Our Labs Have Labs
These are the hyper-funded research behemoths where undergrads play with billion-dollar particle accelerators before breakfast. You will be absolutely crushed by the workload, but your name might end up on a Nobel-winning paper before you can legally drink.
| # ▲ | University | Location | Degrees | Accept | SAT | Male/Female | Intl | 5-Year Earn | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |
Caltech
Pasadena,
CA
|
Pasadena, CA | — | 4% | — | — | — | — |
|
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| 2 |
Cornell
Ithaca,
NY
|
Ithaca, NY | 29 | 7% | 66% / 34% | 7% | $129,630 | — |
|
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| 3 |
Stanford
Stanford,
CA
|
Stanford, CA | 0 | 4% | — | — | — | — |
|
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| 4 |
U. of California, Berkeley
Berkeley,
CA
|
Berkeley, CA | 12 | 11% | 50% / 50% | 0% | — | — |
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| 5 |
U. of Colorado Boulder
Boulder,
CO
|
Boulder, CO | 23 | 71% | 78% / 22% | 0% | $110,642 | — |
|
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| 6 |
U. of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
Champaign,
IL
|
Champaign, IL | — | 37% | — | — | — | — |
|
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| 7 |
U. of Michigan - Ann Arbor
Ann Arbor,
MI
|
Ann Arbor, MI | 15 | 16% | 87% / 13% | 20% | $122,340 | — |
|
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| 8 |
Georgia Tech
Atlanta,
GA
|
Atlanta, GA | — | 13% | — | — | — | — |
|
Too Nerdy for the Engineers, Too Practical for the Physicists
A bizarre academic purgatory. The pure physics majors think you're corporate sellouts, and the mechanical engineers think you're doing literal magic. High prestige, deep theory, and you'll spend four years explaining to your parents that no, you aren't fixing tractors, you're designing quantum sensors.
| # ▲ | University | Location | Degrees | Accept | SAT | Male/Female | Intl | 5-Year Earn | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |
Columbia
New York,
NY
|
New York, NY | 11 | 4% | 82% / 18% | 9% | — | — |
|
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| 2 |
Harvard
Cambridge,
MA
|
Cambridge, MA | — | 3% | — | — | — | — |
|
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| 3 |
Northwestern
Evanston,
IL
|
Evanston, IL | — | 7% | — | — | — | — |
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| 4 |
Princeton
Princeton,
NJ
|
Princeton, NJ | — | 4% | — | — | — | — |
|
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| 5 |
Rice
Houston,
TX
|
Houston, TX | — | 8% | — | — | — | — |
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| 6 |
U. of California, San Diego
La Jolla,
CA
|
La Jolla, CA | 2 | 29% | 100% / 0% | 0% | — | — |
|
Simultaneously Engineers & Physicists Until a Recruiter Observes Them
You exist in a superposition of "theoretical visionary" and "wrench-turning pragmatist" until a Lockheed Martin recruiter opens the box and instantly hires you. These are hardcore, grind-it-out STEM factories that churn out terrifyingly competent problem solvers.
| # ▲ | University | Location | Degrees | Accept | SAT | Male/Female | Intl | 5-Year Earn | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |
U. of Wisconsin - Madison
Madison,
WI
|
Madison, WI | 3 | 41% | 100% / 0% | 0% | — | — |
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| 2 |
Ohio State
Columbus,
OH
|
Columbus, OH | 18 | 49% | 89% / 11% | 6% | $108,696 | — |
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| 3 |
Colorado School of Mines
Golden,
CO
|
Golden, CO | 71 | 29% | 72% / 28% | 1% | $95,572 | — |
|
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| 4 |
Pennsylvania State
University Park,
PA
|
University Park, PA | 25 | 55% | 72% / 28% | 16% | $102,160 | — |
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| 5 |
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
Troy,
NY
|
Troy, NY | — | 67% | — | — | — | — |
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| 6 |
Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology
Terre Haute,
IN
|
Terre Haute, IN | 14 | 79% | 71% / 29% | 0% | $106,535 | — |
|
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| 7 |
Stevens Institute of Technology
Hoboken,
NJ
|
Hoboken, NJ | 0 | 28% | — | — | — | — |
|
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| 8 |
Kettering
Flint,
MI
|
Flint, MI | 5 | 68% | 80% / 20% | 20% | — | — |
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We Build Lightsabers, Inc
Programs with incredibly cool, specific niches like aerospace, optics, or tech-hub proximity. You might not have the brand-name gravity of Tier 1, but you're too busy building actual lasers, satellites, and next-gen hardware to care.
| # ▲ | University | Location | Degrees | Accept | SAT | Male/Female | Intl | 5-Year Earn | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |
Case Western Reserve
Cleveland,
OH
|
Cleveland, OH | 4 | 35% | 75% / 25% | 25% | — | — |
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| 2 |
Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University - Daytona Beach
Daytona Beach,
FL
|
Daytona Beach, FL | 25 | 55% | 68% / 32% | 4% | — | — |
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| 3 |
New York University
New York,
NY
|
New York, NY | 3 | 9% | 100% / 0% | 0% | — | — |
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| 4 |
Santa Clara
Santa Clara,
CA
|
Santa Clara, CA | 3 | 48% | 100% / 0% | 33% | — | — |
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| 5 |
U. of California, Irvine
Irvine,
CA
|
Irvine, CA | — | 29% | — | — | — | — |
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| 6 |
U. of Rochester
Rochester,
NY
|
Rochester, NY | 40 | 42% | 65% / 35% | 28% | $100,661 | — |
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