Which is the best for engineering in general (rank them if you could)

College Search & Selection
1

Villanova
Bucknell
Lehigh
Lafayette
University of Maryland CP

2

All of these schools have good reputations for engineering. None of them stand out as as having significantly stronger or weaker engineering programs than the others. In other words, there are no meaningful differences in rank within this group.

However, there are very meaningful and obvious differences in other respects, such as total size (e.g. 2,500 at Lafayette vs. 39,000 at Maryland), or setting (e.g. isolated small town at Bucknell vs. Philadelphia Main Line at Villanova), or religious orientation (at Villanova), or in-state tuition (at Maryland), or unique majors (e.g. Integrated Business and Engineering at Lehigh).

I would focus on the big macro differences, instead of trying to discern micro differences in undergraduate engineering reputation.

If you had a specific engineering major in mind, then some of these schools might be better than others. For example, Lehigh is the only one to offer an Industrial Engineering major, and Maryland is the only one with a Fire Protection Engineering major. But you asked about “engineering in general”.

3

I agree with @Corbett Lehigh, Lafayette, Bucknell and Villanova all have similar students and programs. Maryland may be similar too, but I am not familiar with it.

4

University of Maryland has the best undergrad engineering program by far. University of Maryland has enormous resources and grants far more undergrad and grad degrees than the next best school, Lehigh. US News ranks U. of Maryland 25th for undergrad engineering among schools that also grant doctorates and Lehigh is ranked 47th. The rest of the schools are basically liberal arts colleges that offer bachelors degrees in engineering. I think job recruiting would be stronger at U. of Maryland and that U. Maryland would offer better preparation for grad school. I don’t mean to disparage the undergrad engineering at Bucknell, Lafayette, and Villanova. They also provide excellent preparation for engineering. U. Maryland and Lehigh are just in a different league. If you really prefer a smaller school, then Lehigh would probably be the better choice.

5

Thanks for the advice everyone. These are good points you brought up. Sorry it took so long for me to respond back I have been busy lately.