Civil Engineering
What you'll do in college
Civil engineers learn how to design the structures that hold up cities: bridges, buildings, highways, dams, and water systems. Coursework covers statics, structures, soils, hydraulics, surveying, and construction management, with plenty of math and physics. You'll spend time doing field work—measuring sites, inspecting concrete, sometimes wearing a hard hat in class—and using design software like AutoCAD and Revit.
Group projects often involve designing a real piece of infrastructure for an actual client, which is great practice for the job and great material for a portfolio.
What you'll do after college
Grads work for engineering firms, construction companies, city and state governments, and federal agencies, designing and overseeing the construction of roads, bridges, water systems, and buildings. The job mixes office work (modeling, analysis, drawings) with site visits to actual construction projects.
Most civil engineers eventually earn a Professional Engineer (PE) license, which takes a few years of work plus an exam. Pay is steady, and the work is rewarding because you can literally point to what you built.
Famous graduates
- Frank Crowe — Chief engineer of the Hoover Dam; B.S. in Civil Engineering from University of Maine
- Hardy Cross — Developer of the moment distribution method for structural analysis; B.S. in Civil Engineering from MIT
- Nora Stanton Blatch Barney — Early suffragist and civil engineer; B.S. in Civil Engineering from Cornell University
Selectivity vs. earnings
By acceptance rate
By SAT median
Earnings vs. selectivity rank
Majors in this category
| Major | Colleges | Degrees ▼ | Male/Female | Intl | 5yr Earn |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Civil Engineering | 299 | 15,500 | 73% / 27% | 5% | $90,231 |
| Civil Engineering | 279 | 13,194 | 73% / 27% | 6% | $88,959 |
| Architectural Engineering | 28 | 901 | 63% / 37% | 4% | $94,336 |
| Construction Engineering | 26 | 604 | 82% / 18% | 1% | $98,499 |
| Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering | 8 | 343 | 87% / 13% | 1% | $113,079 |
| Ocean Engineering | 7 | 155 | 69% / 31% | 1% | $89,650 |
| Structural Engineering | 4 | 135 | 71% / 29% | 4% | $88,996 |
| Civil and Environmental Engineering | 3 | 78 | 46% / 54% | 14% | $97,728 |
| Surveying Engineering | 8 | 52 | 79% / 21% | 0% | |
| Civil, Environmental, and Sustainable Engineering | 1 | 20 | 60% / 40% | 0% | $95,037 |
| Rail Transportation Engineering | 1 | 9 | 100% / 0% | 0% | $84,034 |
| Transportation Systems Engineering | 1 | 5 | 100% / 0% | 20% | $70,350 |
| Civil and Environmental Engineering (Course 1) | 1 | 4 | 25% / 75% | 0% | $88,219 |