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Best Civil Engineering Doctor's Degree Schools in the Great Lakes Region

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2023 Best Civil Engineering Doctor's Degree Schools in the Great Lakes Region

18 Colleges

Finding the Best Civil Engineering Doctor's Degree School for You

Civil Engineering is the #43 most popular major in the country with 6,042 degrees and certificates awarded in 2020-2021.

There are lots of options to pick from today when trying to decide which program is right for you. You can choose a traditional brick and mortar school, or with the growth of online education, you can attend a school half-way across the country without even leaving your house. Also there are many trade schools that offer short-term programs that open up more career options.

To help you arm yourself with the information you need to make your decision, Grad Degree Search has developed this Best Civil Engineering Doctor's Degree Schools in the Great Lakes Region ranking. Our analysis looked at 18 schools in the Great Lakes Region to see which doctor's degree programs offered the best educational experiences for students. To come up with a school's ranking, we analyzed numerous factors related to post-graduation wages, the quality of education offered by the school, average accumulated student debt, and more.

View our full ranking methodology.

2023 Best Civil Engineering Doctor’s Degree Schools in the Great Lakes Region

The colleges and universities below are the best for civil eng majors pursuing a doctor's degree.

Top 10 Best Civil Engineering Doctor's Degree Schools

#1

University of Notre Dame

Notre Dame, IN

Our 2023 rankings named University of Notre Dame the best school in the Great Lakes Region for civil engineering students working on their doctor’s degree. Located in the large suburb of Notre Dame, Notre Dame is a private not-for-profit college with a large student population.

Full Civil Engineering at University of Notre Dame Report

#2

Northwestern University

Evanston, IL

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend Northwestern University. It ranked #2 on our 2023 Best Civil Engineering Doctor’s Degree Schools in the Great Lakes Region list. Located in the small city of Evanston, Northwestern is a private not-for-profit college with a fairly large student population.

Full Civil Engineering at Northwestern University Report

#3

Purdue University - Main Campus

West Lafayette, IN

You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around you if you attend Purdue University - Main Campus. The school came in at #3 on this year’s Best Civil Engineering Doctor’s Degree Schools in the Great Lakes Region list. Located in the city of West Lafayette, Purdue is a public school with a very large student population.

Full Civil Engineering at Purdue University - Main Campus Report

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend University of Michigan - Ann Arbor. It ranked #4 on our 2023 Best Civil Engineering Doctor’s Degree Schools in the Great Lakes Region list. Located in the midsize city of Ann Arbor, U-M is a public college with a fairly large student population.

Full Civil Engineering at University of Michigan - Ann Arbor Report

#5

Michigan State University

East Lansing, MI

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend Michigan State University. It ranked #5 on our 2023 Best Civil Engineering Doctor’s Degree Schools in the Great Lakes Region list. Michigan State is a very large public school located in the city of East Lansing.

Full Civil Engineering at Michigan State University Report

University of Wisconsin - Madison did quite well in this year’s ranking of the best places for civil engineering students to get a doctor’s degree. It came in at #6 on the list. Located in the city of Madison, UW - Madison is a public school with a fairly large student population.

Full Civil Engineering at University of Wisconsin - Madison Report

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign ranked #7 on this year’s Best Civil Engineering Doctor’s Degree Schools in the Great Lakes Region list. Located in the city of Champaign, UIUC is a public school with a very large student population.

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Case Western Reserve University came in at #8 in this year’s edition of the Best Civil Engineering Doctor’s Degree Schools in the Great Lakes Region ranking. Case Western is a large private not-for-profit school located in the city of Cleveland.

Full Civil Engineering at Case Western Reserve University Report

#9

Marquette University

Milwaukee, WI

Marquette University landed the #9 spot in the 2023 rankings for the best doctor’s degree civil engineering programs. Marquette is a fairly large private not-for-profit school located in the large city of Milwaukee.

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Michigan Technological University landed the #10 spot in the 2023 rankings for the best doctor’s degree civil engineering programs. Michigan Tech is a medium-sized public school located in the remote town of Houghton.

Full Civil Engineering at Michigan Technological University Report

Best Civil Engineering Colleges by State

Explore the best civil engineering colleges for a specific state in the Great Lakes region.

State Degrees Awarded
Michigan 155
Illinois 370
Ohio 175
Indiana 148
Wisconsin 67

Civil Engineering is one of 39 different types of programs to choose from.

Related Major Annual Graduates
Electrical Engineering 11,021
Mechanical Engineering 9,007
Computer Engineering 5,557
Biomedical Engineering 4,252
General Engineering 3,548

Notes and References

*These averages are for the top 18 schools only.

  • Read more about our ranking methodology.
  • 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).
  • Credit for the banner image above goes to Master Sgt. Roger Parsons.

More about our data sources and methodologies.

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