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A master's degree in civil engineering is an excellent professional choice. There are numerous job options in civil engineering, including those for architects, city engineers, consultants, researchers, etc. It is a field that is constantly expanding and will continue to do so. Worldwide, civil engineers have various employment opportunities (in countries like the UK, Canada, Germany, and Singapore). However, the USA is the only country that offers the best opportunities.
Students in the United States can hone their abilities and investigate a wide variety of career options by majoring in civil engineering, one of the industries with the highest rate of technological advancement.
A higher education in this field in the United States of America can be beneficial for a number of reasons, including the following:
Suggested Reads:
Masters in Civil Engineering in Canada | Masters in Civil Engineering in New Zealand |
Students regard the US as one of the best places to finish their graduate education. In the US, there are roughly 95 universities that provide MS in Civil Engineering programmes.
The US Bureau of Labor Statistics predicts that by 2030, there will be an 8% increase in job possibilities for civil engineers. Because of this, graduates with an MS in Civil Engineering will have a wide range of employment options in the US. The average pay for MS in Civil Engineering grads in the US is reportedly around $76,000 per year, according to PayScale.
Duration |
9 months to 2 years |
Degree Offered |
Master of Science (MS) |
Specializations Available |
Environment, Architecture, Landscape Planning, Construction Management, etc. |
Eligibility |
Bachelors in Civil Engineering with a minimum of 63% |
Minimum GRE Requirement |
155 in verbal and quantitative, 4.0 in analytical writing |
Average Tuition Fees |
13,800 USD to 149,080 USD |
Average Annual Salary |
Entry-level: 47,000 USD With Experience: 135,000 USD |
QS Ranking 2022 |
University |
Program Offered |
Course Duration |
Tuition Fees (USD) |
1 |
Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
MEng Civil and Environmental Engineering |
9 months |
26,725 |
1 |
Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
MS in Civil and Environmental Engineering |
2 years |
53,450 |
4 |
University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley) |
MS Civil Engineering |
1 year |
32,374 |
10 |
Stanford University |
MS Civil and Environmental Engineering |
2 years |
149,080 |
15 |
Georgia Institute of Technology |
MS Civil and Environmental Engineering |
1 year |
31,370 |
22 |
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) |
MS Civil and Environmental Engineering |
1 year |
24,122 |
20 |
University of Texas at Austin |
MS Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering |
1 year |
26,782 |
25 |
Purdue University |
MS Civil Engineering |
1 year |
13,809 |
In order to pursue a Master of Science degree in the United States, international students are expected to have:
Because of COVID-19, students were having a difficult time taking the Graduate Record Examination (GRE); hence the majority of universities in the United States that provide master's degrees in civil engineering have decided to eliminate the requirement that applicants submit their GRE scores. However, the following scores are the most preferred in almost all the universities:
GRE Results & Scores | GRE Eligibility |
GRE Preparation | GRE Syllabus |
To apply to institutions in the United States of America with success, an international student's application packet needs to include the following items:
The cost of an education for an overseas student can be broken down into pre-departure expenditures and post-departure costs. These are the basic categories that can be used. The most significant portion of the post-travel costs will come from the university's required tuition payments. The cost of several exams completed for the purpose of studying in the United States of America, airfare, application costs, and visa fees are all included in the pre-departure cost. Once you have arrived in the United States, these are the costs that you will be responsible for paying. This will additionally incorporate the cost of living in the United States.
Expense Type |
Tuition Cost (USD) |
GRE |
205 |
TOEFL |
170 |
Application fee |
1,200 |
IELTS |
250 |
Flight fare (one-way) |
700 |
VISA Fee |
170 |
SEVIS Fee |
200 |
The United States of America had a rise in their annual rate of inflation from 1.5 percent to 2.3 percent during the years of 2010 and 2020. As a direct result of this, colleges' tuition costs have also been raised. Therefore, overseas students seek funding from a variety of sources so that they can continue their studies. Various choices are available, including loans, part-time jobs, bursaries, scholarships, and more.
The table that follows contains a list of scholarships that are open to international students who are enrolled in a Master of Science in Civil Engineering programme in the United States of America:
Name of scholarship programs |
Amount of scholarship (USD) |
Anne Naureen Whitney Barrow Memorial Scholarship |
$7000 |
Western Union Foundation Global Scholarship Program |
$2500 |
Arsham Amirikian Engineering Scholarship |
$2500 |
MSPE Abrams Grant |
$3000 |
A civil engineering bachelor's degree can help you get a professional license and an entry-level employment, but a master's degree is frequently needed to advance your career and earn greater pay.
Jobs Role |
Average Annual Pay (in USD) |
Construction engineer |
68,200 USD |
Structural engineer |
67,600 USD |
Building control surveyor |
56,000 USD |
Water resource engineer |
66,000 USD |
Transportation planner |
57,000 USD |
Quantity surveyor |
60,500 USD |
Geotechnical engineer |
66,200 USD |
The majority of the highest-paid civil engineers in the United States are employed by industries related to the extraction of oil and gas. On the other side, the cities of Midland, Hinesville, Texas, Houston, and Georgia all have some of the highest-paying jobs in the United States.
In the United States of America, the highest possible salary for a civil engineer is $112850, while the lowest possible salary is $67430. After completing their master's degrees, civil engineers in the United States can expect to earn a median salary of 86,640 USD per year.
If you want to be eligible for a post-graduation work permit, the first thing you need to do is make sure that you have your F1 visa since this will allow you to apply for an OPT visa extension for an additional year following the completion of your studies. The following is a rundown of the most important criteria that must be satisfied in order for you to be granted an F1 visa.
The processes necessary to obtain an F1 visa are listed below.
You are eligible to apply for the OPT extension once you have completed your graduation requirements and your F1 visa has expired. The processes necessary to apply for an extension of your OPT are as follows:
Here are the top three recruiters for MS in Civil Engineering in USA:
Randstad
Randstad Engineering is home to more than 787 different engineering job opportunities, some of which include engineering designer, validation engineer, senior mechanical engineer, AutoCAD technician, mechanical construction superintendent, applications engineer, electrical engineer, and plenty of other positions.
Robert Half
On its website, Robert Half now lists more than 1,745 open positions in the engineering field. A senior software engineer, a DevOps engineer, a network engineer, an e-commerce infrastructure engineer, a systems engineer, a big data engineer, and more are some of the engineering roles that they provide.
Aerotek
On their website, Aerotek has a wide variety of open positions for engineers with Masters in Civil Engineering in the USA. These include architectural and engineering employment, aerospace and military positions, energy and construction positions, software and hardware engineering positions, product engineering and design positions, and many more.
Building on the coursework from their undergraduate degrees, master's degrees help students hone their civil engineering skills. Students who enrol in graduate-level civil engineering programmes gain a deeper understanding of their field of study and how it affects society.
Graduate degree programmes also give students the option to specialise, which helps them gain more knowledge in particular areas of civil engineering and opens doors to various interests and career options. In general, civil engineers with deep specialisations in their fields are in high demand.
Still unclear about anything? Well, not to worry. Contact AECC and get your queries answered today! AECC is one of the world's leading educational consultancies with versatile expert professionals ready to help you with any queries you may have. Contact us so we can be of assistance to you in your journey to achieving your dream.
Yes, the USA is one of the best countries you can choose to pursue an MS in Civil Engineering.
Yes, civil engineers are in high demand in the USA and you will surely get a well-apid job easily.
Transportation Engineering and Environmental Engineering are the most demanded branches of Civil Engineering.
Engineering Project Managers are considered the highest-paid civil engineers.
Civil Engineering deals more with the planning and designing of a construction project, while Construction Engineering deals with the management of actual on-site construction.
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