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Materials Engineering

Colleges offering this major Rankings Trends

What you'll do in college

Materials Engineering is about why stuff behaves the way it does—why steel bends, glass shatters, batteries die, and silicon conducts. The major sits between physics, chemistry, and engineering. You'll study crystal structures, thermodynamics, electronic properties, and how materials are processed.

Labs are a highlight: you'll use electron microscopes, melt and reshape metals, fabricate semiconductors, and break things on purpose to see how they fail. Senior projects often involve designing or improving a material for a specific application.

What you'll do after college

Grads work in semiconductors (think Intel, TSMC, Applied Materials), aerospace, biomedical implants, batteries, solar panels, and advanced manufacturing. The job often mixes lab experiments with computer simulations of atoms and microstructures.

Many roles favor a master's or PhD because the work is so research-driven. Demand is rising fast as countries invest in chip manufacturing and clean-energy materials.

Famous graduates

  • Yet-Ming Chiang — MIT professor and founder of A123 Systems; B.S. in Materials Science and Engineering from MIT
  • John A. Swanson — Founder of ANSYS; B.S. in Mechanical and Metallurgical Engineering from Cornell University

Selectivity vs. earnings

By acceptance rate

$89,507
397
100–72%
$87,798
803
71–35%
$93,547
399
30–0%
Acceptance rate · bar = degree-weighted earnings

By SAT median

$90,492
388
400–1280
$87,621
689
1290–1410
$93,819
365
1410–1600
Combined SAT composite median (submitters + non-submitters) · bar = degree-weighted earnings

Earnings vs. selectivity rank

$83,890p10 $99,159p90 STEM Non-Research Public University Religious University Private University Public University 1–15 Private University 1–30 South Dakota School of Mines and Technology · $109,109 University of California, Irvine · $92,173 Colorado School of Mines · $92,386 Cal Poly - San Luis Obispo · $97,227 University of Wisconsin - Eau Claire · $85,421 University of Washington · $89,728 Clemson University · $85,049 University of Central Florida · $83,980 University of Maryland, College Park · $89,964 University of California, Davis · $80,287 Auburn University · $96,112 University of Tennessee, Knoxville · $99,243 Ohio State University · $95,006 Texas A&M University - College Station · $98,154 University of Connecticut · $84,023 Virginia Tech · $91,439 University of Pittsburgh · $86,734 University of Minnesota - Twin Cities · $89,034 Rutgers University - New Brunswick · $90,569 University of Alabama · $93,827 University of Alabama at Birmingham · $93,599 Wright State University · $86,437 Washington State University · $84,355 Winona State University · $85,700 Missouri University of Science and Technology · $91,720 San Jose State University · $92,078 University of North Texas · $76,487 University of Utah · $89,762 University of Nevada, Reno · $87,236 Michigan State University · $96,191 Boise State University · $83,890 Iowa State University · $92,818 Montana Technological University · $91,569 University of Massachusetts - Lowell · $90,461 Michigan Technological University · $82,482 University of California, Riverside · $89,063 Arizona State University · $86,700 University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee · $83,910 University of Kentucky · $90,381 University of Wisconsin - Stout · $91,484 Pennsylvania State University - Erie-Behrend College · $105,720 University of Southern Mississippi · $85,760 Western Washington University · $85,328 University of Texas at El Paso · $76,861 University of California, Merced · $86,565 New Mexico Institute of Mining & Technology · $85,829 LeTourneau University · $91,220 Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute · $81,552 Illinois Institute of Technology · $89,713 Alfred University · $77,542 Thomas Jefferson University · $87,454 Drexel University · $98,355 Georgia Tech · $89,766 University of Michigan - Ann Arbor · $94,989 University of Virginia · $98,159 UCLA · $89,105 University of Florida · $85,767 Purdue University · $107,346 North Carolina State University · $75,348 University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign · $97,757 University of Wisconsin - Madison · $87,130 MIT · $92,324 Caltech · $95,429 Stanford University · $101,304 University of Pennsylvania · $97,895 Johns Hopkins University · $97,254 Rice University · $99,159 Northwestern University · $100,517 Cornell University · $103,277 Case Western Reserve University · $87,934 Lehigh University · $95,805 STEM Non-Research: mean $109,109 Public University: mean $89,172 Religious University: mean $91,220 Private University: mean $86,923 Public University 1–15: mean $91,707 Private University 1–30: mean $97,090 All colleges: p10 $83,890 All colleges: p90 $99,159
Each dot = a college · y = degree-weighted earnings

Majors in this category

Major Colleges Degrees ▼ Male/Female Intl Earnings Employment
Materials Engineering 76 1,601 61% / 40% 7% $88,681 96%
Materials Science and Engineering 23 628 66% / 34% 11% $91,447 96%
Materials Engineering 33 488 69% / 32% 6% $89,753 97%
Textile Engineering 1 194 14% / 86% 3% $72,887 96%
Metallurgical Engineering 8 67 73% / 27% 4% $91,818 97%
Plastics Engineering 4 49 65% / 35% 2% $94,127 96%
Materials Science & Engineering 2 42 55% / 45% 10% $94,302 98%
Metallurgical and Materials Engineering 1 36 67% / 33% 0% $92,196 96%
Ceramic Sciences and Engineering 3 25 80% / 20% 12% $87,563 96%
Polymer Science and Engineering 2 24 71% / 29% 0% $87,502
Ceramic Engineering 2 16 81% / 19% 0% $80,212 100%
Materials Science and Engineering (Course 3) 1 12 17% / 83% 0% $92,324 89%
Materials Science and NanoEngineering 1 11 91% / 9% 9% $99,159
Textile Sciences and Engineering 1 8 25% / 75% 0% $87,454
Materials Science (Engineering) 1 1 100% / 0% 0% $95,429