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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

$95,078
403
100–74%
$90,664
806
74–35%
$101,650
392
35–0%
Acceptance rate · bar = degree-weighted earnings

By SAT median

$95,752
353
400–1280
$91,167
727
1290–1410
$99,636
347
1410–1600
Combined SAT composite median (submitters + non-submitters) · bar = degree-weighted earnings

Earnings by acceptance rate and institution category

$89,401p10 $104,774p90 STEM, Business & Military Public University Religious University Private University 20–30% 10–20% 0–10% Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute · $96,067 Missouri University of Science and Technology · $89,401 South Dakota School of Mines and Technology · $109,106 Montana Technological University · $92,815 Michigan Technological University · $95,666 New Mexico Institute of Mining & Technology · $99,659 University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign · $99,547 University of Wisconsin - Eau Claire · $90,555 North Carolina State University · $78,645 University of Wisconsin - Madison · $93,165 University of Tennessee, Knoxville · $91,001 University of Washington · $89,728 Clemson University · $97,485 University of Central Florida · $89,035 Purdue University · $96,326 University of Maryland, College Park · $96,060 University of California, Davis · $81,274 Auburn University · $91,814 Ohio State University · $97,196 Texas A&M University - College Station · $102,877 University of Connecticut · $102,217 Virginia Tech · $93,283 University of Pittsburgh · $90,745 University of Minnesota - Twin Cities · $92,082 Rutgers University - New Brunswick · $92,430 University of Alabama · $100,432 Wright State University · $94,604 Winona State University · $98,982 San Jose State University · $96,667 University of North Texas · $89,053 University of Utah · $91,900 University of Nevada, Reno · $91,472 Michigan State University · $95,463 Boise State University · $100,664 University of Massachusetts - Lowell · $95,516 University of California, Riverside · $90,213 Washington State University · $91,037 Iowa State University · $95,169 Arizona State University · $107,008 University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee · $92,436 University of Wisconsin - Stout · $91,482 Pennsylvania State University - Erie-Behrend College · $92,317 University of Southern Mississippi · $92,415 University of Kentucky · $90,381 Western Washington University · $89,775 University of Alabama at Birmingham · $93,814 University of California, Merced · $88,111 University of Texas at El Paso · $100,222 LeTourneau University · $91,577 Case Western Reserve University · $97,697 Illinois Institute of Technology · $98,150 Alfred University · $87,290 Drexel University · $107,574 Thomas Jefferson University · $86,809 Lehigh University · $95,852 University of Florida · $107,904 University of California, Irvine · $95,637 Colorado School of Mines · $94,084 Cal Poly - San Luis Obispo · $117,096 Georgia Tech · $105,144 University of Virginia · $99,662 University of Michigan - Ann Arbor · $98,328 Caltech · $100,753 Stanford University · $98,916 MIT · $92,325 University of Pennsylvania · $97,915 Johns Hopkins University · $107,292 Brown University · $100,928 Northwestern University · $101,635 Rice University · $104,774 Cornell University · $103,276 UCLA · $96,922 STEM, Business & Military: mean $97,119 Public University: mean $93,681 Religious University: mean $91,577 Private University: mean $95,504 20–30%: mean $102,115 10–20%: mean $101,045 0–10%: mean $100,474 All colleges: p10 $89,401 All colleges: p90 $104,774
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% $93,300 95%
Materials Science and Engineering 23 628 66% / 34% 11% $95,511 94%
Materials Engineering 33 488 69% / 32% 6% $96,222 97%
Textile Engineering 1 194 14% / 86% 3% $77,241 96%
Metallurgical Engineering 8 67 73% / 27% 4% $96,816 94%
Plastics Engineering 4 49 65% / 35% 2% $92,784 99%
Materials Science & Engineering 2 42 55% / 45% 10% $96,526 98%
Metallurgical and Materials Engineering 1 36 67% / 33% 0% $94,250 100%
Ceramic Sciences and Engineering 3 25 80% / 20% 12% $91,031 98%
Polymer Science and Engineering 2 24 71% / 29% 0% $94,445
Ceramic Engineering 2 16 81% / 19% 0% $85,838 89%
Materials Science and Engineering (Course 3) 1 12 17% / 83% 0% $92,325 89%
Materials Science and NanoEngineering 1 11 91% / 9% 9% $104,774
Textile Sciences and Engineering 1 8 25% / 75% 0% $86,809
Materials Science (Engineering) 1 1 100% / 0% 0% $100,753