includes thermodynamics, reaction engineering, transport phenomena (heat and mass flow), separations, and process design. The major has a reputation for being one of the hardest engineering disciplines because of the heavy combination of math, physics, and chemistry.

Labs let you run mini-versions of industrial processes, and many programs include co-ops at chemical or pharmaceutical plants where you spend a semester working full-time at a real factory.

What you'll do after college

Grads work in oil and gas, pharmaceuticals, semiconductors, food and consumer products, biotech, and increasingly clean energy and battery manufacturing. Day-to-day work involves designing or improving processes, troubleshooting equipment, and figuring out how to make production safer, cheaper, and cleaner.

Starting salaries are among the highest of any engineering major, and many grads work at large industrial sites or research labs. Many move into management or consulting after a decade.

Famous graduates

  • Mae Jemison — First Black woman to travel in space; B.S. in Chemical Engineering from Stanford University
  • Andrew Grove — Former CEO of Intel; B.S. in Chemical Engineering from CCNY
  • Jack Welch — Former CEO of General Electric; B.S. in Chemical Engineering from UMass Amherst

Selectivity vs. earnings

By acceptance rate

$97,330
1,144
100–82%
$99,106
2,652
82–55%
$100,657
2,594
55–15%
$108,346
1,107
14–0%
Acceptance rate · bar = degree-weighted earnings

By SAT median

$99,643
970
400–1180
$100,187
2,305
1190–1340
$100,911
2,316
1340–1460
$109,183
968
1460–1600
Combined SAT composite median (submitters + non-submitters) · bar = degree-weighted earnings

Earnings vs. selectivity rank

$87,541p10 $115,498p90 Military STEM Non-Research Liberal Arts Public University Religious University Private University Public University 1–15 Private University 1–30 United States Military Academy · $97,518 Cooper Union · $91,516 Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology · $110,720 South Dakota School of Mines and Technology · $106,790 Kettering University · $102,703 Milwaukee School of Engineering · $77,499 Lafayette College · $97,535 Bucknell University · $112,659 Dordt University · $98,268 Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University · $83,936 University of California, Irvine · $90,287 Colorado School of Mines · $95,328 University of California, Santa Barbara · $93,814 University of South Florida · $82,416 University of Washington · $87,541 CUNY City College · $63,792 Cal Poly - Pomona · $94,458 Clemson University · $102,058 North Carolina A&T State University · $89,827 University of Maryland, Baltimore County · $94,627 University of Maryland, College Park · $86,829 Cal State Long Beach · $80,765 University of California, Davis · $99,655 Auburn University · $116,270 University of Tennessee, Knoxville · $96,350 Stony Brook University · $93,055 Ohio State University · $100,481 Texas A&M University - College Station · $129,746 University of Connecticut · $89,961 Virginia Tech · $99,964 University of South Carolina · $103,966 Pennsylvania State University · $103,730 New Mexico State University · $99,012 University of Pittsburgh · $94,230 University of Massachusetts - Amherst · $93,428 University of New Mexico · $96,828 SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry · $90,297 University of Minnesota - Twin Cities · $100,379 University of Texas Permian Basin · $94,075 West Virginia University Institute of Technology · $94,481 Oklahoma State University · $114,590 Rutgers University - New Brunswick · $92,368 McNeese State University · $96,090 New Jersey Institute of Technology · $82,489 Texas Tech University · $100,728 University at Buffalo · $86,818 Louisiana State University · $120,171 University of Colorado Boulder · $105,910 University of Alabama · $103,499 Louisiana Tech University · $104,332 Cleveland State University · $89,099 Ohio University · $94,186 Texas A&M University - Kingsville · $96,913 University of Delaware · $93,668 University of Oklahoma - Norman · $98,570 University of Tennessee, Chattanooga · $96,662 University of Texas at Tyler · $93,888 Virginia Commonwealth University · $92,079 Miami University - Ohio · $101,005 University of Alabama in Huntsville · $95,490 University of Rhode Island · $87,925 Oregon State University · $91,457 University of Arkansas · $113,865 University of Idaho · $87,053 University of Louisville · $107,619 University of Mississippi · $121,146 Washington State University · $88,062 University of Houston · $100,804 University of Illinois Chicago · $89,756 Rowan University · $88,728 Prairie View A&M University · $97,569 University of Missouri · $96,855 University of Louisiana at Lafayette · $111,320 University of New Hampshire · $95,420 Youngstown State University · $88,000 Missouri University of Science and Technology · $94,628 Tennessee Technological University · $92,817 University of Iowa · $94,987 University of Minnesota - Duluth · $95,964 University of Nebraska, Lincoln · $98,088 University of Toledo · $102,094 San Jose State University · $103,139 Colorado State University - Fort Collins · $96,135 University of North Dakota · $105,249 University of Utah · $95,627 Western Michigan University · $83,769 University of Nevada, Reno · $87,265 Michigan State University · $96,363 Mississippi State University · $120,217 Wayne State University · $100,229 Iowa State University · $101,546 Lamar University · $116,920 University of Akron · $98,896 University of Arizona · $95,154 University of Cincinnati · $97,282 University of Maine · $89,340 University of Massachusetts - Lowell · $93,876 West Virginia University · $93,361 Michigan Technological University · $95,894 University of California, Riverside · $82,741 Arizona State University · $100,340 University of Kentucky · $90,748 University of Wisconsin - Stevens Point · $104,073 University of Texas at San Antonio · $94,053 University of Pittsburgh - Johnstown · $96,198 University of Kansas · $96,045 University of South Alabama · $94,683 Kansas State University · $117,369 University of Wyoming · $90,602 New Mexico Institute of Mining & Technology · $93,536 Montana State University · $82,406 University of Notre Dame · $116,145 Villanova University · $100,199 University of Dayton · $104,970 Manhattan College · $90,084 California Baptist University · $85,331 Brigham Young University · $111,590 University of Tulsa · $115,498 Christian Brothers University · $93,198 Benedictine College · $101,682 Hampton University · $90,698 Tuskegee University · $90,383 Syracuse University · $84,157 University of Rochester · $102,786 Howard University · $90,205 Stevens Institute of Technology · $91,765 Worcester Polytechnic Institute · $96,575 Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute · $103,797 Florida Institute of Technology · $109,050 Illinois Institute of Technology · $93,955 Rochester Institute of Technology · $97,973 University of New Haven · $80,545 Clarkson University · $89,885 Trine University · $95,163 Drexel University · $102,526 Widener University · $98,288 Georgia Tech · $101,912 University of California, Berkeley · $110,512 University of Michigan - Ann Arbor · $99,495 University of Virginia · $114,488 UCLA · $92,835 University of Florida · $104,248 University of Georgia · $113,457 Purdue University · $96,727 North Carolina State University · $105,993 University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign · $108,509 University of Texas at Austin · $111,607 University of Wisconsin - Madison · $104,326 Florida State University · $99,286 University of California, San Diego · $87,076 MIT · $117,348 Caltech · $123,950 Stanford University · $126,054 Yale University · $129,556 Princeton University · $124,250 University of Pennsylvania · $153,550 Columbia University · $111,927 Johns Hopkins University · $106,492 Rice University · $119,098 Carnegie Mellon University · $123,860 Northwestern University · $118,895 Vanderbilt University · $111,909 Cornell University · $113,579 Washington University in St Louis · $111,293 Tufts University · $108,616 University of Southern California · $93,925 New York University · $97,014 Tulane University · $103,058 Case Western Reserve University · $102,544 Northeastern University · $98,529 Lehigh University · $107,489 Military: mean $97,518 STEM Non-Research: mean $97,846 Liberal Arts: mean $102,821 Public University: mean $96,641 Religious University: mean $102,077 Private University: mean $94,859 Public University 1–15: mean $103,605 Private University 1–30: mean $114,426 All colleges: p10 $87,541 All colleges: p90 $115,498
Each dot = a college · y = degree-weighted earnings

Majors in this category

Major Colleges Degrees ▼ Male/Female Intl Earnings Employment
Chemical Engineering 173 7,515 58% / 42% 7% $99,565 96%
Chemical Engineering 163 6,949 59% / 41% 7% $98,950 96%
Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering 6 279 49% / 51% 16% $108,790 95%
Biochemical Engineering 3 158 42% / 58% 5% $103,584 99%
Chemical and Biological Engineering 1 32 41% / 59% 12% $124,250
Chemical and Molecular Engineering 1 28 64% / 36% 0% $93,055 91%
Chemical and Biochemical Engineering 1 25 40% / 60% 4% $96,072 94%
Chemical Engineering (Course 10) 1 22 32% / 68% 5% $117,348 90%
Biotechnology 1 10 50% / 50% 10%
Chemical-Biological Engineering (Course 10-B) 1 10 30% / 70% 0% $117,348 90%
Chemical Engineering (Nanoscience and Molecular Engineering Track) 1 2 100% / 0% 50% $87,541 94%