Environmental/Environmental Health Engineering at University of Minnesota-Twin Cities

The small sample size here (under 30 graduates) makes these numbers unreliable, but what they suggest is troubling: first-year earnings of $53,447 fall $11,000 below the national median for environmental engineering graduates. Being in the 5th percentile nationally means 95% of similar programs produce better early outcomes. The debt load of $27,000 is actually slightly above the national median, creating a debt-to-earnings ratio that, while reasonable at 0.51, reflects underperformance on the earnings side rather than success keeping debt down.

The Minnesota context provides little clarity—you're at the 60th percentile statewide, but that's only comparing against one other program. For a selective public university (average SAT of 1359), these engineering outcomes seem inconsistent with the institution's overall reputation. Environmental engineering typically commands solid starting salaries given the technical skills involved, so this gap matters.

With such a small cohort, a few graduates pursuing grad school or non-traditional paths could skew these numbers significantly. If your student is genuinely committed to environmental engineering, UMN remains a credible name. But given the uncertainty in this data and the clear national underperformance it suggests, you'd want to investigate why these graduates are earning so much less than peers elsewhere—whether it's program structure, career services, or just statistical noise from a tiny sample.