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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

$88,866
419
100–75%
$88,504
811
75–29%
$95,325
433
29–0%
Acceptance rate · bar = degree-weighted earnings

By SAT median

$89,219
358
400–1280
$86,607
665
1280–1410
$95,125
381
1410–1600
Combined SAT composite median (submitters + non-submitters) · bar = degree-weighted earnings

Earnings vs. selectivity rank

$81,499p10 $103,696p90 STEM Non-Research Public University Religious University Private University Public University 1–25 Private University 21–40 Private University 1–20 South Dakota School of Mines and Technology · $104,378 University of California, Irvine · $104,416 Cal Poly - San Luis Obispo · $107,726 University of Washington · $98,760 Clemson University · $82,276 University of California, Davis · $88,183 San Jose State University · $103,696 University of Connecticut · $86,829 University of Pittsburgh · $85,956 University of Minnesota - Twin Cities · $89,696 University at Buffalo · $88,066 Missouri University of Science and Technology · $86,728 University of Alabama at Birmingham · $88,034 Wright State University · $79,602 Michigan Technological University · $81,891 University of Alabama · $87,261 Washington State University · $84,422 Boise State University · $84,030 University of Wisconsin - Eau Claire · $80,391 Winona State University · $83,187 Western Washington University · $90,590 University of North Texas · $76,685 University of Utah · $89,020 Michigan State University · $95,671 Iowa State University · $87,838 Montana Technological University · $88,169 University of Massachusetts - Lowell · $96,500 University of Nevada, Reno · $85,941 University of California, Riverside · $94,890 Arizona State University · $88,115 University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee · $80,488 University of Kentucky · $83,100 University of Wisconsin - Stout · $86,340 Pennsylvania State University - Erie-Behrend College · $102,241 Pennsylvania State University - Greater Allegheny · $88,186 University of Southern Mississippi · $74,577 University of Texas at El Paso · $73,613 New Mexico Institute of Mining & Technology · $88,368 University of California, Merced · $89,851 LeTourneau University · $83,355 Saint Vincent College · $82,877 Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute · $84,117 Illinois Institute of Technology · $89,158 Alfred University · $81,499 Thomas Jefferson University · $82,572 Drexel University · $99,089 Georgia Tech · $89,572 University of Michigan - Ann Arbor · $95,471 University of Virginia · $97,145 University of Florida · $86,081 Purdue University · $105,406 Colorado School of Mines · $94,251 University of Maryland, College Park · $95,760 UCLA · $100,662 University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign · $96,928 Rutgers University - New Brunswick · $96,085 University of Wisconsin - Madison · $85,207 Texas A&M University - College Station · $94,709 Auburn University · $88,746 University of Tennessee, Knoxville · $92,082 University of Central Florida · $85,049 Virginia Tech · $90,734 Ohio State University · $92,120 North Carolina State University · $73,204 Case Western Reserve University · $87,523 Lehigh University · $95,946 MIT · $98,069 Caltech · $107,757 Johns Hopkins University · $101,039 Stanford University · $109,840 University of Pennsylvania · $98,625 Rice University · $98,429 Northwestern University · $101,458 Cornell University · $107,760 STEM Non-Research: mean $104,378 Public University: mean $88,193 Religious University: mean $83,116 Private University: mean $87,287 Public University 1–25: mean $92,178 Private University 21–40: mean $91,735 Private University 1–20: mean $102,872 All colleges: p10 $81,499 All colleges: p90 $103,696
Each dot = a college · y = degree-weighted earnings

Majors in this category

Major Colleges Degrees ▼ Male/Female Intl Earnings Employment
Materials Engineering 75 1,663 59% / 41% 9% $88,963 96%
Materials Science and Engineering 23 596 63% / 37% 12% $92,681 96%
Materials Engineering 32 539 66% / 34% 10% $89,552 97%
Textile Engineering 1 186 21% / 79% 3% $71,193 96%
Metallurgical Engineering 8 89 80% / 20% 0% $88,079 97%
Plastics Engineering 4 56 77% / 23% 0% $93,317 96%
Materials Science & Engineering 2 43 53% / 47% 9% $99,175 98%
Metallurgical and Materials Engineering 1 36 64% / 36% 0% $93,910 96%
Ceramic Sciences and Engineering 3 32 56% / 44% 3% $91,352 96%
Polymer Science and Engineering 2 24 79% / 21% 4% $80,962
Materials Science and Engineering (Course 3) 1 23 26% / 74% 0% $98,069 89%
Ceramic Engineering 2 19 42% / 58% 0% $79,174 100%
Materials Science and NanoEngineering 1 10 70% / 30% 10% $98,429
Textile Sciences and Engineering 1 8 0% / 100% 0% $82,572
Materials Science (Engineering) 1 2 0% / 100% 0% $107,757