Ranked #35 in popularity, civil engineering is one of the most sought-after bachelor's degree programs in the nation. This makes choosing the right school a hard decision.
College Factual reviewed 39 schools in the Great Lakes Region to determine which ones were the best for bachelor's degree seekers in the field of civil engineering. When you put them all together, these colleges and universities awarded 1,943 bachelor's degrees in civil engineering during the 2022-2023 academic year.
DEBUG: Checking offer "Urban Planning (I Have a HS Diploma or Associate Degree)" with relevance 0.7
DEBUG: ✗ Offer "Urban Planning (I Have a HS Diploma or Associate Degree)" REJECTED (relevance 0.7)
DEBUG: Checking offer "Urban Planning (I Have a Bachelors)" with relevance 0.7
DEBUG: ✗ Offer "Urban Planning (I Have a Bachelors)" REJECTED (relevance 0.7)
DEBUG: Checking offer "Science & Engineering Bachelors Programs (I Have a HS Diploma or Associate Degree)" with relevance 0.6
DEBUG: ✗ Offer "Science & Engineering Bachelors Programs (I Have a HS Diploma or Associate Degree)" REJECTED (relevance 0.6)
DEBUG: Checking offer "Science & Engineering Diploma Programs (I Have a HS Diploma or Associate Degree)" with relevance 0.6
DEBUG: ✗ Offer "Science & Engineering Diploma Programs (I Have a HS Diploma or Associate Degree)" REJECTED (relevance 0.6)
DEBUG: relevant_offers count = 0
DEBUG: No relevant offers, showing generic ESYOH widget
Choosing a Great Civil Engineering School for Your Bachelor's Degree
Your choice of civil engineering for getting your bachelor's degree school matters. This section explores some of the factors we include in our ranking and how much they vary depending on the school you select. When choosing a school we recommend considering some of the following factors:
Quality Overall Is Important
A school that excels in educating for a particular major and degree level must be a great school overall as well. To make it into this list a school must rank well in our overall Best Colleges ranking. This ranking considered factors such as graduation rates, overall graduate earnings and other educational resources to identify great colleges and universities.
Average Earnings
To determine the overall quality of a graduate school, one factor we look at is the average early-career salary of those receiving their bachelor's degree from the school. This is because one of the main reasons people pursue their bachelor's degree is to enable themselves to find better-paying positions.
Other Factors We Consider
In addition to the above, you should consider some of the following factors:
Major Focus - How much a school focuses on civil engineering students vs. other majors.
Major Demand - The number of civil engineering students who choose to seek a bachelor's degree at the school.
Educational Resources - The amount of money and other resources allocated to students while they are pursuing their degree. These resources include such things as number of students per instructor and education expenditures per student.
Student Debt - How easy is it for civil engineering to pay back their student loans after receiving their bachelor's degree.
Accreditation - Whether a school is regionally accredited and/or accredited by a recognized civil engineering related body.
Our complete ranking methodology documents in more detail how we consider these factors to identify the best colleges for civil engineering students working on their bachelor's degree.
Since picking the right college can be one of the most important decisions of your life, we've developed the Best Civil Engineering Bachelor's Degree Schools in the Great Lakes Region ranking, along with many other major-related rankings, to help you make that decision.
In addition to College Factual's rankings, you may want to take a look at College Combat, our unique tool that lets you pit your favorite schools head-to-head and compare how they rate on factors that most interest you.
When you have some time, check it out - you may want to bookmark the link so you don't forget it.
DEBUG: Raw major_slug = "engineering//civil-engineering"
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign is one of the best schools in the United States for getting a bachelor's degree in civil engineering. Located in the city of Champaign, UIUC is a public university with a fairly large student population.
Those civil engineering students who get their bachelor's degree from University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign earn $4,338 more than the average civil eng student.
It's difficult to beat University of Michigan - Ann Arbor if you wish to pursue a bachelor's degree in civil engineering. U-M is a very large public university located in the medium-sized city of Ann Arbor.
Soon after graduating, civil eng bachelor's recipients typically earn around $67,764 at the beginning of their careers.
It's hard to beat University of Notre Dame if you wish to pursue a bachelor's degree in civil engineering. Located in the suburb of Notre Dame, Notre Dame is a private not-for-profit university with a large student population.
Civil Engineering bachelor's degree recipients from University of Notre Dame get an earnings boost of around $5,440 above the average income of civil engineering majors.
Located in the city of Madison, UW - Madison is a public university with a very large student population.
Civil Engineering bachelor's degree recipients from University of Wisconsin - Madison receive an earnings boost of around $2,187 over the average income of civil engineering graduates.
Purdue is a fairly large public university located in the small city of West Lafayette.
Those civil engineering students who get their bachelor's degree from Purdue University - Main Campus make $5,310 more than the average civil eng graduate.
Located in the city of East Lansing, Michigan State is a public university with a very large student population.
Civil Engineering bachelor's degree recipients from Michigan State University get an earnings boost of about $2,989 above the typical income of civil engineering graduates.
Case Western is a fairly large private not-for-profit university located in the city of Cleveland.
Those civil engineering students who get their bachelor's degree from Case Western Reserve University make $5,207 more than the average civil eng grad.
The bars on the spread charts above show the distribution of the schools on this list +/- one standard deviation from the mean.
The Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) from the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), a branch of the U.S. Department of Education (DOE) serves as the core of the rest of our data about colleges.
Some other college data, including much of the graduate earnings data, comes from the U.S. Department of Education’s (College Scorecard).
Your choice of civil engineering for getting your bachelor's degree school matters. This section explores some of the factors we include in our ranking and how much they vary depending on the school you select. When choosing a school we recommend considering some of the following factors:
