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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

$93,799
1,209
100–82%
$96,328
2,785
82–55%
$102,317
2,812
55–20%
$111,911
1,181
15–0%
Acceptance rate · bar = degree-weighted earnings

By SAT median

$92,463
1,043
400–1200
$98,188
2,385
1200–1330
$101,550
2,452
1330–1450
$110,454
1,024
1450–1600
Combined SAT composite median (submitters + non-submitters) · bar = degree-weighted earnings

Earnings vs. selectivity rank

$86,320p10 $111,631p90 Military STEM Non-Research Liberal Arts Public University Religious University Private University Public University 1–25 Private University 21–40 Private University 1–20 United States Military Academy · $96,534 South Dakota School of Mines and Technology · $102,160 Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology · $106,661 Cooper Union · $98,187 Milwaukee School of Engineering · $75,043 Kettering University · $101,791 Bucknell University · $110,838 Lafayette College · $97,678 Dordt University · $89,633 Cal State Long Beach · $91,493 University of California, Irvine · $102,280 Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University · $81,212 University of South Florida · $84,431 University of California, Santa Barbara · $104,039 University of Washington · $96,353 CUNY City College · $68,626 Cal Poly - Pomona · $103,640 Clemson University · $98,731 North Carolina A&T State University · $87,314 University of California, Davis · $109,456 University of Maryland, Baltimore County · $98,642 Stony Brook University · $100,426 San Jose State University · $115,218 University of Connecticut · $92,965 Pennsylvania State University · $99,826 University of South Carolina · $99,912 New Mexico State University · $89,216 University of Pittsburgh · $93,213 Mississippi State University · $104,589 University of Massachusetts - Amherst · $96,939 University of New Mexico · $89,830 Wayne State University · $100,634 SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry · $83,729 University of Minnesota - Twin Cities · $101,125 University of Texas Permian Basin · $91,703 Louisiana Tech University · $96,275 University of Houston · $99,077 West Virginia University Institute of Technology · $89,812 Oklahoma State University · $106,170 McNeese State University · $80,500 New Jersey Institute of Technology · $91,383 Texas Tech University · $96,061 University at Buffalo · $88,444 Louisiana State University · $111,631 University of Colorado Boulder · $106,784 University of South Alabama · $88,027 Cleveland State University · $84,127 Missouri University of Science and Technology · $89,985 Ohio University · $88,141 Texas A&M University - Kingsville · $92,622 University of Delaware · $94,396 University of Oklahoma - Norman · $90,597 University of Tennessee, Chattanooga · $89,153 University of Texas at Tyler · $86,909 Virginia Commonwealth University · $91,990 Miami University - Ohio · $97,829 University of Alabama in Huntsville · $88,867 Michigan Technological University · $95,207 Oregon State University · $95,971 University of Alabama · $97,080 University of Arkansas · $101,541 University of Idaho · $86,046 University of Louisville · $97,933 University of Mississippi · $105,397 Washington State University · $88,132 University of Rhode Island · $89,578 Prairie View A&M University · $92,981 University of Missouri · $91,298 University of Louisiana at Lafayette · $101,365 University of New Hampshire · $100,504 Youngstown State University · $82,846 Tennessee Technological University · $86,320 University of Illinois Chicago · $90,756 University of Minnesota - Duluth · $90,849 University of Nebraska, Lincoln · $89,055 University of Toledo · $96,237 Colorado State University - Fort Collins · $97,269 University of North Dakota · $92,442 University of Utah · $94,911 Michigan State University · $95,843 University of Iowa · $90,804 Western Michigan University · $83,294 Rowan University · $93,854 Iowa State University · $96,097 Lamar University · $110,515 University of Akron · $93,451 University of Arizona · $95,730 University of Cincinnati · $92,906 University of Maine · $88,680 University of Massachusetts - Lowell · $100,143 University of Nevada, Reno · $86,398 West Virginia University · $89,812 University of California, Riverside · $90,784 Arizona State University · $101,977 University of Kansas · $86,557 University of Kentucky · $83,438 University of Wisconsin - Stevens Point · $98,368 University of Texas at San Antonio · $89,607 University of Pittsburgh - Johnstown · $93,213 Kansas State University · $105,727 University of Wyoming · $88,026 New Mexico Institute of Mining & Technology · $84,182 Montana State University · $82,446 University of Notre Dame · $113,065 Brigham Young University · $109,703 Villanova University · $100,946 University of Dayton · $99,917 Manhattan College · $96,650 California Baptist University · $90,878 University of Tulsa · $107,874 Christian Brothers University · $88,135 University of Saint Thomas (TX) · $86,531 Benedictine College · $91,243 Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute · $107,062 Florida Institute of Technology · $111,234 Rochester Institute of Technology · $100,264 Hampton University · $86,041 Howard University · $90,699 Tuskegee University · $83,985 Syracuse University · $85,778 Illinois Institute of Technology · $94,955 University of New Haven · $83,564 Clarkson University · $95,129 Trine University · $89,865 Drexel University · $103,291 Widener University · $99,021 Georgia Tech · $101,692 University of California, Berkeley · $126,322 University of Michigan - Ann Arbor · $100,000 University of Virginia · $115,895 University of Florida · $104,630 University of Georgia · $109,712 Purdue University · $94,979 Colorado School of Mines · $96,711 University of Maryland, College Park · $92,423 UCLA · $105,166 University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign · $107,589 University of Texas at Austin · $110,742 Rutgers University - New Brunswick · $97,993 University of Wisconsin - Madison · $102,023 Texas A&M University - College Station · $123,773 Florida State University · $98,253 Auburn University · $108,040 University of Tennessee, Knoxville · $89,398 Virginia Tech · $99,194 University of California, San Diego · $97,911 Ohio State University · $97,429 North Carolina State University · $103,529 Washington University in St Louis · $105,686 Case Western Reserve University · $98,005 New York University · $104,085 University of Southern California · $106,401 Lehigh University · $107,647 Northeastern University · $104,660 Tulane University · $96,174 Stevens Institute of Technology · $101,659 Worcester Polytechnic Institute · $100,777 University of Rochester · $105,189 MIT · $124,650 Caltech · $130,374 Johns Hopkins University · $111,011 Stanford University · $135,900 Princeton University · $123,969 University of Pennsylvania · $154,695 Carnegie Mellon University · $122,523 Rice University · $117,477 Yale University · $126,387 Northwestern University · $120,160 Cornell University · $118,510 Vanderbilt University · $105,943 Columbia University · $120,085 Tufts University · $115,375 Military: mean $96,534 STEM Non-Research: mean $96,768 Liberal Arts: mean $99,383 Public University: mean $93,829 Religious University: mean $98,494 Private University: mean $94,684 Public University 1–25: mean $103,791 Private University 21–40: mean $103,028 Private University 1–20: mean $123,361 All colleges: p10 $86,320 All colleges: p90 $111,631
Each dot = a college · y = degree-weighted earnings

Majors in this category

Major Colleges Degrees ▼ Male/Female Intl Earnings Employment
Chemical Engineering 172 7,987 58% / 42% 7% $98,511 96%
Chemical Engineering 162 7,417 59% / 41% 7% $97,743 96%
Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering 6 269 47% / 53% 11% $108,010 95%
Biochemical Engineering 3 134 46% / 54% 2% $106,183 99%
Chemical and Biochemical Engineering 1 48 38% / 62% 0% $99,194 94%
Chemical and Molecular Engineering 1 36 64% / 36% 8% $100,426 91%
Chemical Engineering (Course 10) 1 32 31% / 69% 3% $124,650 90%
Chemical and Biological Engineering 1 29 31% / 69% 21% $123,969
Chemical-Biological Engineering (Course 10-B) 1 17 53% / 47% 18% $124,650 90%
Chemical Engineering (Nanoscience and Molecular Engineering Track) 1 5 40% / 60% 0% $96,353 94%