U-M ME Programs Rank Among Top in the Nation

The ME undergraduate and graduate programs have always been ranked among the top schools in the nation. Recently, our doctoral program has received exceptional marks from the National Research Council (NRC) in its latest assessment of U.S. PhD programs. The U-M ME program's composite NRC rankings are among the highest in mechanical engineering nationwide. The Department also received an overall #1-2 ranking by independent website PhDs.org, based on its default weightings of the NRC data for large institutions. http://graduate-school.phds.org/rankings/mechanical-engineering/rank/larger

The NRC's evaluation includes data on 127 mechanical engineering doctoral programs and more than 5,000 PhD programs in 62 fields overall. Over 200 American universities were included in the study.

The NRC's rankings are based on quantitative data, including characteristics such as faculty publications, grants and awards; graduate student financial support, employment outcomes and time to degree; as well as measures of faculty and student diversity. The NRC uses two methods for calculating its composite rankings: regression-based or R rankings and survey-based or S rankings. Both assess quality based on the characteristics that are important to a high-quality doctoral program. Each method yields a different set of weights, which subsequently result in the two distinct sets of rankings. The ME program at U-M ranked among the top in both rankings.

The NRC's methodologies are designed to take variability and individual user priorities into account. The assessment is meant to help prospective students with their search for a doctoral program and to help universities improve their programs. The NRC's data also are used by www.PhDs.org in its Graduate School Guide. The website, which is not affiliated with the NRC, allows users to compare programs by selecting the characteristics that are most important to them.

More information about the assessment can be found at http://www.nap.edu/rdp.