A parent's read

  • The campus itself adds earnings power. Opportunity Insights tracks it: only about 4% of students arrive from the bottom income fifth, but those who do reach the top fifth by their 30s at a 50% rate — a strong sign the outcomes here are the campus, not just the intake.
  • The payoff holds even at full price: roughly 4× over a decade. With no aid at all — the full ~$62,648/yr — a decade of median earnings (~$89,070/yr) still runs about 4× the four-year cost. This payoff doesn't depend on qualifying for anything.
  • Ask the submit question deliberately. This college is test-optional — but at many such colleges, applicants who submit strong scores are admitted at meaningfully higher rates. “Optional” is a strategy decision, not a pass.

Composed from this page's data — every claim is backed by a number in the sections below.

Get your child's odds at Milwaukee School of Engineering Free Family Decision Report — Reach / Competitive / Match / Likely + your real net price. Milwaukee School of Engineering starts already on the list. Start →
Odds at Milwaukee School of Engineering

Put in your child's GPA and score — we'll show where they land here. Free, and nothing to sign up for.

Most families report the weighted one — it's the higher number, with honors and AP credit in it.

This reads the numbers — admit rate, scores, GPA. The real decision also weighs essays, recommendations, activities, and course rigor.

Get their full list — free Family Decision Report →

The free report adds every college on your list — Reach / Competitive / Match / Likely odds, your real net price, and merit-scholarship eligibility. About a minute.

Live odds from each college's own published admissions data.

Parent/student verdict

Moderately selective

Solid match for academically prepared students.

Best for

  • Students focused on Engineering (the school's signature program)
  • Families wanting a small undergraduate experience

Verdict is composed from this college's structured data (admit rate, SAT bands, net price with aid and at full price, Carnegie classification, scholarship grids) using transparent rule thresholds — not a chat-bot's opinion.

What are your child's odds here?

Enter their numbers once — this and every college page shows their verdict, and the UC campus cards on California school pages light up with it too. Free, no email.

Weighted is the higher GPA, with honors/AP credit in it — pick whichever your school reports. PSAT scores work in the SAT box.

Institutional snapshot

What kind of college is this?

Carnegie classification
M2: Master's - Medium Programs
Undergraduates
2,654
1,000 - 4,999 including graduate students
TuitionThe published full price before any aid. Families who don't qualify for need-based aid at a given college pay this, minus any merit scholarships — whether you qualify depends on the college's price and policies, not on any fixed income line.
$50,480
flat rate (no in/out-of-state split) · 2023–24 federal figure
Admit rateThe share of applicants a college accepts. Useful context, but your student's odds depend on their own grades and scores, not the average.
60.4%
Accessible
Test policyApplicants choose whether to send SAT/ACT scores. At many such colleges, students who submit strong scores are still admitted at higher rates.
Test-optional
2023
10-yr earningsMedian yearly pay of former students ten years after they STARTED here — not ten years after graduating — all majors combined. The broadest single outcome number a college reports.
$89,070
median, after entry

Source: federal IPEDS Admissions 2023 for scores + admit rate; federal College Scorecard (20260606 vintage) for earnings + outcomes. SAT/ACT bands are the 25th–75th percentile of enrolled submitters.

Outcomes & cost

What graduates actually earn, finish, and owe.

Federal College Scorecard data. Earnings are median annual income measured years after entering. Debt is for federal-aid borrowers only (cash-pay students aren't counted).

Earnings, 6 yrs after entry
$75,114
Earnings, 10 yrs after entryMedian yearly pay of former students ten years after they STARTED here — not ten years after graduating — all majors combined. The broadest single outcome number a college reports.
$89,070
Graduate within 6 yrsThe share of students who start here and finish a bachelor's within six years — the standard federal measure, and the one College Scorecard publishes. It is not a four-year rate. Read it as the odds of finishing at all: nationally about a third of students who start never do, and an unfinished degree is the most expensive outcome in this decision.
67%
Median debt (completers)The federal-loan balance of the typical graduating borrower. Families who pay cash aren't counted, so read it as "among those who borrowed."
$27,000

The real cost

What Milwaukee School of Engineering actually costs

If you qualify for need aidGrant money based on your family's finances (via FAFSA and the college's own forms), not your student's stats.
$22,453/yr
average among aid-receiving families, all incomes — your number depends on your finances
If you don't
$62,648/yr
the full published price

Which side your family lands on isn't set by any national income line — it's set by Milwaukee School of Engineering's own aid decision: the gap between its price and your family's finances.

Get your family's number — Milwaukee School of Engineering's Net Price Calculator ↗ 10–15 minutes; have a tax return handy. It's still an estimate — but it's this college's own, built from your family's numbers, not anyone's average.
Start your Family Decision Report →

Your odds + estimated cost across your whole college list, side by side.

The payoffTen years of typical graduate pay minus four years of cost — how many dollars ahead a typical graduate runs by year ten. Check both the full-price and with-aid versions to see which applies to you; median pay reflects who a college admits and what they study as much as the college itself., both ways

+$640K ahead at full price +$801K with aid
Full price, no aidThe all-in yearly price — tuition, housing, food, books, fees — before any aid. This is the real "full price," not just the tuition line. (4 yrs)
$250,592
~$62,648/yr all-in
Aid recipients pay (4 yrs)
$89,812
$22,453/yr average
10-yr earnings total
$890,700
$89,070/yr median, 10 yrs out
Years to recoup the cost
2.8 yrs
at full price (1.0 with aid), at the median earnings rate

Source: College Scorecard (average net price among Title IV first-time, full-time undergraduates who received aid) and each college's published cost of attendance. We don't show the federal net-price-by-income brackets: their categories were fixed in 2008 and never adjusted, and none of the averages is your family's own number — the full story. Payoff = (10-yr median earnings × 10) − (4 years of cost), in dollars — how far ahead a typical graduate runs by year ten; medians travel with the students a college admits and the majors they choose as much as with the college itself. Full price is the published cost of attendance; earnings are 10 years after enrollment, all majors combined.

What students study here

Most popular majors at Milwaukee School of Engineering

Top 5 fields of study by bachelor's degrees awarded (most recent IPEDS Completions). Use this to see what Milwaukee School of Engineering actually graduates — not just what it markets.

1. Engineering
382 degrees · 69.3%
Engineering majors land high-paying technical roles. Top-earning sub-disciplines: petroleum, chemical, computer engineering.
2. Health Professions
72 degrees · 13.1%
Highest-paying group on this list, but most careers require additional training beyond a 4-year degree.
3. Business, Management, & Marketing
51 degrees · 9.3%
Broad set of corporate roles. Finance + consulting pay top, accounting + HR pay middle, sales spread is wide.
4. Computer & Information Sciences
37 degrees · 6.7%
High-paying tech roles dominate. Median software roles cluster in the $90k-$130k range.
5. Multi/Interdisciplinary Studies
9 degrees · 1.6%
Often paired with another field (data + biology, design + tech). Outcomes match the second discipline.

What those majors earn here

Median earnings 4 years after entry, by major — Milwaukee School of Engineering's own graduates, not national averages.

Major (CIP) Credential Cohort 1-yr earnings 4-yr earnings
Computer Engineering. Bachelor's Degree 73 $78,333 $103,360
Construction Management. Bachelor's Degree 11 $79,353 $95,147
Biomedical/Medical Engineering. Bachelor's Degree 29 $70,090 $93,229
Electrical, Electronics, and Communications Engineering. Bachelor's Degree 73 $74,901 $93,201
Civil Engineering. Bachelor's Degree 23 $72,940 $92,809
Architectural Engineering. Bachelor's Degree 24 $88,756
Industrial Engineering. Bachelor's Degree 22 $71,112 $87,279
Business Administration, Management and Operations. Bachelor's Degree 20 $60,187 $86,550
Mechanical Engineering. Bachelor's Degree 134 $68,976 $85,791
Registered Nursing, Nursing Administration, Nursing Research and Clinical Nursing. Bachelor's Degree 66 $73,835 $82,822

Sources: IPEDS Completions (C2023_a; bachelor's-level first majors, 2-digit CIP family — share is of the top 5 only) · College Scorecard program-level outcomes (PP-FOS). Full college-vs-major comparison: /college-outcomes →

Student body & economic mobility

Who attends here — and what the campus adds.

Opportunity Insights data. It measures two things at once: how many lower-income students a college enrols, and how many of them reach the top earnings quintile later. A high rate says the college does both — it does not establish that the campus caused the earnings, because the students it admits differ from the students it doesn't. Read it as a signal about access and destination, not as proof of value added.

Top-1% access
0.8%
from top-1% households
Mobility rateThe share of ALL students who arrived from the bottom 20% of family incomes AND reached the top 20% themselves by their early 30s — access and lift in one number, and a sign the campus itself adds earnings power.
1.9%
bottom 20% → top 20% by age 32
Upward rate
50.1%
of lower-income students who reach the top 20%
Pell recipientsStudents receiving federal Pell grants, which go to lower- and middle-income families — the standard shorthand for a college's economic mix.
24%
on federal need grants — context for these numbers

Full leaderboards: /college-mobility →

AI program signal

AI + computing education at Milwaukee School of Engineering

CS degrees (annual)
37
CIP 11.0701 + 11.0101

Full multi-lens comparison: /ai-colleges →

Alternatives to Milwaukee School of Engineering

Matched not just by selectivity, but by strategic goal — what a family actually decides on.

Better merit-aid options
These similar-selectivity schools publish merit scholarships your family can plan around — your kid’s stats could unlock real scholarship dollars.
Texas Tech University
TX · Public
30 stats-based + 1 competitive scholarships
University of South Carolina-Columbia
SC · Public
8 stats-based + 3 competitive scholarships
Oklahoma State University-Main Campus
OK · Public
6 stats-based + 3 competitive scholarships
Lower full price
Similar selectivity, but a meaningfully lower full sticker price — the comparison that matters most for families who won't qualify for much need-based aid.
CUNY Hunter College
NY · Public
$13,905/yr full price (in-state) · $48,743 less before aid for NY residents
CUNY Lehman College
NY · Public
$14,121/yr full price (in-state) · $48,527 less before aid for NY residents
CUNY Brooklyn College
NY · Public
$14,151/yr full price (in-state) · $48,497 less before aid for NY residents
Safer in-state options
Same state and similar selectivity, but with a more forgiving admit rate — useful safety / match anchors.
University of Wisconsin-Parkside
WI · Public
73% admit rate (vs 60% here)
University of Wisconsin-La Crosse
WI · Public
73% admit rate (vs 60% here)
University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire
WI · Public
76% admit rate (vs 60% here)
More students move up here
Per Opportunity Insights, a larger share of these campuses' lower-income students reach the top earnings quintile than at Milwaukee School of Engineering. That reflects who they admit as well as what they do, so read it as a destination signal rather than proof of value added.
CUNY Bernard M Baruch College
NY · Public
12.9% mobility rate (vs 1.9% here)
CUNY City College
NY · Public
11.7% mobility rate (vs 1.9% here)
CUNY Lehman College
NY · Public
10.2% mobility rate (vs 1.9% here)

Or compare any college side-by-side

Deciding on Milwaukee School of Engineering?

Get the full picture in one free report — your child's Reach / Competitive / Match / Likely odds and your real net price, for Milwaukee School of Engineering and every other college on your list.

Get your child's odds at Milwaukee School of Engineering →

Score-odds calculator · Improve the score first · Find merit aid

For Parents

Get alerts when Milwaukee School of Engineering's numbers change

New admit rates, costs, and outcomes — a few alerts a year, no spam. Your email also saves your list across devices.

Objective, government-grade data — no school pays us for placement.

At a glance

JSON · Using this page with an AI assistant

Milwaukee School of Engineering is a private nonprofit four-year college in WI. It admitted 60% of applicants (6,032 applied, 2023). Test policy: Test-optional.

Cost: about $22,453 a year on average with aid, $62,648 a year at full price.

Median earnings ten years after entry: $89,070 a year. Payoff, meaning ten years of that pay minus four years of cost: $800,888 ahead with aid, $640,108 ahead at full price.

Highest median earnings four years after the degree, by program: Computer Engineering ($103,360); Construction Management ($95,147); Biomedical/Medical Engineering ($93,229).

Economic mobility (Opportunity Insights): 4% of students came from families in the bottom fifth of income, and 50% of those reached the top fifth as adults.

Machine-readable version of this page: https://highschoolreach.com/colleges/milwaukee-school-of-engineering.json

By major: Biomedical Engineering and BioengineeringBusiness AdministrationChemical EngineeringCivil EngineeringComputer EngineeringConstruction ManagementElectrical EngineeringIndustrial EngineeringMechanical EngineeringNursing (BSN)
Get your child's odds →

What families ask next