<p>I actually did my chemE at Northwestern. For a long time, it’s ranked in the 10-20 range actually so when I saw that it’s ranked the 23rd in the latest USN, I thought it’s underrated!! That said, the core curriculum is very similar across many schools. I personally think it’s the “Engineering First”, not the difference in 20 spots or whatever in published ranking, that makes greater difference. One more thing, the chemE at NU recently changed its name to chem and bio engineering and a course in bio is now part of the core. A lot of chemE work in biotech these days.</p>