Purdue Engineering wins No. 4 national ranking and record scores for research and graduate education, atop No. 1 triple crown
New survey augments recently earned first places in degrees awarded, market demand, online master’s programs for all ranked specialties
Already No. 1 in three key competitive areas, Purdue Engineering has added another major laurel: No. 4 ranked engineering college in the country, among nearly 200 ranked engineering colleges, according to U.S. News & World Report’s Best Graduate Engineering Schools survey released Tuesday (April 7). Purdue Engineering is now ranked close behind MIT, Stanford and Berkeley engineering.
In addition, Purdue Engineering maintained its highest-ever peer assessment score and its highest overall evaluation score this century, and secured 3 top 5 specialty rankings.
Purdue Engineering’s 2026 research and graduate engineering performance builds on this triple crown of national distinctions:
- No. 1 producer of engineering graduates – by the number of BS degrees in engineering granted annually, and by the number of BS, MS and PhD degrees awarded annually.
- No. 1 engineering college for market demand – having received more applications for first-choice engineering majors than any other university.
- No. 1 ranked online engineering master’s degrees in all 5 specialties ranked by U.S. News.
In the Best Graduate Engineering Schools survey, Purdue Engineering’s top 5 specialties are Agricultural and Biological Engineering (ABE), No. 1, for the sixth straight year; Industrial Engineering (IE), No. 4; and Aeronautical and Astronautical (AAE), No. 5.
Rounding out the top 10 – making for 8 total No. 10 specialty rankings – are Civil Engineering (CE), No. 7; Electrical Engineering (EE), No. 8, Mechanical Engineering (ME), No. 8; Computer Engineering (CompE), No. 9; and Nuclear Engineering (NE), No. 10.
In addition, Biomedical Engineering (BME) is No. 5 among institutions without a medical school or a jointly administered BME program. This distinction acknowledges differences in resources and structure that can impact rankings for BME programs affiliated with medical schools.
“Purdue Engineering’s 2026 research and graduate engineering rankings take us to the next level of excellence in achieving Vision 2030, particularly in elevating research impact,” said Arvind Raman, the John A. Edwardson Dean of the College of Engineering. “I am tremendously proud of our faculty, staff, students, alumni and industry partners who have achieved these milestones in a highly competitive and rapidly changing research landscape.”
Raman said factors propelling the college’s latest rankings success include increasingly selective doctoral admissions, increased peer reputation, as well as higher per capita research expenditures.