When you say top graduate engineering universities in USA, you typically get a prompt response – MIT or Stanford. Well it is true that these two schools have the best engineering departments in the world but there are other schools which are catching up fast. For most of us in Pakistan, MIT is the dream engineering school to be in. Many students in Pakistan also ask if top schools like MIT and Stanford are on the Fulbright list of schools – the good news is yes they are. But I must stress here that there are other good programs too. For the purpose of this post I have compiled the list of top 20 engineering schools in the US, according to US news.
While applying to these programs please do make an effort in making sure that you have the most convincing and awe inspiring application – top GRE scores, great personal statement and 3 amazing letters of recommendations from your professors or bosses! As to whether these programs each weigh these components the same or higher is difficult to say. But what ever the case, these schools are extremely competitive and you must do really well on everything to stand chance of making it through. Here is a list of Top 20 Graduate Engineering Universities in USA for the year 2014. I would recommend that those applying to US engineering schools must apply to at least two of these schools. You never know; you may be the lucky one who gets in!
| University Name | Rank | Tuition Fee | Number of Graduate Students Admitted Every Year | GRE Score required |
| Massachusetts Institute of Technology Cambridge, MA | 1 | $41,770 per year (full-time) | 3,163 | Yes |
| Stanford University Stanford, CA | 2 | $43,950 per year (full-time) | 3,548 | Yes |
| University of California—Berkeley Berkeley, CA | 3 | $11,220 per year (in-state, full-time); $26,322 per year (out-of-state, full-time) | 1,837 | Yes |
| California Institute of Technology Pasadena, CA | 4 | $38,084 per year (full-time) | 587 | Yes |
| Carnegie Mellon University Pittsburgh, PA | 5 | $38,900 per year (full-time) | 2,857 | Yes |
| Georgia Institute of Technology Atlanta, GA | 6 | $10,584 per year (in-state, full-time); $26,860 per year (out-of-state, full-time) | 4,651 | Yes |
| University of Illinois—Urbana-Champaign Urbana, IL | 7 | $16,352 per year (in-state, full-time); $29,618 per year (out-of-state, full-time) | 2,975 | Yes |
| Purdue University—West Lafayette West Lafayette, IN | 8 | $10,332 per year (in-state, full-time); $29,134 per year (out-of-state, full-time) | 3,070 | Yes |
| University of Michigan—Ann Arbor Ann Arbor, MI | 9 | $22,518 per year (in-state, full-time); $41,914 per year (out-of-state, full-time) | 3,184 | Yes |
| University of Southern California (Viterbi) Los Angeles, CA | 10 | $28,242 per year (full-time) | 4,398 | Yes |
| Texas A&M University—College Station (Look) College Station, TX | 11 | $277 per credit (in-state, full-time); $577 per credit (out-of-state, full-time) | 2,918 | Yes |
| University of Texas—Austin (Cockrell) Austin, TX | 12 | $9,564 per year (in-state, full-time); $17,506 per year (out-of-state, full-time) | 2,425 | Yes |
| Cornell University Ithaca, NY | 13 | $29,500 per year (full-time) | 1,768 | Yes |
| University of California—San Diego (Jacobs) La Jolla, CA | 14 | $11,220 per year (in-state, full-time); $26,322 per year (out-of-state, full-time) | 1,614 | Yes |
| Columbia University (Fu Foundation) New York, NY | 15 | $47,340 per year (full-time) | 2,525 | Yes |
| University of California—Los Angeles (Samueli) Los Angeles, CA | 16 | $12,562 per year (in-state, full-time); $27,664 per year (out-of-state, full-time) | 1,776 | Yes |
| Princeton University Princeton, NJ | 17 | $38,650 per year (full-time) | 574 | Yes |
| University of Wisconsin—Madison Madison, WI | 18 | $11,839 per year (in-state, full-time); $25,166 per year (out-of-state, full-time) | 1,903 | Yes |
| University of Maryland—College Park (Clark) College Park, MD | 19 | $11,020 per year (in-state, full-time); $23,760 per year (out-of-state, full-time) | 2,254 | Yes |
| Northwestern University (McCormick) Evanston, IL | 20 | $43,380 per year (full-time) | 1,669 | Yes |
While I would love to give you people some kind of hard and fast number for your chances of getting in but it is very difficult to say. Getting into one of these programs requires an excellent overall application – make sure you sell yourself well. Good luck!