30 Best STEM Colleges in the USA

Key Infor­ma­tion:

• The Unit­ed States Mer­chant Marine Acad­e­my is the #1 best STEM pro­gram in the USA.
• Col­leges offer a wide range of STEM degrees, includ­ing less com­mon fields like Min­ing Tech­nol­o­gy and Urban Forestry.
• STEM fields are grow­ing rapid­ly, with sig­nif­i­cant increas­es in avail­able jobs and salaries high­er than many oth­er fields.
• Top schools pro­vide robust resources and facil­i­ties, enhanc­ing learn­ing and research oppor­tu­ni­ties in STEM.

The Age of Infor­ma­tion, the Dig­i­tal Age, the New Media Age — regard­less of what name it goes by, we are liv­ing in a dig­i­tal time. Our econ­o­my has shift­ed from an Indus­tri­al Econ­o­my to an Infor­ma­tion Econ­o­my. The world of tech­nol­o­gy is explod­ing, and for stu­dents who are inter­est­ed in a STEM major like com­put­er sci­ence, the future is bright.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, jobs in STEM fields grew 10.5%, or over 800,000 jobs, between 2009 and 2015.

Growth in STEM careers con­tin­ues to increase; com­put­er sci­ence occu­pa­tions specif­i­cal­ly are pro­ject­ed to increase by an astro­nom­i­cal 500,000 between 2014 and 2024, and engi­neer­ing and STEM-relat­ed man­age­ment jobs are expect­ed to top 50,000 each. The pay­off for STEM schools is already show­ing. Among the 1,000+ schools ranked by Payscale, the medi­an ear­ly career salary is approx­i­mate­ly $46,000, and the medi­an mid-career is $77,000. These fig­ures com­pared to the top STEM schools are $66,000 and $113,000, respec­tive­ly. Job avail­abil­i­ty, com­pen­sa­tion, and oppor­tu­ni­ty make pur­su­ing a STEM major an easy choice.

What is a STEM Major?

STEM stands for sci­ence, tech­nol­o­gy, engi­neer­ing, and math­e­mat­ics, so most majors that fall under this cat­e­go­ry are con­sid­ered STEM degrees. The options are broad and include most of the degrees in sci­ence and engi­neer­ing, as well as less­er-known degrees such as Ani­mal Sci­ence and Nutri­tion, Agron­o­my and Crop Sci­ence, Envi­ron­men­tal Stud­ies, Urban Forestry, Min­ing Tech­nol­o­gy, Strate­gic Intel­li­gence, Under­sea War­fare, Nutri­tion Sci­ences, Arche­ol­o­gy, and Vet­eri­nary Anato­my. An offi­cial list of STEM degrees from the gov­ern­ment is found here.

A push for more STEM majors has tak­en place nation­wide. In 2012, Pres­i­dent Oba­ma made increas­ing the num­ber of col­lege grad­u­ates in STEM fields by one mil­lion in one decade a Cross-Agency Pri­or­i­ty goal and char­tered the Pres­i­den­t’s Coun­cil of Advi­sors on Sci­ence and Tech­nol­o­gy to help meet this goal. Pres­i­dents Trump and Biden have con­tin­ued with sim­i­lar agen­das. Poten­tial stu­dents will find that the ben­e­fits of enter­ing into a STEM pro­gram like com­put­er sci­ence often exceed those of oth­er programs.

Earn­ing a STEM degree is one of the surest ways to secure future employ­ment. The job mar­ket is boom­ing, and the demand for high­ly trained pro­fes­sion­als is enor­mous. STEM stu­dents will have to study hard, com­pete well, and focus dur­ing their col­lege years. For those who are will­ing to enter into this chal­leng­ing field, the reward is great — they will expe­ri­ence inno­va­tion, tech­nol­o­gy, research, and dis­cov­ery. They may even change the world.

Methodology: The 30 Best Schools for STEM Majors

Cre­at­ing a rank­ing for the best schools for STEM majors was a chal­lenge. We exam­ined the insti­tu­tions of high­er learn­ing across the nation to find what STEM degrees they offered. STEM degrees were eval­u­at­ed based on this list from the STEM Des­ig­nat­ed Degree Pro­gram list. The total num­ber of STEM degrees con­ferred was com­pared with the total num­ber of the degrees the insti­tu­tion con­ferred to cal­cu­late a per­cent­age. Oth­er pieces of data col­lect­ed include Stu­dent to fac­ul­ty ratio, annu­al tuition, grad­u­a­tion rate, and reten­tion rate. These data points were cal­cu­lat­ed to give each school an over­all score which was used to cre­ate the fol­low­ing rank­ing. All data was col­lect­ed from the Nation­al Cen­ter for Edu­ca­tion Sta­tis­tics.
Con­sid­er­a­tions giv­en to each of the cri­te­ria are as follows:

• Per­cent­age of Bach­e­lors Degrees Con­ferred in a STEM Dis­ci­pline — 40%
• Stu­dent-to-fac­ul­ty ratio — 20%
• annu­al tuition — 20%
• grad­u­a­tion rate — 10%
• reten­tion rate — 10%

1. United States Merchant Marine Academy

• Loca­tion: Kings Point, NY
• Total Under­grad­u­ate Stu­dents: 954
• Stu­dent to Fac­ul­ty Ratio: 13 to 1
• Per­cent­age of Bach­e­lors Degrees Con­ferred in a STEM Dis­ci­pline: 100%
• Annu­al Tuition: $1020

The Unit­ed States Mer­chant Marine Acad­e­my serves our nation by train­ing lead­ers to work with hon­or in nation­al secu­ri­ty and marine trans­porta­tion. The USMMA is rig­or­ous in aca­d­e­m­ic expec­ta­tions and requires more cred­its than any oth­er fed­er­al ser­vice academy.

“Deeds not words” is USMMA’s mot­to. A look at the Academy’s grad­u­ates reveals they’re an excel­lent STEM school. Though their offer­ings are not as diverse as larg­er uni­ver­si­ties, USMMA offers unpar­al­leled train­ing, lead­er­ship, and dis­ci­pline. All stu­dents take a required core com­prised of Math­e­mat­ics, Sci­ence, Eng­lish, Lead­er­ship and Ethics, Com­par­a­tive Lit­er­a­ture and His­to­ry, Naval Sci­ence, Phys­i­cal Edu­ca­tion and Ship’s Med­i­cine, Sea Year (all stu­dents will spend approx­i­mate­ly one year at sea), and an intern­ship. All stu­dents take a writ­ten exam­i­na­tion after their first year for licen­sure to become a Mer­chant Marine Offi­cer. There are five majors offered: Marine Trans­porta­tion, Mar­itime Logis­tics and Secu­ri­ty, Marine Engi­neer­ing, Marine Engi­neer­ing Sys­tems, and Marine Engi­neer­ing & Ship­yard Man­age­ment. Elec­tives are offered to enhance majors, and depend­ing on the major, can be tak­en for a minor. Over­all, the clear dis­tinc­tion of the USMMA is the tra­di­tion, hon­or, excel­lence, and rig­or of their STEM programs.

Top STEM Programs:

• Marine Science/Merchant Marine Officer
• Naval Archi­tec­ture and Marine Engineering
• Sys­tems Engineering

School Web­site: https://www.usmma.edu/

2. California Institute of Technology

• Loca­tion: Pasade­na, CA
• Total Under­grad­u­ate Stu­dents: 961
• Stu­dent to Fac­ul­ty Ratio: 3 to 1
• Per­cent­age of Bach­e­lors Degrees Con­ferred in a STEM Dis­ci­pline: 98%
• Annu­al Tuition: $49,908

Cal­i­for­nia Insti­tute of Tech­nol­o­gy is famous for sci­ence and engi­neer­ing. Know­ing that Cal­tech has pro­duced 38 Nobel Prizes, pio­neered sil­i­con chip design, dis­cov­ered the positron, dis­cov­ered grav­i­ta­tion­al waves, invent­ed the pH meter, and more, is enough to show they are one of the best STEM schools with some of the best under­grad­u­ate engi­neer­ing pro­grams in the country.

Cal­tech aca­d­e­m­ic divi­sions are divid­ed into Biol­o­gy & Bio­log­i­cal Engi­neer­ing, Chem­istry & Chem­i­cal Engi­neer­ing, Engi­neer­ing & Applied Sci­ence, Geo­log­i­cal & Plan­e­tary Sci­ences, Human­i­ties & Social Sci­ences, and Physics, Math­e­mat­ics & Astron­o­my. Not only does Cal­tech offer many STEM degrees, but they also have a stu­dent-fac­ul­ty ratio of 3 to 1, a num­ber of Nobel lau­re­ate fac­ul­ty, and incred­i­ble resources. The Insti­tute oper­ates the Jet Propul­sion Lab­o­ra­to­ry, the Seis­mo­log­i­cal Lab, Space tele­scopes such as Spitzer, NuS­TAR, Her­schel, Planck, WISE, and GALEX, plus NASA facil­i­ties on cam­pus, and Inter­na­tion­al Obser­va­to­ry Net­work. This Net­work includes the Sub­mil­lime­ter Obser­va­to­ry in Hawaii, the Owens Val­ley Radio Obser­va­to­ry in Cal­i­for­nia, the Laser Inter­fer­om­e­ter Grav­i­ta­tion­al-Wave Obser­va­to­ry (LIGO) in Wash­ing­ton and Louisiana, and the Cha­j­nan­tor Obser­va­to­ry in Chile. Through these resources and numer­ous cen­ters, stu­dents delve into STEM issues and research in the real world in real time.

Top STEM Programs:

• Com­put­er Science
• Mechan­i­cal Engineering
• Physics

School Web­site: http://www.caltech.edu/

3. United States Coast Guard Academy

• Loca­tion: New Lon­don, CT
• Total Under­grad­u­ate Stu­dents: 1044
• Stu­dent to Fac­ul­ty Ratio: 7 to 1
• Per­cent­age of Bach­e­lors Degrees Con­ferred in a STEM Dis­ci­pline: 68.8%
• Annu­al Tuition: 0

Found­ed in 1876, the Unit­ed States Coast Guard Acad­e­my offers bach­e­lor degrees in Civ­il Engi­neer­ing, Cyber Sys­tems, Mechan­i­cal Engi­neer­ing, Elec­tri­cal Engi­neer­ing, Naval Archi­tec­ture and Marine Engi­neer­ing, Oper­a­tions Research and Com­put­er Analy­sis, Marine and Envi­ron­men­tal Sci­ences, Gov­ern­ment, and Man­age­ment. It is the only fed­er­al ser­vice acad­e­my that does not require a con­gres­sion­al nom­i­na­tion for admission.

At the USCGA, you can earn a STEM degree and pay no tuition. Grad­u­ates are com­mis­sioned to serve our nation, and with that, is ensured excel­lent work oppor­tu­ni­ties. Cadets will have “sound bod­ies, stout hearts, and alert minds” and a “high sense of hon­or.” Out­stand­ing engi­neer­ing, cyber, envi­ron­men­tal sci­ence, and naval archi­tec­ture pro­grams fea­ture expe­ri­enced fac­ul­ty and small class size. Cadets have the option to enter an Hon­ors Pro­gram; Hon­ors include Inter­na­tion­al sum­mer intern­ships and schol­ar­ships for grad­u­ate study such as the Rhodes, Mar­shall, Ful­bright, Tru­man, and more. Should you be drawn to grad­u­ate work in STEM, there are a pletho­ra of options: Aero­nau­ti­cal Engi­neer­ing, Avi­a­tion Safe­ty Sys­tems, Infor­ma­tion Oper­a­tions & Cyber Intel­li­gence, Naval Engi­neer­ing to name just some. The Cen­ter for Arc­tic Study & Pol­i­cy (CASP) at CG is a tremen­dous oppor­tu­ni­ty for some hands-on, real-world learn­ing. CASP fea­tures spe­cial­ists in STEM fields and facil­i­tates col­lab­o­ra­tion to fur­ther our knowledge.

Top STEM Programs:

• Mechan­i­cal Engineering
• Civ­il Engineering
• Oceanog­ra­phy, Chem­i­cal, and Physical

School Web­site: www.uscga.edu

4. Massachusetts Institute of Technology

• Loca­tion: Cam­bridge, MA
• Total Under­grad­u­ate Stu­dents: 4,547
• Stu­dent to Fac­ul­ty Ratio: 3 to 1
• Per­cent­age of Bach­e­lors Degrees Con­ferred in a STEM Dis­ci­pline: 93.3%
• Annu­al Tuition: $49,832

Mass­a­chu­setts Insti­tute of Tech­nol­o­gy is one of the most renowned research uni­ver­si­ties in the world. MIT’s acco­lades include near­ly 100 Nobel lau­re­ates many Rhodes, Tru­man, and oth­er schol­ars and recog­ni­tion by numer­ous major rank­ing organizations.

STEM and MIT go togeth­er like ham and eggs. MIT’s has 30 depart­ments across five schools, three of which fit into the STEM des­ig­na­tion: Archi­tec­ture and Plan­ning, Engi­neer­ing, and Sci­ence. Incred­i­ble research facil­i­ties, labs, and oppor­tu­ni­ties abound allow­ing for max­i­mal focus on dis­cov­ery, hands-on learn­ing, and inno­va­tion that affects the real world. A sam­pling of labs and resources include a wind tun­nel, a research nuclear reac­tor, a glass lab, and UROPs (under­grad­u­ate research oppor­tu­ni­ties) just to scratch the sur­face. MIT is home to America’s old­est Aero­space pro­gram. As for under­grad­u­ate engi­neer­ing pro­grams, few schools can claim to offer as many degrees or as good as fac­ul­ty. Choic­es range from Bio­log­i­cal and Chem­i­cal Engi­neer­ing to Elec­tri­cal and Nuclear with every­thing in between. What­ev­er STEM area you’re inter­est­ed in, odds are, MIT has it. Should you be admit­ted and apply your­self, you’ll soon be invent­ing robots, dis­cov­er­ing cures, and mak­ing advances in areas of sci­ence that all serve our soci­ety and world.

Top STEM Programs:

• Com­put­er Science
• Mechan­i­cal Engineering
• Math­e­mat­ics

School Web­site: www.mit.edu/

5. United States Naval Academy

• Loca­tion: Annapo­lis, MD
• Total Under­grad­u­ate Stu­dents: $4,495
• Stu­dent to Fac­ul­ty Ratio: 8 to 1
• Per­cent­age of Bach­e­lors Degrees Con­ferred in a STEM Dis­ci­pline: 62.3%
• Annu­al Tuition: 0

The Unit­ed States Naval Acad­e­my was estab­lished in 1845. It serves the vital pur­pose of train­ing offi­cers for the Navy and Marine Core to pro­tect our land and peo­ple. Locat­ed in Annapo­lis on a cam­pus that is a Nation­al His­toric Land­mark, the Acad­e­my spe­cial­izes in STEM programs.

The pur­pose of Navy’s edu­ca­tion is to train ser­vice­men and women who are “pro­fi­cient in sci­en­tif­ic inquiry, log­i­cal rea­son­ing and prob­lem-solv­ing.” The Acad­e­my offers about 20 STEM majors. Infor­ma­tion Tech­nol­o­gy, Math­e­mat­ics, Mechan­i­cal Engi­neer­ing, Naval Archi­tec­ture & Marine Engi­neer­ing, Nuclear Engi­neer­ing, Quan­ti­ta­tive Eco­nom­ics, and Ocean Engi­neer­ing are a few. Anoth­er fac­tor that shows the Navy’s ded­i­ca­tion to STEM is the fact that since 2013, at least 65 per­cent of grad­u­ates com­mis­sioned into the U.S. Navy must com­plete aca­d­e­m­ic majors in STEM dis­ci­plines. Stu­dents (mid­ship­men) and fac­ul­ty at USNA also reach out to teach­ers and stu­dents K‑12 to pro­mote STEM pro­grams. Not only is this ser­vice to our soci­ety, but it also helps devel­op lead­er­ship skills. Navy’s Cen­ter for Cyber Secu­ri­ty Stud­ies (CCSS) and the USNA Mak­er­space high­light two resources to enhance a STEM area. The Mak­er­space “is a space to share ideas; to tin­ker with, hack, mod­i­fy, and explore tech­nol­o­gy; and cre­ate the future.”

Top STEM Programs:

• Sys­tems Engineering
• Mechan­i­cal Engineering
• Ocean Engi­neer­ing

School Web­site: www.usna.edu

6. Harvey Mudd College

• Loca­tion: Clare­mont, CA
• Total Under­grad­u­ate Stu­dents: 861
• Stu­dent to Fac­ul­ty Ratio: 8 to 1
• Per­cent­age of Bach­e­lors Degrees Con­ferred in a STEM Dis­ci­pline: 97.4%
• Annu­al Tuition: $54,636

Offer­ing a pri­vate, under­grad­u­ate edu­ca­tion since 1955, Har­vey Mudd Col­lege focus­es on STEM dis­ci­plines. The school shares a cam­pus and resources with the sev­en insti­tu­tions that make up Clare­mont Colleges.

Har­vey Mudd Col­lege ranked #1 by U.S. News and World Report for “Best Under­grad­u­ate Engi­neer­ing Pro­grams” and #3 by Forbes’ “Top 25 STEM Col­leges.” HMC offers bach­e­lor’s degrees in Chem­istry, Math­e­mat­ics, Physics, Com­put­er Sci­ence, Biol­o­gy, Engi­neer­ing, as well as sev­er­al inter­dis­ci­pli­nary STEM degrees. The third most pop­u­lar stem major is an inter­dis­ci­pli­nary degree in Math­e­mat­ics and Com­put­er Sci­ence. If you are look­ing for an inter­dis­ci­pli­nary option for STEM pro­grams, HMC offers their Indi­vid­ual Pro­gram of Study (IPS). The IPS option requires a unique com­bi­na­tion of two or more STEM dis­ci­plines, fac­ul­ty sup­port, and approval from the Aca­d­e­m­ic Dean. In addi­tion to the aca­d­e­m­ic options are out­stand­ing resources. There are three Inter­dis­ci­pli­nary Cen­ters, Hixon Cen­ter for Sus­tain­able Envi­ron­men­tal Design, Design Edu­ca­tion, Hixon-Rig­gs Pro­gram for Respon­sive Sci­ence and Engi­neer­ing. HMC has study abroad options, sev­er­al oppor­tu­ni­ties for research fund­ing, sum­mer research options, and the Clin­ic Pro­gram, a 50-year old col­lab­o­ra­tion between research and industry.

Top STEM Programs:

• Engi­neer­ing, General
• Com­put­er Science
• Physics, tied with Math­e­mat­ics and Com­put­er Science

School Web­site: www.hmc.edu

7. Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology

• Loca­tion: Terre Haute, IN
• Total Under­grad­u­ate Stu­dents: 2,168
• Stu­dent to Fac­ul­ty Ratio: 11 to 1
• Per­cent­age of Bach­e­lors Degrees Con­ferred in a STEM Dis­ci­pline: 100%
• Annu­al Tuition: $48,012

Rose-Hul­man Insti­tute of Tech­nol­o­gy is ded­i­cat­ed to STEM edu­ca­tion. The small, pri­vate school has been the #1 U.S.News and World Report “Under­grad­u­ate Edu­ca­tion in Engi­neer­ing” for 20 years run­ning, and bet­ter still, they have expe­ri­ence stretch­ing all the way back to 1874.

Rose-Hul­man is a kind of mec­ca for STEM learn­ing, teach­ing, and research. The school offers 100 per­cent of their degrees in STEM dis­ci­plines. Known for aca­d­e­m­ic rig­or and teach­ing excel­lence, stu­dents enjoy small class­es and fan­tas­tic facil­i­ties. The Branam Inno­va­tion Cen­ter fos­ters mul­ti­dis­ci­pli­nary col­lab­o­ra­tion; the MiNDs Lab explores nan­otech­nol­o­gy, the Oak­ley Obser­va­to­ry research­es star pho­tom­e­try, super­novae, and comets. In addi­tion to research, Rose-Hul­man pro­vides all stu­dents with top-notch career ser­vices and sup­port. Rose-Hul­man Ven­tures is a pro­gram that brings togeth­er stu­dents and tech­nol­o­gy-based com­pa­nies. Rose has a 98 per­cent job place­ment rate, with three career fairs, and per­son­al career ser­vice sup­port. The Insti­tute also offers study abroad and inter­na­tion­al exchange pro­grams. All in all, Rose is the com­plete STEM pack­age. Whether you love Biol­o­gy and dis­cov­er­ing “Mag­net­ic Bac­te­ria” or you’re look­ing for under­grad­u­ate engi­neer­ing pro­grams that will get you a great job, you’ll find it at Rose.

Top STEM Programs:

• Mechan­i­cal Engineering
• Chem­i­cal Engineering
• Com­put­er Science

School Web­site: www.rose-hulman.edu

8. Colorado School of Mines

• Loca­tion: Gold­en, CO
• Total Under­grad­u­ate Stu­dents: 4,788
• Stu­dent to Fac­ul­ty Ratio: 16 to 1
• Per­cent­age of Bach­e­lors Degrees Con­ferred in a STEM Dis­ci­pline: 99.3%
• Annu­al Tuition: $37,436

In the late 19th cen­tu­ry, an Epis­co­pal bish­op saw the need for high­er edu­ca­tion in Gold­en City. Now Col­orado School of Mines, or “the Mines,” the School offers engi­neer­ing and applied sci­ence degrees. The Mines has expe­ri­enced new growth in recent years with a new stu­dent recre­ation cen­ter and the Cen­ter for Tech­nol­o­gy and Learn­ing Media (CTLM). Research is impor­tant with over $65 mil­lion in research awards in 2018.

Mines’ mis­sion is to “enhance under­stand­ing of the earth, ener­gy and the envi­ron­ment.” To do this, STEM dis­ci­plines and degrees are their spe­cial­ties. If you’re look­ing for engi­neer­ing of any kind, odds are, Mines has it. A sam­pling of options includes chem­i­cal, civ­il, elec­tri­cal, mechan­i­cal, bio­med­ical, met­al­lur­gi­cal, geo­phys­i­cal, nuclear, and petro­le­um. Mines also offers grad­u­ate degrees as well as a com­bined Bachelor/Master pro­gram. The School pro­vides research facil­i­ties and oppor­tu­ni­ties to enhance and com­ple­ment class­room instruc­tion. The Col­orado Cen­ter for Renew­able Ener­gy Eco­nom­ic Devel­op­ment (CREED) is a research part­ner­ship among the Nation­al Renew­able Ener­gy Lab­o­ra­to­ry and Col­orado’s pre­mier research uni­ver­si­ties. CREED has three areas/centers of research: Bio­fu­els, Solar, and Wind. Anoth­er note­wor­thy aspect of Mines is the under­grad­u­ate research oppor­tu­ni­ties. Through Research Expe­ri­ence for Under­grad­u­ate Stu­dents (REU), you can pur­sue inde­pen­dent research in renew­ing our nation’s water sys­tem, help advance poly­mer mate­ri­als, and research renew­able resources.

Top STEM Programs:

• Mechan­i­cal Engineering
• Petro­le­um Engineering
• Chem­i­cal Engineering

School Web­site: www.mines.edu

9. Worcester Polytechnic Institute

• Loca­tion: Worces­ter, MA
• Total Under­grad­u­ate Stu­dents: 4,435
• Stu­dent to Fac­ul­ty Ratio: 13 to 1
• Per­cent­age of Bach­e­lors Degrees Con­ferred in a STEM Dis­ci­pline: 96%
• Annu­al Tuition: $48,628

“The­o­ry and Prac­tice” is the mot­to of Worces­ter Poly­tech­nic Insti­tute; the mot­to per­fect­ly sums up WPI’s edu­ca­tion­al mod­el. Through 14 depart­ments and with over 50 degree pro­grams (most­ly in STEM), WPI trains stu­dents through “The Plan,” an indi­vid­u­al­ized plan the blends the­o­ry, prac­tice, and per­son­al inter­est. WPI’s 97 per­cent reten­tion rate demon­strates its effectiveness.

The WPI Plan is the dis­tinc­tive ele­ment of the school. The Plan fea­tures hands-on learn­ing, glob­al immer­sion, project-based learn­ing, indi­vid­u­al­ized and per­son­al­ized cours­es, and team-based learn­ing. This edu­ca­tion­al mod­el not only pre­pares excel­lent engi­neers but also involves stu­dents tak­ing respon­si­bil­i­ty on day one for their life and edu­ca­tion. Employ­ers con­sis­tent­ly com­ment on how good grad­u­ates are at work­ing with teams, con­flict res­o­lu­tion, and prob­lem-solv­ing. As for STEM areas, you’ll find few schools bet­ter. WPI offers engi­neer­ing, com­put­er sci­ence, math­e­mat­ics, biol­o­gy, phys­i­cal sci­ences, and more. The school is best known for their engi­neer­ing, a dis­ci­pline par­tic­u­lar­ly suit­ed to the edu­ca­tion­al phi­los­o­phy of engag­ing real-world prob­lems through project-based learn­ing. WPI won the pres­ti­gious 2016 Bernard M. Gor­don Prize for Inno­va­tion in Engi­neer­ing and Tech­nol­o­gy. With about 20 centers/institutes you have research and learn­ing oppor­tu­ni­ties in many areas. For exam­ple, you can explore Holo­graph­ic Stud­ies and Laser micro-mecha­Tron­ics or Glob­al Pub­lic Safe­ty. These unique oppor­tu­ni­ties make WPI an excel­lent choice.

Top STEM Programs:

• Mechan­i­cal Engineering
• Elec­tri­cal and Elec­tron­ics Engineering
• Com­put­er Science

School Web­site: www.wpi.edu

10. United States Air Force Academy

• Loca­tion: USAF Acad­e­my, CO
• Total Under­grad­u­ate Stu­dents: 4,276
• Stu­dent to Fac­ul­ty Ratio: 8 to 1
• Per­cent­age of Bach­e­lors Degrees Con­ferred in a STEM Dis­ci­pline: 44.3%
• Annu­al Tuition: 0

“Integri­ty First, Ser­vice Before Self, Excel­lence in All We Do.” The Unit­ed State Air Force Academy’s mot­to encap­su­lates their vision and pur­pose. The Acad­e­my is a ser­vice train­ing school for cadets seek­ing to become com­mis­sioned offi­cers. Admis­sion is very selec­tive, and stu­dents pay no tuition.

Once admit­ted to the Acad­e­my, your adven­ture begins with Basic Cadet Train­ing (BCT). BCT is a six-week inten­sive train­ing that involves you phys­i­cal­ly, men­tal­ly and emo­tion­al­ly. Once you pass through the BCT, you’ll enter your mil­i­tary edu­ca­tion with a focus on mil­i­tary strat­e­gy, doc­trine, her­itage, and pro­fes­sion­al­ism. As for STEM options, it’s help­ful to know that more than half of Acad­e­my grad­u­ates choose flight train­ing, with the remain­ing 40 per­cent in STEM areas: Sor­tie Generation/Logistics (Mis­sile Main­te­nance, Intel­li­gence), Oper­a­tions (Air Traf­fic Con­troller, Space Oper­a­tions), and Scientific/Technical (Civ­il Engi­neer­ing, Com­mu­ni­ca­tions, Acqui­si­tion). If you are inter­est­ed in trav­el, ser­vice to our coun­try, and Civ­il Engi­neer­ing, USAFA may be the per­fect fit. With thou­sands of Air Force facil­i­ties, you will fly all over the world in ser­vice to the nation. If you’re sci­en­tif­i­cal­ly mind­ed and love explor­ing tech­ni­cal aspects of lasers, nuclear engi­neer­ing, and optics, USAFA will pro­vide some of the best train­ing in the world.

Top STEM Programs:

• Sys­tems Engineering
• Aero­space, Aero­nau­ti­cal and Astronautical/Space Engineering
• Biology/Biological Sci­ences, General

School Web­site: www.usafa.edu

11. Rice University

• Loca­tion: Hous­ton, TX
• Total Under­grad­u­ate Stu­dents: 4,001
• Stu­dent to Fac­ul­ty Ratio: 6 to 1
• Per­cent­age of Bach­e­lors Degrees Con­ferred in a STEM Dis­ci­pline: 72.9%
• Annu­al Tuition: $45,608

Rice Uni­ver­si­ty is a pri­vate research uni­ver­si­ty in Hous­ton, Texas. It is known for applied sci­ences and research, includ­ing over $140 mil­lion in 2016 and 62 per­cent of under­grad­u­ates par­tic­i­pat­ing in research.

Of Rice’s eight schools, there are three ded­i­cat­ed to STEM dis­ci­plines: the School of Archi­tec­ture, George R. Brown School of Engi­neer­ing, and Wiess School of Nat­ur­al Sci­ences. There are many options to choose from in terms of stem degrees. A sam­pling includes Bio­chem­istry, Com­put­er Sci­ence, sev­er­al Engi­neer­ing degrees, Nan­otech­nol­o­gy, Com­pu­ta­tion­al and Applied Math­e­mat­ics, Cog­ni­tive Sci­ence, Astron­o­my, and Astro­physics. There are STEM cen­ters in nanoscale sci­ence, com­put­ing and infor­ma­tion tech­nol­o­gy, quan­tum phe­nom­e­na, and more that pro­vide a key ele­ment in mak­ing Rice an excel­lent STEM school. The Bio­Science Research Col­lab­o­ra­tive is impres­sive. The facil­i­ty is 477,000 square feet, gold-cer­ti­fied by LEED, includes ten floors, labs, an audi­to­ri­um, class­rooms, an exhi­bi­tion hall, and research tech­nol­o­gy all in the ser­vice of fos­ter­ing col­lab­o­ra­tion, inno­va­tion, and edu­ca­tion. Not only does Rice pro­duce results like invent­ing arti­fi­cial hearts, or form­ing Nobel and Pulitzer prize and Nation­al Medals of Sci­ence win­ners, the University’s Office of STEM Engage­ment (R‑STEM) encour­ages, pro­motes, and trains stu­dents and edu­ca­tors K‑12.

Top STEM Programs:

• Com­put­er and Infor­ma­tion Sci­ences, General
• Chem­i­cal Engineering
• Mechan­i­cal Engineering

School Web­site: www.rice.edu

12. Michigan Technological University

• Loca­tion: Houghton, MI
• Total Under­grad­u­ate Stu­dents: 5,890
• Stu­dent to Fac­ul­ty Ratio: 13 to 1
• Per­cent­age of Bach­e­lors Degrees Con­ferred in a STEM Dis­ci­pline: 86.3%
• Annu­al Tuition: $32,318

Michi­gan Tech­no­log­i­cal Uni­ver­si­ty was estab­lished in 1885 to train min­ing engi­neers and was the first post-sec­ondary in the Upper Penin­su­la. What began as four fac­ul­ty mem­bers and 23 stu­dents is now a flour­ish­ing tech school of 7000 with 120 under­grad­u­ate and grad­u­ate degrees in most­ly STEM disciplines.

At MTU stu­dents make nanosatel­lites, improve pros­thet­ic ankles, and con­nect robots with kids through ser­vice learn­ing. Stu­dents also earn the sixth-high­est start­ing salary in the coun­try at a medi­an salary of $60,000. With near­ly 20 research insti­tutes and cen­ters, you will have access to the lat­est tech­nol­o­gy and research equip­ment. Anoth­er dis­tinc­tion MTU offers is their set­ting and loca­tion. For many STEM dis­ci­plines access to our nat­ur­al resources are impor­tant, and in the UP and the Great Lakes, there isn’t a more pris­tine and beau­ti­ful place to con­tem­plate, study, and con­duct research. Engi­neer­ing is the most pop­u­lar and known STEM dis­ci­pline with over 60 per­cent of stu­dents in 12 under­grad­u­ate and 29 grad­u­ate engi­neer­ing pro­grams across eight depart­ments. The Enter­prise Pro­gram is a unique aspect of MTU STEM edu­ca­tion. The Pro­gram brings togeth­er stu­dents from var­i­ous majors to work on “real projects, with real clients…to invent prod­ucts, pro­vide ser­vices, and pio­neer solutions.”

Top STEM Programs:

• Mechan­i­cal Engineering
• Elec­tri­cal and Elec­tron­ics Engineering
• Civ­il Engi­neer­ing and Chem­i­cal Engineering

School Web­site: www.mtu.edu

13. Stevens Institute of Technology

• Loca­tion: Hobo­ken, NJ
• Total Under­grad­u­ate Stu­dents: 3,123
• Stu­dent to Fac­ul­ty Ratio: 10 to 1
• Per­cent­age of Bach­e­lors Degrees Con­ferred in a STEM Dis­ci­pline: 81.9
• Annu­al Tuition: $50,554

An impres­sive reten­tion rate of 94 per­cent at Stevens Insti­tute of Tech­nol­o­gy in Hobo­ken, New Jer­sey is a strong indi­ca­tion of suc­cess. SIT was found­ed in 1870 by inno­va­tors and inven­tors and con­tin­ues that strong tra­di­tion today.

A glance at Steven’s loca­tion, set­ting, and facil­i­ties illus­trates a high activ­i­ty in research, enter­prise, and inno­va­tion. SIT is home to two nation­al research cen­ters, the Mar­itime Secu­ri­ty Cen­ter (MSC) and the Sys­tems Engi­neer­ing Research Cen­ter (SERC). The MSC pio­neers inno­va­tion in keep­ing our ports safer and the SERC works with the Depart­ment of Defense and more than 20 col­lab­o­rat­ing uni­ver­si­ties in Sys­tems Engi­neer­ing. There are too many cen­ters to men­tion. One is the Stevens Ven­ture Cen­ter, which pro­vides oppor­tu­ni­ties for those inter­est­ed in tech­nol­o­gy and appli­ca­tions in the busi­ness sphere. Engi­neer­ing is the most pop­u­lar STEM major, but there are many choic­es. A sam­pling includes research and train­ing in arti­fi­cial intel­li­gence and cyber­se­cu­ri­ty, data sci­ence and infor­ma­tion sys­tems; life sci­ences; and resilience and sus­tain­abil­i­ty are excel­lent as well. Some­thing else worth not­ing is the strong place­ment record of SIT. Prince­ton Review ranked SIT as #9 for “Best Career Place­ment” in 2018.

Top STEM Programs:

• Mechan­i­cal Engineering
• Elec­tri­cal Engineering
• Civ­il Engineering

School Web­site: www.stevens.edu

14. Missouri University of Science and Technology

• Loca­tion: Rol­la, MO
• Total Under­grad­u­ate Stu­dents: 6,919
• Stu­dent to Fac­ul­ty Ratio: 19 to 1
• Per­cent­age of Bach­e­lors Degrees Con­ferred in a STEM Dis­ci­pline: 89.9%
• Annu­al Tuition: $25,918

Mis­souri Uni­ver­si­ty of Sci­ence and Tech­nol­o­gy was found­ed in 1870. As a pub­lic, land- and space-grant school, Mis­souri S&T con­tin­ues to pio­neer research and lead in STEM pro­grams. The Uni­ver­si­ty is known for engi­neer­ing, so if you are look­ing for engi­neer­ing, you’ll find few­er bet­ter places to study than Mis­souri S&T.

The Col­lege of Engi­neer­ing and Com­put­ing fea­tures 18 engi­neer­ing and com­put­ing under­grad­u­ate degree pro­grams and 19 Master’s degree and Ph.D. pro­grams. It’s not only engi­neer­ing, though. Con­sis­tent­ly ranked for under­grad­u­ate research and grad­u­ate pro­grams, the School takes research very seri­ous­ly. Mis­souri S&T has a focus in four Sig­na­ture Research Areas: Advanced Man­u­fac­tur­ing, Advanced Mate­ri­als for Sus­tain­able Infra­struc­ture, Enabling Mate­ri­als for Extreme Envi­ron­ments, and Smart Liv­ing. Cen­ter for Sta­tis­ti­cal and Com­pu­ta­tion­al Mod­el­ing of Bio­log­i­cal Com­plex­i­ty. Some exam­ples of research include work on how nanopar­ti­cles can improve med­i­cine, how smart­phones can enhance our emer­gency sys­tems, and how fruit flies can help improve sleep and treat Alzheimer’s dis­ease. Like oth­er schools that val­ue STEM, Mis­souri has impres­sive cen­ters and high-tech equip­ment such as an exper­i­men­tal mine! With fan­tas­tic facil­i­ties, labs, and pro­grams, Mis­souri tops off the com­plete STEM expe­ri­ence with stu­dent groups and extracur­ric­u­lar options; for exam­ple, there is a chap­ter of Engi­neers With­out Bor­ders at Mis­souri S&T.

Top STEM Programs:

• Mechan­i­cal Engineering
• Elec­tri­cal Engineering
• Engineering/Industrial Man­age­ment

School Web­site: www.mst.edu

15. Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute

• Loca­tion: Troy, NY
• Total Under­grad­u­ate Stu­dents: 6,366
• Stu­dent to Fac­ul­ty Ratio: 13 to 1
• Per­cent­age of Bach­e­lors Degrees Con­ferred in a STEM Dis­ci­pline: 85.1%
• Annu­al Tuition: $52,305

Rens­se­laer Poly­tech­nic Insti­tute is the old­est tech­no­log­i­cal research uni­ver­si­ty in the U.S. The pri­vate, space-grant insti­tu­tion is set on 287 acres in Troy, New York. The most pop­u­lar majors are Engi­neer­ing, Com­put­er Sci­ence, Busi­ness, and Math­e­mat­ics and Statistics.

Rens­se­laer is all in for STEM. The Insti­tute offers incred­i­ble STEM degree options, resources, research oppor­tu­ni­ties, and extracur­ric­u­lars. RPI has 32 research cen­ters, spends over $100 mil­lion in annu­al research, and has near­ly 800 Ph.D. stu­dents. It’s also one of the STEM schools for grad­u­ate work. As for aca­d­e­m­ic under­grad­u­ate STEM options, of all bach­e­lor degrees con­ferred, 85 per­cent are in a STEM dis­ci­pline. Besides renowned fac­ul­ty (of which there are 176 Fel­lows of pro­fes­sion­al soci­eties and 63 NSF CAREER Award recip­i­ents), there are a num­ber of extra-cur­ric­u­lar oppor­tu­ni­ties. These include the RPI Elec­tro­chem­i­cal Soci­ety, The Amer­i­can Soci­ety of Mechan­i­cal Engi­neers (ASME), Amer­i­can Soci­ety of Civ­il Engi­neers, a stu­dent chap­ter of the Amer­i­can Heli­copter Soci­ety, and more. RPI has one of the largest super­com­put­ers and oper­ates the 1,250-acre Rens­se­laer Tech­nol­o­gy Park. Some rank­ings include #6 in USA Today’s top U.S. engi­neer­ing col­leges, and #42 out of 311 nation­al research uni­ver­si­ties by U.S. News and World Report.

Top STEM Programs:

• Mechan­i­cal Engineering
• Bio­engi­neer­ing and Bio­med­ical Engineering
• Elec­tri­cal Engineering

School Web­site: https://www.rpi.edu/

16. Clarkson University

• Loca­tion: Pots­dam, NY
• Total Under­grad­u­ate Stu­dents: 3,090
• Stu­dent to Fac­ul­ty Ratio: 14 to 1
• Per­cent­age of Bach­e­lors Degrees Con­ferred in a STEM Dis­ci­pline: 85.1%
• Annu­al Tuition: $47,950

Clark­son Uni­ver­si­ty in Pots­dam, New York was born in 1896 after Thomas Clarkson’s unfor­tu­nate but hero­ic death in a sand­stone quar­ry. Built and named in his hon­or, CU is a pri­vate research uni­ver­si­ty known for Engineering.

Clarkson’s STEM pres­ence is engi­neer­ing, though the School offers com­put­er sci­ence, math­e­mat­ics, biol­o­gy, and oth­er STEM majors. CU has many research cen­ters and oppor­tu­ni­ties. Their sig­na­ture areas of research include data ana­lyt­ics, STEM and entre­pre­neur­ial edu­ca­tion, healthy world solu­tions, and the next gen­er­a­tion of advanced mate­ri­als. With a glob­al per­spec­tive, CU stu­dents engage and col­lab­o­rate with over 380 active part­ners in indus­try, gov­ern­ment agen­cies, cham­bers of com­merce and research orga­ni­za­tions. This net­work of col­lab­o­ra­tion also paves the way for a career. Stu­dents at CU note how career-focused the Uni­ver­si­ty is and how many intern­ship options there are. This glob­al focus doesn’t neglect our nation­al needs as CU’s Insti­tute for STEM Edu­ca­tion pro­motes STEM edu­ca­tion K‑12. Besides the beau­ti­ful 640-acre cam­pus you will expe­ri­ence a clas­sic col­lege town in Pots­dam that affords many extra-cur­ric­u­lar and job oppor­tu­ni­ties. Notably, the four oth­er schools in Pots­dam: SUNY Pots­dam, St. Lawrence Uni­ver­si­ty, SUNY Can­ton and Paul Smith’s Col­lege, have formed cre­ative part­ner­ships with one another.

Top STEM Programs:

• Mechan­i­cal Engineering
• Civ­il Engineering
• Engineering/Industrial Man­age­ment

School Web­site: www.clarkson.edu

17. Georgia Institute of Technology

• Loca­tion: Atlanta, GA
• Total Under­grad­u­ate Stu­dents: 15,573
• Stu­dent to Fac­ul­ty Ratio: 22 to 1
• Per­cent­age of Bach­e­lors Degrees Con­ferred in a STEM Dis­ci­pline: 83.1%
• Annu­al Tuition: $33,014

Estab­lished dur­ing Recon­struc­tion, Geor­gia Insti­tute of Tech­nol­o­gy is now one of the pre­mier tech­ni­cal and research schools in Amer­i­ca. Geor­gia Tech’s main cam­pus is in Atlanta, Geor­gia and fea­tures both green and his­toric build­ings. Geor­gia Tech also pro­vides edu­ca­tion through their inter­na­tion­al cam­pus­es in France, Ire­land, Chi­na, and Singapore.

Since the found­ing of Geor­gia Tech, the school has always been about build­ing; whether rebuild­ing the South dur­ing Recon­struc­tion or today, build­ing 3D-print­ed tra­cheal splints used in ground­break­ing pedi­atric surgery. Geor­gia Tech has many STEM options and advan­tages being a large school with over 15,000 under­grad­u­ates. The most pop­u­lar STEM major is engi­neer­ing, which is one the areas Geor­gia Tech is best known. In fact, the Engi­neer­ing Depart­ment at GT is the largest in the nation. You can choose from over 15 engi­neer­ing majors: Indus­tri­al, Bio­med­ical, Envi­ron­men­tal, Aero­nau­ti­cal, and Civ­il to name a few. If you’re look­ing to get into STEM careers, but are already work­ing or would like online options, Geor­gia Tech’s Mas­sive Open Online Cours­es (MOOC) offers many options. If you are inter­est­ed in ground­break­ing research, the School like­ly has an area of inter­est. They spend over $600 mil­lion in research per year. Inter­na­tion­al oppor­tu­ni­ties are avail­able in coun­tries such as Aus­tralia, Chi­na, New Zealand, Spain, Hun­gary, France, the Unit­ed King­dom, and more.

Top STEM Programs:

• Mechan­i­cal Engineering
• Com­put­er and Infor­ma­tion Sci­ences, General
• Indus­tri­al Engineering

School Web­site: www.gatech.edu

18. Stanford University

• Loca­tion: Stan­ford, CA
• Total Under­grad­u­ate Stu­dents: 7,064
• Stu­dent to Fac­ul­ty Ratio: 12 to 1
• Per­cent­age of Bach­e­lors Degrees Con­ferred in a STEM Dis­ci­pline: 71.1%
• Annu­al Tuition: $49,617

Stan­ford Uni­ver­si­ty has a rep­u­ta­tion for excel­lent edu­ca­tion and research. Stan­ford boasts 17 Nobel lau­re­ates among the fac­ul­ty offer­ing world-class edu­ca­tion in sev­en schools: Busi­ness, Earth, Ener­gy and Envi­ron­men­tal Sci­ences, Edu­ca­tion, Engi­neer­ing, Human­i­ties and Sci­ences, Law, and Medicine.

Since 1891, Stan­ford has been a leader in research and edu­ca­tion. Their com­mit­ment to STEM shows up in eco­nom­ic impact, stu­dent sat­is­fac­tion, and numer­ous rank­ings. Regard­ing STEM offer­ings, Stan­ford is best known for Com­put­er Sci­ence, Biol­o­gy, Med­i­cine, and Engi­neer­ing. Along with every major, you will expe­ri­ence a cam­pus alive with study and research and ben­e­fit from Stan­ford’s tra­di­tion and facil­i­ties. There are 6,200 exter­nal­ly spon­sored projects, and Stan­ford spends over $1.6 bil­lion on research. If you’re look­ing for cut­ting-edge research and train­ing in med­i­cine, biol­o­gy, and health­care, you’ll find few bet­ter places than Stan­ford. The Uni­ver­si­ty oper­ates through the Stan­ford School of Med­i­cine, Stan­ford Health Care, and the Lucile Packard Chil­dren’s Hos­pi­tal. The Insti­tute for Stem Cell Biol­o­gy and Regen­er­a­tive Med­i­cine has recent­ly dis­cov­ered the pro­tein used in mak­ing stem cells. The loca­tion and set­ting also aid in mak­ing Stan­ford a STEM pow­er­house. The School owns over 8,000 acres, 700 build­ings, and is locat­ed in the heart of California’s Sil­i­con Valley.

Top STEM Programs:

• Com­put­er Science
• Human Biol­o­gy
• Mechan­i­cal Engineering

School Web­site: www.stanford.edu

19. Illinois Institute of Technology

• Loca­tion: Chica­go, IL
• Total Under­grad­u­ate Stu­dents: 2,900
• Stu­dent to Fac­ul­ty Ratio: 12 to 1
• Per­cent­age of Bach­e­lors Degrees Con­ferred in a STEM Dis­ci­pline: 73.2%
• Annu­al Tuition: $45,864

The Illi­nois Insti­tute of Tech­nol­o­gy sto­ry of how they were found­ed is one of the best. Chica­go min­is­ter Frank Gun­saulus deliv­ered what came to be known as the “Mil­lion Dol­lar Ser­mon,” where he claimed that with $1 mil­lion he’d build a school to edu­cate all, not just the social elite. IIT is now a flour­ish­ing school focused on tech­nol­o­gy and research.

Illi­nois Insti­tute of Technology’s very mis­sion is to train stu­dents in STEM and in their words, train­ing of “excep­tion­al prepa­ra­tion for pro­fes­sions that require tech­no­log­i­cal sophis­ti­ca­tion, an inno­v­a­tive mind­set, and an entre­pre­neur­ial spir­it.” Engi­neer­ing at IIT is focused on four areas: Water, Health, Ener­gy, and Secu­ri­ty. IStu­dents mix and match these areas for on- and off-cam­pus cur­ric­u­lar and extracur­ric­u­lar activ­i­ties. IIT offers STEM degrees in engi­neer­ing, sci­ence, archi­tec­ture, human sci­ences, and applied tech­nol­o­gy. At IIT you’ll find stu­dents and fac­ul­ty devel­op­ing nano­elec­tro­fu­el or nuclear fuel cladding, using com­put­er sci­ence to thwart cyber­at­tacks, and research­ing can­cer pre­ven­tion. With dozens of cen­ters and insti­tutes, the School is push­ing the fron­tiers of tech­nol­o­gy and sci­ence to solve prob­lems and con­tribute to a bet­ter plan­et and soci­ety. There are excit­ing oppor­tu­ni­ties at IIT for inter­na­tion­al students—four STEM busi­ness options. The option is for grad­u­ate pro­grams in Man­age­ment Sci­ence, Math­e­mat­i­cal Finance, Mar­ket­ing Ana­lyt­ics, and Sus­tain­abil­i­ty Management.

Top STEM Programs:

• Mechan­i­cal Engineering
• Elec­tri­cal and Elec­tron­ics Engineering
• Com­put­er Science

School Web­site: web.iit.edu

20. Carnegie Mellon University

• Loca­tion: Pitts­burgh, PA
• Total Under­grad­u­ate Stu­dents: 6,533
• Stu­dent to Fac­ul­ty Ratio: 10 to 1
• Per­cent­age of Bach­e­lors Degrees Con­ferred in a STEM Dis­ci­pline: 66%
• Annu­al Tuition: $53,910

Carnegie Mel­lon Uni­ver­si­ty is a pri­vate research uni­ver­si­ty found­ed by Andrew Carnegie. Locat­ed in Pitts­burgh, Carnegie Mel­lon is one of only 25 uni­ver­si­ties to be a mem­ber of the World Eco­nom­ic Forum’s Glob­al Uni­ver­si­ty Lead­ers Forum. CMU is an inter­na­tion­al uni­ver­si­ty with cam­pus­es on six continents.

STEM edu­ca­tion, pro­mo­tion, cel­e­bra­tion, and research all inter­sect at Carnegie Mel­lon. The School offers STEM options in many fields, the most pop­u­lar being Engi­neer­ing and Com­put­er Sci­ence, but also robust options in Biol­o­gy, Phys­i­cal Sci­ences, and Math­e­mat­ics. CMU also has a flour­ish­ing mul­ti­dis­ci­pli­nary pro­gram as well as over 100 cen­ters and insti­tutes. Research is woven into every aspect at the Uni­ver­si­ty from the top with the Strate­gic Plan, down to class­es, stu­dents, and pro­grams. CMU is a leader in pro­mot­ing women’s STEM edu­ca­tion. This year over 22,000 peo­ple attend­ed the Grace Hop­per Cel­e­bra­tion, the world’s largest gath­er­ing of women tech­nol­o­gists. Also, half of this year’s incom­ing fresh­men in the School of Com­put­er Sci­ence and Col­lege of Engi­neer­ing were women. Anoth­er aspect of CMU’s STEM focus is on inno­va­tion and entre­pre­neur­ship. For exam­ple, the School of Com­put­er Sci­ence Launched CMU AI, and this year the Office of Naval Research, Naval Research Lab­o­ra­to­ry, and CMU have part­nered to pro­mote STEM research into arti­fi­cial intel­li­gence for the U.S. Navy.

Top STEM Programs:

• Elec­tri­cal and Elec­tron­ics Engineering
• Com­put­er Science
• Mechan­i­cal Engineering

School Web­site: www.cmu.edu

21. Princeton University

• Loca­tion: Prince­ton, NJ
• Total Under­grad­u­ate Stu­dents: 5,394
• Stu­dent to Fac­ul­ty Ratio: 5 to 1
• Per­cent­age of Bach­e­lors Degrees Con­ferred in a STEM Dis­ci­pline: 44.2%
• Annu­al Tuition: $47,140

Prince­ton University’s tra­di­tion is pal­pa­ble: 65 Nobel lau­re­ates, 21 Nation­al Medal of Sci­ence win­ners, 209 Rhodes Schol­ars, and many promi­nent fig­ures in our nation both past and present. Prince­ton is one of the nine colo­nial col­leges found­ed before the Revolution.

Like all of Princeton’s Ivy-league edu­ca­tion, the work they’re doing in STEM is high qual­i­ty and impres­sive. Com­put­er Engi­neer­ing, Biol­o­gy, and Oper­a­tions Research are the most pop­u­lar STEM majors. Princeton’s strate­gic goals to “broad­en and deep­en” STEM teach­ing and learn­ing at the Uni­ver­si­ty is ambi­tious. Through the Asso­ci­a­tion of Amer­i­can Uni­ver­si­ties (AAU) ini­tia­tive for STEM, Prince­ton par­tic­i­pates in giv­ing under­grad­u­ates more expe­ri­ence and oppor­tu­ni­ties. For exam­ple, the Fresh­men Schol­ars Insti­tute (FSI) is an aca­d­e­m­i­cal­ly rig­or­ous, sev­en-week sum­mer pro­gram for enter­ing Prince­ton Uni­ver­si­ty stu­dents. Lab­Match helps first and sec­ond-year under­grad­u­ate stu­dents and grad­u­ate stu­dents in STEM dis­ci­plines by con­nect­ing them with researchers. And the Coun­cil on Sci­ence and Tech­nol­o­gy (CST) fos­ters research and appre­ci­a­tion of STEM areas with cul­tur­al fields and pub­lic affairs.

Top STEM Programs:

• Com­put­er Engineering
• Oper­a­tions Research
• Mol­e­c­u­lar Biology

School Web­site: www.princeton.edu

22. Case Western Reserve University

• Loca­tion: Cleve­land, OH
• Total Under­grad­u­ate Stu­dents: 5,150
• Stu­dent to Fac­ul­ty Ratio: 11 to 1
• Per­cent­age of Bach­e­lors Degrees Con­ferred in a STEM Dis­ci­pline: 62.7%
• Annu­al Tuition: $47,500

Locat­ed in Cleve­land, Ohio in the Uni­ver­si­ty Cir­cle, Case West­ern Reserve Uni­ver­si­ty is a pri­vate uni­ver­si­ty known for health sci­ences, bio­log­i­cal sci­ences, busi­ness, and engi­neer­ing. The School is a mem­ber of the Asso­ci­a­tion of Amer­i­can Uni­ver­si­ties and is rec­og­nized for research and innovation.

Sev­er­al rank­ings have noticed CWRU’s qual­i­ty in STEM dis­ci­plines, notably Bio­log­i­cal Sci­ences, Com­put­er Engi­neer­ing, and Bio­med­ical Engi­neer­ing. Over­all, the Uni­ver­si­ty is sol­id in STEM edu­ca­tion, research, and inno­va­tion. Case West­ern was ranked 72nd by Reuters in their 100 most inno­v­a­tive uni­ver­si­ties list. With only 36 schools in the nation spend­ing more on research, CWRU is ful­ly ded­i­cat­ed to dis­cov­ery. CWRU is among the top insti­tu­tions in the coun­try in the per­cent­age of bac­calau­re­ate grad­u­ates who go on to earn doc­tor­al degrees in the sci­ences and engi­neer­ing. The University’s Lead­er­ship Lab for Women in STEM offers hybrid degrees through a cohort mod­el of learn­ing. There are many ini­tia­tives aimed at increas­ing STEM learn­ing and oppor­tu­ni­ties for under­grads through the Sup­port of Under­grad­u­ate Research & Cre­ative Endeav­ors (SOURCE). You can par­tic­i­pate in on- or off-cam­pus sum­mer research, find research abroad, or par­tic­i­pate in one of three fund­ed research options: Chemistry/Biology, STEM, or Sus­tain­abil­i­ty. SOURCE also con­nects you to the incred­i­ble resources of the Uni­ver­si­ty Circle.

Top STEM Programs:

• Bio­engi­neer­ing and Bio­med­ical Engineering
• Com­put­er Science
• Mechan­i­cal Engineering

School Web­site: www.case.edu

23. Purdue University

• Loca­tion: West Lafayette, IN
• Total Under­grad­u­ate Stu­dents: 32,132
• Stu­dent to Fac­ul­ty Ratio: 13 to 1
• Per­cent­age of Bach­e­lors Degrees Con­ferred in a STEM Dis­ci­pline: 52.4%
• Annu­al Tuition: $28,794

When busi­ness­man John Pur­due donat­ed land and mon­ey to found a col­lege of sci­ence, tech­nol­o­gy, and agri­cul­ture he had no idea the incred­i­ble result of his gen­eros­i­ty. Today, Pur­due Uni­ver­si­ty in West Lafayette, Indi­ana is the flag­ship cam­pus of the Pur­due Uni­ver­si­ty Sys­tem and edu­cates over 30,000 men and women.

Since the found­ing of Pur­due in 1869 as a land-grant uni­ver­si­ty, the School has been ded­i­cat­ed to sci­ence and tech­nol­o­gy. Pur­due has not been con­tent though and has since upped their game in improv­ing STEM learn­ing and inte­grat­ing it through­out the Sys­tem. Through and with the AAU Pur­due has redesigned 62 cours­es to improve STEM learn­ing by max­i­miz­ing stu­dent and fac­ul­ty inter­ac­tions, includ­ing more hands-on projects, group learn­ing, less direct instruc­tion, and more online and hybrid com­po­nents. Their new, state-of-the-art STEM teach­ing facil­i­ty was com­plet­ed in 2020. The esti­mat­ed $64 mil­lion facil­i­ty includes 110,000 square feet of labs, a host of new tech­nol­o­gy, and ample space for research col­lab­o­ra­tion, events, and class­es. Purdue’s wheel­house of STEM is Engi­neer­ing, which has been ranked and rec­og­nized nation­al­ly. Addi­tion­al­ly, though, PU offers excel­lent pro­grams in Actu­ar­i­al Sci­ence, Ana­lyt­i­cal Chem­istry, Avi­a­tion, and Math­e­mat­ics. Last­ly, under­grad­u­ate com­put­er sci­ence has grown tremen­dous­ly since 2012 and is help­ing to fill the country’s demand.

Top STEM Programs:

• Mechan­i­cal Engineering
• Indus­tri­al Engineering
• Com­put­er Science

School Web­site: www.purdue.edu

24. Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art

• Loca­tion: New York, NY
• Total Under­grad­u­ate Stu­dents: 868
• Stu­dent to Fac­ul­ty Ratio: 9 to 1
• Per­cent­age of Bach­e­lors Degrees Con­ferred in a STEM Dis­ci­pline: 52.1%
• Annu­al Tuition: $45,100

Art, archi­tec­ture, and engi­neer­ing for all peo­ple are what Coop­er Union for Advance­ment of Sci­ence and Art is all about. Coop­er Union has been a leader in STEM since their found­ing in the late 19th cen­tu­ry and con­tin­ues to this day. Each incom­ing stu­dent receives at least a half-tuition mer­it schol­ar­ship (val­ued at $21,625 per school year).

Coop­er Union’s ded­i­ca­tion to STEM is res­olute. They have been ranked #3 in research cul­ture among archi­tec­ture schools world­wide by the Key Cen­tre for Archi­tec­tur­al Soci­ol­o­gy and were ranked #7 in under­grad­u­ate col­leges in civ­il engi­neer­ing by U.S. News and World Report. Pri­mar­i­ly known for out­stand­ing Archi­tec­ture and Engi­neer­ing, Coop­er Union offers STEM degrees in Chem­i­cal, Civ­il, Elec­tri­cal, and Mechan­i­cal Engi­neer­ing as well as in Archi­tec­ture. The School has been suc­cess­ful and pro­duced 39 Ful­bright schol­ars since 2001 and 13 Nation­al Sci­ence Foun­da­tion Grad­u­ate Research Fel­low­ships since 2004. Forty per­cent of under­grad­u­ates con­tin­ue to grad­u­ate pro­grams. Facil­i­ties are note­wor­thy at Coop­er. The LEED-cer­ti­fied New Aca­d­e­m­ic Build­ing (NAB), is a nine-sto­ry, 175,000 square-foot pre­mier aca­d­e­m­ic facil­i­ty fit­ted with labs, class­rooms, and advanced green tech­nolo­gies. The C.V. Starr Research Foun­da­tion orga­nizes and encour­ages mul­ti­dis­ci­pli­nary research and over­sees sev­er­al cen­ters as well as pro­vides finan­cial sup­port to senior-lev­el engi­neer­ing undergraduates.

Top STEM Programs:

• Mechan­i­cal Engineering
• Elec­tri­cal Engineering
• Archi­tec­ture

School Web­site: www.cooper.edu

25. Lehigh University

• Loca­tion: Beth­le­hem, PA
• Total Under­grad­u­ate Stu­dents: 5,075
• Stu­dent to Fac­ul­ty Ratio: 9 to 1
• Per­cent­age of Bach­e­lors Degrees Con­ferred in a STEM Dis­ci­pline: 53.8%
• Annu­al Tuition: $50,740

For 150 years Lehigh Uni­ver­si­ty in Beth­le­hem, Penn­syl­va­nia has deliv­ered on its mis­sion to “advance learn­ing through the inte­gra­tion of teach­ing, research, and ser­vice.” The most pop­u­lar majors at Lehigh are Finance, Mechan­i­cal Engi­neer­ing, Account­ing, Marketing/Marketing Man­age­ment, and Chem­i­cal Engineering.

With slight­ly over 50 per­cent of Lehigh’s Bach­e­lor degrees in STEM dis­ci­plines, you have some options: Engi­neer­ing, Bio­log­i­cal Sci­ences, Archi­tec­ture, Math­e­mat­ics, Envi­ron­men­tal Stud­ies, Com­put­er Sci­ence, and sev­er­al mul­ti­dis­ci­pli­nary options in STEM. LU has over 20 inter­dis­ci­pli­nary pro­grams in Bio­log­i­cal and Phys­i­cal Sci­ences, Cog­ni­tive Sci­ence, Sci­ence, Tech­nol­o­gy and Soci­ety, and sev­er­al oth­er unique com­bi­na­tions. This sin­gu­lar focus on inte­grat­ing lib­er­al arts and tech­nol­o­gy is catch­ing on and bear­ing fruit. Oth­er fac­tors to con­sid­er at LU is the beau­ti­ful cam­pus, state-of-the-art facil­i­ties, and excel­lent inter­na­tion­al oppor­tu­ni­ties, of which 43 per­cent of LU stu­dent engage. Anoth­er sta­tis­ti­cal take­away is the ROI and aver­age salary of grad­u­ates, which is an aver­age of $61,000. So whether you want to study neu­ro­science or research and dis­cov­er the Scar­let pro­tein in fruit flies and its effect of those suf­fer­ing from Parkinson’s or go into engi­neer­ing to solve glob­al prob­lems, Lehigh is a legit­i­mate option.

Top STEM Programs:

• Mechan­i­cal Engineering
• Chem­i­cal Engineering
• Indus­tri­al Engineering

School Web­site: www.lehigh.edu

26. Johns Hopkins University

• Loca­tion: Bal­ti­more, MD
• Total Under­grad­u­ate Stu­dents: 6,109
• Stu­dent to Fac­ul­ty Ratio: 7 to 1
• Per­cent­age of Bach­e­lors Degrees Con­ferred in a STEM Dis­ci­pline: 47.5%
• Annu­al Tuition: $52,170

Johns Hop­kins Uni­ver­si­ty was found­ed in 1876 by busi­ness­man, abo­li­tion­ist, and phil­an­thropist Johns Hop­kins as the first research uni­ver­si­ty in Amer­i­ca. Since then it has become one of the most respect­ed research uni­ver­si­ties on the plan­et, dis­cov­er­ing cures, pio­neer­ing med­ical break­throughs, and pro­mot­ing a bet­ter society.

Under­grad­u­ates have many excit­ing STEM options at JHU—from majors to extracur­ric­u­lars, to intern­ships and research. JHU offers majors in Engi­neer­ing, Bio­log­i­cal and Bio­med­ical Sci­ences, Com­mu­ni­ca­tion Tech­nolo­gies, Com­put­er and Infor­ma­tion Sci­ences, Multi/Interdisciplinary Stud­ies, Phys­i­cal Sci­ences, and more. Addi­tion­al­ly, JHU is renowned for grad­u­ate pro­grams in STEM as well. One unique and defin­ing char­ac­ter­is­tic of Johns Hop­kins is the Applied Physics Lab­o­ra­to­ry. As the largest uni­ver­si­ty-affil­i­at­ed research cen­ter in the nation, the APL col­lab­o­rates with pub­lic and pri­vate orga­ni­za­tions to solve prob­lems. The work of the APL spreads all across STEM majors and activ­i­ties. From pro­mot­ing STEM through the STEM Acad­e­my for 8–12th graders to the STEM Pro­gram Man­age­ment Office that helps JHU stu­dents find and flour­ish STEM areas that fit their inter­ests, JHU is strate­gi­cal­ly address­ing the needs of our nation. As for under­grad­u­ate oppor­tu­ni­ties in research, you’ll find few bet­ter places than JHU. One exam­ple is the 10-week pro­gram in the sum­mer through the Cen­ter for Sus­tain­able Nan­otech­nol­o­gy Research Expe­ri­ence for Undergraduates.

Top STEM Programs:

• Sys­tems Engineering
• Aero­space, Aero­nau­ti­cal and Astronautical/Space Engineering
• Biology/Biological Sci­ences, General

School Web­site: www.jhu.edu

27. Harvard University

• Loca­tion: Cam­bridge, MA
• Total Under­grad­u­ate Stu­dents: 9,965
• Stu­dent to Fac­ul­ty Ratio: 7 to 1
• Per­cent­age of Bach­e­lors Degrees Con­ferred in a STEM Dis­ci­pline: 43.4%
• Annu­al Tuition: $48,949

Har­vard Uni­ver­si­ty is the old­est insti­tu­tion of high­er learn­ing in Amer­i­ca. With a rep­u­ta­tion for rig­or­ous aca­d­e­mics, research, and a cul­ture of engage­ment, the Uni­ver­si­ty con­tin­ues to uphold its sta­tus as one of the more pres­ti­gious schools in the world.

When it comes to STEM options, Har­vard has jumped in like many oth­er uni­ver­si­ties. Areas of STEM majors include Bio­log­i­cal and Bio­med­ical Sci­ences, Com­put­er and Infor­ma­tion Sci­ences Engi­neer­ing, Math­e­mat­ics and Sta­tis­tics, Nat­ur­al Sci­ences, Envi­ron­men­tal Stud­ies, and Phys­i­cal Sci­ences. Though many schools on this list spe­cial­ize in Engi­neer­ing and some offer those as one of their only STEM options, Har­vard has a dif­fer­ent mix. They offer excel­lent Engi­neer­ing, but they also have excel­lent STEM pro­grams in Evo­lu­tion­ary Biol­o­gy and Applied Math­e­mat­ics. Inter­est­ing­ly, the num­ber of stu­dent con­cen­tra­tions (majors which are declared sopho­more year) in sci­ence, tech­nol­o­gy, engi­neer­ing, and math has grown tremen­dous­ly in recent years. There are over 20 total choic­es in STEM with great mul­ti­dis­ci­pli­nary options as well. Research facil­i­ties are plen­ti­ful and pro­vide state-of-the-art tech­nol­o­gy and the abil­i­ty to col­lab­o­rate, work across dis­ci­plines, with oth­er orga­ni­za­tions, inter­na­tion­al­ly, and of course, with Har­vard fac­ul­ty. All in all, under­grad­u­ate STEM at Har­vard is sure to exceed your expectations.

Top STEM Programs:

• Com­put­er Science
• Evo­lu­tion­ary Biology
• Applied Math­e­mat­ics

School Web­site: www.harvard.edu

28. Cornell University

• Loca­tion: Itha­ca, NY
• Total Under­grad­u­ate Stu­dents: 14,907
• Stu­dent to Fac­ul­ty Ratio: 9 to 1
• Per­cent­age of Bach­e­lors Degrees Con­ferred in a STEM Dis­ci­pline: 50.6%
• Annu­al Tuition: $52,853

With name recog­ni­tion through­out the globe, Cor­nell Uni­ver­si­ty has pro­duced schol­ars, engi­neers, world-chang­ers, and ser­vice lead­ers since 1865. The pri­vate, land-grant Ivy-league School offers degrees through 14 schools and oper­ates research facil­i­ties through­out the world.

Sci­ence, tech­nol­o­gy, engi­neer­ing, and math at Cor­nell have proven to be among the best in the coun­try since Cornell’s found­ing. How­ev­er, through the AAU, Cor­nell is improv­ing STEM even more, alter­ing their pro­grams to fit with our times, stu­dents of this gen­er­a­tion, and to the ser­vice of both mankind and knowl­edge. Cor­nell has announced it will be launch­ing two new mul­ti-col­lege depart­ments – one in sta­tis­tics and data sci­ence, and one in com­pu­ta­tion­al biol­o­gy. These will max­i­mize fac­ul­ty spe­cial­iza­tion, but also allow for cre­ative col­lab­o­ra­tion, all in vital STEM fields for the 21st cen­tu­ry. Besides these STEM fields, under­grad­u­ates choose from 40 dif­fer­ent majors, the most pop­u­lar being Bio­log­i­cal Sci­ences, Com­put­er Sci­ence, Agri­cul­tur­al Sci­ences, and Engi­neer­ing. Along with attend­ing Cor­nell, you will enjoy the incred­i­ble resources, cen­ters, research facil­i­ties, and the beau­ti­ful cam­pus in Itha­ca. Over­all, if you’re look­ing for a pres­ti­gious, research-dri­ven school, few are bet­ter than Cornell.

Top STEM Programs:

• Biology/Biological Sci­ences, General
• Com­put­er Science
• Agri­cul­tur­al Economics

School Web­site: www.cornell.edu

29. University of Michigan

• Loca­tion: Ann Arbor, MI
• Total Under­grad­u­ate Stu­dents: 29,821
• Stu­dent to Fac­ul­ty Ratio: 11 to 1
• Per­cent­age of Bach­e­lors Degrees Con­ferred in a STEM Dis­ci­pline: 42.4%
• Annu­al Tuition: $47,476

The Uni­ver­si­ty of Michi­gan is one of the largest and old­est uni­ver­si­ties in Amer­i­ca. U‑M offers myr­i­ads of aca­d­e­m­ic options at every lev­el. Con­sid­ered a Pub­lic Ivy, U‑M val­ues research and spends over a bil­lion dol­lars a year. In addi­tion to aca­d­e­mics, the School is known for its service.

UM offers much in the way of sci­ence, com­put­er sci­ence, tech­nol­o­gy, engi­neer­ing, and math. The exten­sive research insti­tu­tion pro­vides many STEM majors with excel­lent facil­i­ties, labs and research oppor­tu­ni­ties, and extracur­ric­u­lars. Besides the many options, UM offers a num­ber of schol­ar­ships for those who plan to get their bach­e­lor’s and move into grad­u­ate work. For exam­ple, the UM STEM Research Career Award is $5000 for sum­mer research for sopho­mores and juniors, and the Astro­naut Schol­ar­ship is up to $10,000. A unique pro­gram and approach at UM are the M‑STEM Acad­e­mies. M‑STEM spans across many schools with­in UM and is a two-year inte­grat­ed, holis­tic cur­ric­u­lar and co-cur­ric­u­lar sup­port for stu­dents with tal­ent in STEM but who may not have the same oppor­tu­ni­ties at a research uni­ver­si­ty due to socioe­co­nom­ic sta­tus, race, gen­der, or oth­er fac­tors. M‑STEM includes a sum­mer tran­si­tion pro­gram, two years of com­mu­ni­ty build­ing, aca­d­e­m­ic coach­ing, research expe­ri­ences, peer-led study groups, tutor­ing, sup­ple­men­tal math instruc­tion, and var­i­ous skills workshops.

Top STEM Programs:

• Com­put­er Science
• Mechan­i­cal Engineering
• Neu­ro­science

School Web­site: www.umich.edu

30. Tuskegee University

• Loca­tion: Tuskegee, AL
• Total Under­grad­u­ate Stu­dents: 2,833
• Stu­dent to Fac­ul­ty Ratio: 14 to 1
• Per­cent­age of Bach­e­lors Degrees Con­ferred in a STEM Dis­ci­pline: 45%
• Annu­al Tuition: $22,170

Tuskegee Uni­ver­si­ty is a pri­vate, his­tor­i­cal­ly black uni­ver­si­ty locat­ed in Tuskegee, Alaba­ma. Lewis Adams and Book­er T. Wash­ing­ton found­ed the School. The most pop­u­lar areas of study are Engi­neer­ing, Busi­ness, Agri­cul­ture, and Biology.

STEM majors at Tuskegee include Com­put­er and Infor­ma­tion Sci­ences, Engi­neer­ing, Clin­i­cal Lab­o­ra­to­ry Sci­ence, Math­e­mat­ics, Nat­ur­al Resources and Con­ser­va­tion, Bio­log­i­cal and Bio­med­ical Sci­ences, Archi­tec­ture, and Agri­cul­tur­al Sci­ences. The Lead­er­ship and Excel­lence by Tuskegee Uni­ver­si­ty Stu­dents’ (LET US) Acad­e­my for STEM majors is effec­tive. LET US Acad­e­my for STEM works by help­ing stu­dents inter­est­ed in STEM with net­work­ing, sup­port, and guid­ance. The results speak for them­selves. TU is the num­ber one pro­duc­er of African-Amer­i­can aero­space sci­ence engi­neers in the nation and pro­duces over 75 per­cent of the African-Amer­i­can vet­eri­nar­i­ans in the world. Ani­mal Sci­ences is the most pop­u­lar STEM major. In step with TU’s famous grad­u­ate, Dr. Wash­ing­ton Carv­er, the Uni­ver­si­ty oper­ates the Plant Biotech­nol­o­gy Research Cen­ter which trains sci­en­tists in the coun­try and all over the world. All in all, Tuskegee is a high-rank­ing HBCU in many areas, but per­haps what shines the bright­est is what they’re doing in STEM.

Top STEM Programs:

• Ani­mal Sciences
• Biology/Biological Sci­ences, General
• Elec­tri­cal and Elec­tron­ics Engineering

School Web­site: www.tuskegee.edu

This list only rep­re­sents a small por­tion of the schools in the nation that offer STEM majors. We believe these 30 to be the best our coun­try has to offer. With the high per­cent­age of STEM degrees pro­vid­ed in com­par­i­son with oth­er degrees, you can be assured that the insti­tu­tion is focused on STEM edu­ca­tion. These schools have the best research labs, sci­en­tists, and tech­nol­o­gy avail­able for the best under­grad­u­ate engi­neer­ing program.

Pur­su­ing a STEM degree like com­put­er sci­ence takes hard work, dis­ci­pline, and sac­ri­fice, but the pay­off is great. Sci­en­tists are chang­ing our world, and there is a tremen­dous need for grad­u­ates in STEM fields. We leave you today with a quote from Andra Keay, man­ag­ing direc­tor, Sil­i­con Val­ley Robot­ics, “Ask what do you want now, to free your­self from think­ing about the lim­i­ta­tions of the tech­nol­o­gy and let your imag­i­na­tion take you to what things do you want to have done, what prob­lems do you want to solve.”

What STEM Jobs Pay the Most?

There are few careers that have the poten­tial to earn six fig­ures right out of col­lege, but for STEM majors, this is pos­si­ble. STEM jobs account for some of the high­est-pay­ing occu­pa­tions out there. An engi­neer­ing major claims the bright­est future of all, but any grad­u­ate in the sci­ence and tech­nol­o­gy field also appears well-rep­re­sent­ed among those earn­ing top salaries. Com­mon attrib­ut­es of these pro­fes­sion­als include advanced math­e­mat­i­cal, tech­ni­cal, or engi­neer­ing knowl­edge, lead­er­ship and man­age­ment skills, and high-lev­el research­ing abil­i­ties. Accord­ing to the Bureau of Labor Sta­tis­tics, the high­est pay­ing occu­pa­tions out­side of those in the med­ical field are com­put­er and infor­ma­tion sys­tems man­agers, who earn an aver­age of $139,220 per year. Close behind are archi­tec­tur­al and engi­neer­ing man­agers at $137,720 per year, and in third petro­le­um engi­neers at $132,280 per year. Soft­ware devel­op­ers make an aver­age of $100,00 per year, a num­ber which is only expect­ed to increase. The aver­age start­ing salary in a STEM field is $66,123, com­pared with $52,299 in non-STEM jobs. These fig­ures are for entry-lev­el STEM jobs that required a BA. Oth­er high-pay­ing STEM careers include com­put­er sci­ence, nuclear engi­neers, marine engi­neers, chem­i­cal engi­neers, research sci­en­tists, aero­space engi­neers, and marine architects.

What are the Fastest-Growing STEM Occupations?

We’ve already cov­ered the fact that occu­pa­tions in the STEM field are grow­ing rapid­ly and pro­ject­ed to con­tin­ue to grow over the next 20 years. Inside the world of STEM, what are the fastest-grow­ing occupations?

It may not come as a sur­prise due to the grow­ing aware­ness of the need to care for our plan­et, but two of the fastest-grow­ing occu­pa­tions are wind tur­bine ser­vice tech­ni­cians and solar pho­to­volta­ic installers. Both of these careers are pro­ject­ed to have almost 100% growth over the next ten years. While the peo­ple on the ground lev­el of instal­la­tion may not be at the top of the income brack­et, with this field grow­ing at such a rapid rate, STEM majors who spe­cial­ize in these areas of sus­tain­abil­i­ty won’t spend much time look­ing for a job.

Addi­tion­al­ly, with the out­burst of for­est fires in the west­ern Unit­ed States over the last ten years, the need for for­est fire pre­ven­tion spe­cial­ists is list­ed as one of the fastest-grow­ing occu­pa­tions. The Uni­ver­si­ty of Cal­i­for­nia sys­tem is a top choice. Oth­er careers that are in high demand and grow­ing at a fast rate are math­e­mati­cians, infor­ma­tion secu­ri­ty ana­lysts, oper­a­tions research ana­lysts, soft­ware devel­op­ers, and sta­tis­ti­cians. STEM majors won’t be dis­ap­point­ed, as our grow­ing dig­i­tal world has an ever-increas­ing, need for the scientifically-minded.

What Jobs Can Math Majors Get?

While sci­ence jobs are some­what obvi­ous and pre­dictable – engi­neer­ing, com­put­er soft­ware devel­op­ment, research, etc., a com­mon­ly asked ques­tion is what do math majors do? Accord­ing to the Bureau of Labor Sta­tis­tics, “Employ­ment of math occu­pa­tions is pro­ject­ed to grow 28 per­cent from 2016 to 2026, much faster than the aver­age for all occu­pa­tions, which will result in about 50,400 new jobs. Growth is antic­i­pat­ed as busi­ness­es and gov­ern­ment agen­cies con­tin­ue to empha­size the use of big data, which math occu­pa­tions can ana­lyze. Math occu­pa­tions had a medi­an annu­al wage of $84,060 in May 2017, which was high­er than the medi­an annu­al wage for all occu­pa­tions of $37,690.”

One of the top math jobs is a sta­tis­ti­cian. Sta­tis­ti­cians ana­lyze data and apply math­e­mat­ics to help solve real-world prob­lems in health­care, busi­ness, engi­neer­ing, and oth­er fields. A less­er-known job with a high medi­an salary of $116,476 is a cryp­tog­ra­ph­er. A cryp­tog­ra­ph­er works in the field of code-break­ing and code sig­nals. Finan­cial insti­tu­tions, intel­li­gence agen­cies, and cable com­pa­nies all hire cryp­tog­ra­phers. Oth­er careers avail­able for math majors are actu­ar­ies, econ­o­mists, finan­cial plan­ners, invest­ment ana­lysts, sys­tems engi­neers, bud­get ana­lysts, pur­chas­ing agents, mar­ket­ing researchers, cost esti­ma­tors, ener­gy ana­lysts, and math teachers.

Is a STEM Major the Right Fit?

High­er wages, job demand, and pro­ject­ed growth – it seems like choos­ing a STEM major is the right choice. But is it? Accord­ing to a study by the Pew Research Cen­ter, more than 30 per­cent of Amer­i­cans say they would encour­age high school stu­dents to pur­sue jobs in a STEM-relat­ed field. Even the gov­ern­ment is on board, Pres­i­dent Don­ald Trump signed a memo ded­i­cat­ing $200 mil­lion dol­lars a year for tech­nol­o­gy edu­ca­tion grants for women and minori­ties to nudge them into STEM majors.

While the push is there, it may not be the best choice for every stu­dent. STEM majors spent between 11 and 20 hours per week prepar­ing for class. Class­es are not the kind of class­es you can just slide by in. They require dili­gence, hard work, prepa­ra­tion, and study. Stu­dents who aren’t real­ly inter­est­ed in the sub­ject mat­ter will strug­gle, but those who are pas­sion­ate about their field of study and will­ing to work hard will find the rewards to be great.

If you are con­sid­er­ing a STEM major, vis­it the col­lege and attend some of the required class­es. Look over the grad­u­a­tion require­ments, talk to an advi­sor, and last­ly, inter­view cur­rent stu­dents to get a grasp on what the degree real­ly looks like.

Relat­ed Rankings:

25 Best Bach­e­lor’s in Engi­neer­ing Management

25 Best Bach­e­lor’s in Elec­tri­cal Engineering

25 Best Bach­e­lor’s in Nuclear Engineering

25 Best Bach­e­lor’s in Radi­a­tion Science

25 Best Bach­e­lor’s in Envi­ron­men­tal Science