Top ChemE schools?

College Search & Selection
1

<p>Out of the following schools, could anyone compare and contrast their ChemE programs? Best, worst, etc?:</p>

<p>Northwestern
Ohio State
Dayton
Lehigh
Case Western</p>

<p>Also, what would some of the other top ChemE programs out there, preferably in the Midwest?</p>

2

<p>In this field you have plenty of good choices in the Midwest. According to US News, the top undergrad chemical engineering programs in the Midwest would be:</p>

<ol>
<li>Minnesota (#3 overall)</li>
<li>Wisconsin (#5)</li>
<li>Illinois (#7)</li>
<li>Purdue (#12)</li>
<li>Michigan (#13)</li>
<li>Northwestern (#16)</li>
</ol>

<p>Among smaller schools (those without Ph.D. programs, generally with smaller faculties):

  1. Rose-Hulman (#1)</p>

<p>The US News rankings for universities are generally consistent with the recently-released NRC ratings of graduate programs, which for Midwestern Chem E programs would look like this:</p>

<p>Rank / School / 95th% rank / 5th% rank

  1. Minnesota 4 / 15
  2. Illinois 6 / 25
  3. Michigan 7 / 26
  4. Northwestern 7 / 27
  5. Wisconsin 7 / 29
  6. Purdue 12 / 43
  7. Ohio State 18 / 53
  8. Illinois Institute of Technology 28 /61
  9. Notre Dame 29 / 63
  10. Iowa State 36 / 70
  11. Michigan State 42 / 67
  12. Case Western 45 / 81
  13. Iowa 46 / 82
  14. Kansas 52 / 87</p>

<p>Of these, Minnesota is consistently the highest-ranked in Chem E and has the lowest out-of-state tuition, pegged at $4,000/year above the in-state rate.</p>

3

<p>I second Minnesota. Best ChemE program in the Midwest and one of the best in the world. </p>

<p>…and how does Lehigh fit the Midwest qualification?</p>

4

<p>^ Lehigh isn’t ranked in the US News top 20 for Chem E. That’s as far as their ranking goes.</p>

<p>The NRC ratings of Midwest schools including Lehigh (obviously not a Midwest school) in Chem E would be:</p>

<p>Rank / School / 95th% rank / 5th% rank

  1. Minnesota 4 / 15
  2. Illinois 6 / 25
  3. Michigan 7 / 26
  4. Northwestern 7 / 27
  5. Wisconsin 7 / 29
  6. Purdue 12 / 43
  7. (tie) Lehigh 17 / 54
  8. (tie) Ohio State 18 / 53
  9. Illinois Institute of Technology 28 /61
  10. Notre Dame 29 / 63
  11. Iowa State 36 / 70
  12. Michigan State 42 / 67
  13. Case Western 45 / 81
  14. Iowa 46 / 82
  15. Kansas 52 / 87</p>
5

<p>as far as lehigh i know its not a midwest school its just another school im considering.</p>

6

<p>for undergrad programs, they all teach essentially the same thing since they’re ABET acredited. What matters to some degree is the selectivity of the college; employers tend to have a better view of more selective schools since they expect smarter kids are the ones that got in. But in engineering schools fall within broad bands rather than a bunch of narrow stripes; the elite such as MIT, the selective, and then those that accept almost anybody. You can find people out here who want to cut it finer for you, but to future employers its not going to matter. Just go to the page for the career center and you’ll see that within the broad categories the same employers will be recruiting at the various schools; anybody who recruits at Minnesota is also going to recruit at Northwestern, even if it is #3 vs #16 by some poll.</p>

<p>Your bigger concern, and the one nobody ever seems to mention, is what to do if you decide to drop out of ChemE? These days somewhere between 1/2 and 2/3 of those entering engineering programs nationwide end up dropping out of the program. So I’d give some attention to which school you’d want to attend if you decide ChemE isn’t right for you.</p>

7

<p>If you are willing to go a bit further south while still staying in the middle (east to west), look at Rice. Great ChemE program.</p>

8

<p>forget the ranking and go to Northwestern. It is - by far - the best in your list.</p>