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Most Popular Engineering Technologies Basic Certificate Trade Schools in the Great Lakes Region

2023 Most Popular Engineering Technologies Basic Certificate Trade Schools in the Great Lakes Region

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Finding the Best Engineering Technologies Basic Certificate School for You

In 2021-2022, 84,036 engineering technologies students received a degree or certificate, making the major the #4 most popular in the country.

It's not easy to decide which trade school program to enroll in when you have so many options available. As online education oppotunities continue to grow, you're not restricted to just schools in your local area anymore. Even some of the 'big name' schools are offering online courses.

To help you arm yourself with the information you need to make your decision, Trade College Search has developed this Most Popular Engineering Technologies Basic Certificate Trade Schools in the Great Lakes Region ranking. This report analyzed 105 schools in the Great Lakes Region to see which ones were the most popular basic certificate programs for trade school students. To create this ranking we looked at how many students graduated from the Engineering Technologies program at each school on the list.

The following schools top our list of the Most Popular Engineering Technologies Basic Certificate Colleges.

Our analysis found Northwestern Technological Institute to be the most popular school for engineering technologies students who want to pursue a basic certificate in the Great Lakes Region . Located in the small city of Southfield, Northwestern Technological Institute is a private for-profit school with a small student population.

Of the 577 students majoring in engineering tech at Northwestern Technological Institute, 97% are male and 3% are female.

Full Engineering Technologies at Northwestern Technological Institute Report

A rank of #2 on this year’s list means Columbus State Community College is a great place for engineering technologies students working on their basic certificate. Located in the city of Columbus, Columbus State is a public college with a fairly large student population.

Of the 267 students majoring in engineering tech at Columbus State, 89% are male and 11% are female.

Read full report on Engineering Technologies at Columbus State Community College

#3

Ivy Tech Community College

Indianapolis, IN

A rank of #3 on this year’s list means Ivy Tech Community College is a great place for engineering technologies students working on their basic certificate. Ivy Tech Community College is a very large public school located in the large city of Indianapolis.

Of the 181 students majoring in engineering tech at Ivy Tech Community College, 79% are male and 21% are female.

Full Engineering Technologies at Ivy Tech Community College Report

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend William Rainey Harper College. It ranked #4 on our 2023 Most Popular Engineering Technologies Basic Certificate Trade Schools in the Great Lakes Region list. Harper College is a large public school located in the large suburb of Palatine.

Of the 120 students majoring in engineering tech at Harper College, 72% are male and 28% are female.

Full Engineering Technologies at William Rainey Harper College Report

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend Edison State Community College. It ranked #5 on our 2023 Most Popular Engineering Technologies Basic Certificate Trade Schools in the Great Lakes Region list. Edison Community College is a small public school located in the rural area of Piqua.

Of the 118 students majoring in engineering tech at Edison Community College, 86% are male and 14% are female.

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With a ranking of #6, Northcentral Technical College did quite well on this year’s most popular schools for engineering technologies students working on their basic certificate. North Central Technical College is a medium-sized public school located in the city of Wausau.

Women make up 17% of the engineering tech majors at the school.

Read full report on Engineering Technologies at Northcentral Technical College

Sinclair Community College landed the #7 spot in the 2023 rankings for the most popular basic certificate engineering technologies programs. Sinclair Community College is a fairly large public school located in the city of Dayton.

Of the 128 students majoring in engineering tech at Sinclair Community College, 84% are male and 16% are female.

Full Engineering Technologies at Sinclair Community College Report

#8

Stark State College

North Canton, OH

Stark State College landed the #8 spot in the 2023 rankings for the most popular basic certificate engineering technologies programs. Stark State College is a fairly large public school located in the large suburb of North Canton.

Of the 130 students majoring in engineering tech at Stark State College, 82% are male and 18% are female.

Read full report on Engineering Technologies at Stark State College

#9

Joliet Junior College

Joliet, IL

Joliet Junior College came in at #9 in this year’s edition of the Most Popular Engineering Technologies Basic Certificate Trade Schools in the Great Lakes Region ranking. Joliet Junior College is a fairly large public school located in the large suburb of Joliet.

Of the 126 students majoring in engineering tech at Joliet Junior College, 47% are male and 53% are female.

Read full report on Engineering Technologies at Joliet Junior College

Moraine Valley Community College did quite well in this year’s ranking of the most popular places for engineering technologies students to get a basic certificate. It came in at #10 on the list. MVCC is a fairly large public school located in the large suburb of Palos Hills.

Of the 124 students majoring in engineering tech at MVCC, 91% are male and 9% are female.

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Terra State Community College did quite well in this year’s ranking of the most popular places for engineering technologies students to get a basic certificate. It came in at #11 on the list. Located in the rural area of Fremont, Terra Community College is a public school with a small student population.

Women make up 12% of the engineering tech majors at the school.

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Fox Valley Technical College ranked #12 on this year’s Most Popular Engineering Technologies Basic Certificate Trade Schools in the Great Lakes Region list. FVTC is a large public school located in the midsize suburb of Appleton.

Women make up 8% of the engineering tech majors at the school.

Full Engineering Technologies at Fox Valley Technical College Report

#13

Polaris Career Center

Middleburg Heights, OH

Polaris Career Center ranked #13 on this year’s Most Popular Engineering Technologies Basic Certificate Trade Schools in the Great Lakes Region list. Polaris Career Center is a fairly small public school located in the suburb of Middleburg Heights.

Read full report on Engineering Technologies at Polaris Career Center

James A Rhodes State College landed the #14 spot in the 2023 rankings for the most popular basic certificate engineering technologies programs. Located in the small suburb of Lima, Rhodes State College is a public school with a small student population.

Of the 29 students majoring in engineering tech at Rhodes State College, 90% are male and 10% are female.

Read More…

#15

Ferris State University

Big Rapids, MI

Ferris State University came in at #15 in this year’s edition of the Most Popular Engineering Technologies Basic Certificate Trade Schools in the Great Lakes Region ranking. Located in the distant town of Big Rapids, Ferris is a public school with a fairly large student population.

About 14% of the students majoring in engineering tech at the school are women while 86% are male.

Read More…

Honorable Mentions

These are some additional schools worth mentioning that are also popular but just didn't quite make the cut to earn our top Most Popular Engineering Technologies Basic Certificate Trade Schools in the Great Lakes Region award.

Rank College Location
16 City Colleges of Chicago - Harold Washington College Chicago, IL
17 Chippewa Valley Technical College Eau Claire, WI
18 Kankakee Community College Kankakee, IL
19 College of Lake County Grayslake, IL
19 Washington County Career Center-Adult Technical Training Marietta, OH
21 Lorain County Community College Elyria, OH

Best Engineering Technologies Colleges by State

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

State Degrees Awarded
Indiana 2,683
Michigan 2,800
Wisconsin 1,491
Ohio 4,134
Illinois 2,110

Engineering Tech Majors to Study

Major Annual Graduates
Industrial Production Technology 11,288
Electromechanical Engineering Technology 10,780
Environmental Control Technology 9,376
Drafting & Design Engineering Technology 8,822
Electronics Engineering Technology 8,347
Engineering-Related Fields 6,553
Mechanical Engineering Technology 6,205
Construction Engineering Technology 4,299
General Engineering Technology 3,841
Quality Control Technology 3,720
Computer Engineering Technology 3,509
Engineering Technology (Other) 1,907
Energy Systems Technologies 1,277
Architectural Engineering Technology 1,239
Civil Engineering Technology 1,155
Engineering-Related Technologies 969
Mining & Petroleum Technology 410
Nuclear Engineering Technology 235
Nanotechnology 104

Notes and References

*These averages are for the top 26 schools only.

  • 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 KUKA Systems GmbH.

More about our data sources and methodologies.

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