Engineers ask questions about how to improve quality of life, and then use their creativity and analytical and technical skills to transform those big ideas into reality.
Many doors are open to those who earn engineering degrees. Examples include:
Helping transform healthcare by engineering methods for treating diseases or manufacturing human tissue and organs
Engineering new types of materials that harvest their own atomic-level heat and use it for energy, a critical method for developing new, more advanced technologies and devices
Finding new solutions for cybersecurity threats
Developing cyber-physical systems
Driving the future of smart, efficient transportation systems
Pushing the boundaries of global high-speed networks to meet the demands for big data
Studying systems and processes in big organizations to help them serve their clients more effectively
There has never been a better time to be an engineer, and especially an engineer who is part of the University of Virginia community. Learn more about undergraduate applications and admissions.
We believe that the biggest global challenges will only be solved through the talents and creativity of a highly diverse pool of engineers. We define diversity as excellence expressing itself through the experiences and perspectives of all people. Our Office of Diversity and Engagement is leading the charge for excellence through diversity at UVA Engineering.
UVA Engineering students also have opportunities to expand their studies with courses in the University's schools of commerce and Arts & Sciences. Our Biomedical Engineering Department is co-located with the highly ranked School of Medicine. The engineering school offers a business minor and supports culture of entrepreneurship. In UVA's top entrepreneurship competition, 70 percent of winners from 2009-2016 were engineering students.
Our students benefit from a dedicated Center for Engineering Career Development. Employers come to Grounds for annual career fairs and covet our well-rounded students. Top employers include:
Capital One
Google
Microsoft
Northrop Grumman
U.S. Navy
The median starting salary for our Class of 2016 engineering graduates was $70,000, and the top salary reported was $128,000.
"UVA gave me the opportunity to question and discover the engineering design that defines the daily interactions we have with one another and the surrounding built environment. Now that I am an engineer that designs spaces for people every single day, I intend to create places that hold value by building upon the holistic perspective I gained while in the classroom and beyond with my peers!"
Aleyna Bedir, Class of 2020 Civil Engineering major, Working for Bohler
The UVA School of Engineering and Applied Science is among the national leaders in the percentage of its degrees earned by women. Here’s a look at some of the great things they are doing with their UVA degrees.
Through a University of Virginia program called PureMadi, students from a range of majors have been working in South Africa in recent years, collaborating with local citizens to build water filter factories in two villages with a great need for clean water.
