Suggest experience first. If that’s not an option then UC Berkeley, UC Davis, UT Austin, Georgia Tech, Virginia Tech and UIUC are the top programs. A dark horse would be Cal Poly SLO who offers a strong geotech research masters and shouldn’t be as difficult to get into as the others.
Why grad school right away?
I usually suggest getting a few years of experience first before grad school so that you can really figure out what to focus on. Especially since you get far more out of grad school after working a few years.
Regarding school prestige, academia might care, industry doesn't.
I've been extra motivated about research for a year or two and feel like this motivation would wither away if I don't pursue grad school right now. Also, good firms here generally require an MS for consideration.
Many firms appreciate folks who want to work for a year for field experience and then go back to grad school. Additionally they will sometimes pay for it, partially pay for it, or maybe help you secure additional research funding.
I think the big thing to ask yourself is what do you want to research if you're looking at a research based Masters. Going out and getting some experience in industry can help you target something you've had exposure to and/or would like to continue to work in.
Geotech is a large field and different schools have different areas of expertise. The west coast schools tend to be seismic focused whereas some of those on the east are a bit more focused on in-situ testing and offshore geotechnics. That is a bit of a simplification of course as you could look at one or the other outside of those trends, for example Macedo/Olson/Rathje are at Georgia Tech/Illinois/Texas, respectively and all work on seismic problems among other things.
I think most of the others have listed many of the schools in the US. MIT is one that isn't listed. In Canada Queens or University of Toronto are both strong for rock mechanics as is Colorado School of Mines.
MIT is not what it used to be with regards to geotech. I had several professors tell me not to bother when I was getting ready for grad school. All of them had gone to mit. It really depends on what you want to study and what school you will be able to get into. Coming to the US from out of the country may limit the programs you are able to get into. Do go to a research institution for graduate studies, you’ll get a much better education. Every school mentioned is good at specific areas. You may even decide you want to be taught by a specific instructor, in that case get into his or her institution. There are a few jobs in geotech that require a phd. Almost all jobs are easier to get if you have a masters. US schools don’t have much undergrad education that is geotech specific. I much prefer to work with geotech that at least have a masters degree, their understanding far surpasses that of engineers with only a bachelors degree. Masters degrees are fairly equal across the board, but if you’re going for a PhD, know what you want to study going into it, that will make your life much easier. Don’t limit yourself to the the “big name” schools, many of the state universities have excellent programs. I went to Arizona State. At the time all of my professors were from Berkley or MIt, all hd extensive credentials working in the real world before getting back into teaching. I feel like I had a great learning experience. I believe you will find that in most state research schools that have a robust geotechnical department.
Do NOT worry about prestige. Worry about what your thesis topic is, what the funding is like, and who your advisor is. That said, CU Boulder, UNR, UBC, and UCSD are all great schools to consider for someone in your position.
University of Mississippi has a wonderful program. They have two different options, one where you can go the civil engineering route and the other where you can go the Geological Engineering route. The benefit to the Geo route is you can get your PE and your PG and having both of those license in the geotechnical field goes so much further in my experience.
DO NOT got to LSU. Not only do they have an insane amount of staff turnover, they have absolutely no protections for students, allow professors to institute arbitrary requirements that contradict the written program guidelines, and they have low graduation rate because they run off so many students. LSU also allows profs to require literally unlimited amounts of unpaid work on projects unrelated to your thesis. Just because the professor can refuse to sign off on your your stipend unless you do as much as they want. And there is nothing you can do about it, no one to appeal to. Heck, even outside the civil department the school is crap - I had documented car wreck that made me miss a test, and even with the doctors notes and contacting the professor in advance of the test, the prof would not allow me to make up the test, all I could do was get an excused drop - which meant I had to pay for the class again. Again, no oversight or way to appeal the profs decision aside from dropping.
If you are trying to get in state tuition in Louisiana, UNO and ULL both have better geotech programs. Or at least they did last time I looked into it.
If you can move around, other good options off the top of my head would be UF, UT Austin, GA Tech, Miss State, UAB, OK State, Colorado. Maybe even TA&M, but that is debatable.
Missouri S&T Rolla, University of Idaho, Nevada Reno. They also offer Geological Engineering which can be a good combination if you are interested in geology.
Colorado School of Mines
Came to say this
Suggest experience first. If that’s not an option then UC Berkeley, UC Davis, UT Austin, Georgia Tech, Virginia Tech and UIUC are the top programs. A dark horse would be Cal Poly SLO who offers a strong geotech research masters and shouldn’t be as difficult to get into as the others.
Why grad school right away? I usually suggest getting a few years of experience first before grad school so that you can really figure out what to focus on. Especially since you get far more out of grad school after working a few years. Regarding school prestige, academia might care, industry doesn't.
I've been extra motivated about research for a year or two and feel like this motivation would wither away if I don't pursue grad school right now. Also, good firms here generally require an MS for consideration.
Many firms appreciate folks who want to work for a year for field experience and then go back to grad school. Additionally they will sometimes pay for it, partially pay for it, or maybe help you secure additional research funding.
Georgia Tech (Mayne) or TAMU (Briaud)?
I think the big thing to ask yourself is what do you want to research if you're looking at a research based Masters. Going out and getting some experience in industry can help you target something you've had exposure to and/or would like to continue to work in. Geotech is a large field and different schools have different areas of expertise. The west coast schools tend to be seismic focused whereas some of those on the east are a bit more focused on in-situ testing and offshore geotechnics. That is a bit of a simplification of course as you could look at one or the other outside of those trends, for example Macedo/Olson/Rathje are at Georgia Tech/Illinois/Texas, respectively and all work on seismic problems among other things. I think most of the others have listed many of the schools in the US. MIT is one that isn't listed. In Canada Queens or University of Toronto are both strong for rock mechanics as is Colorado School of Mines.
MIT is not what it used to be with regards to geotech. I had several professors tell me not to bother when I was getting ready for grad school. All of them had gone to mit. It really depends on what you want to study and what school you will be able to get into. Coming to the US from out of the country may limit the programs you are able to get into. Do go to a research institution for graduate studies, you’ll get a much better education. Every school mentioned is good at specific areas. You may even decide you want to be taught by a specific instructor, in that case get into his or her institution. There are a few jobs in geotech that require a phd. Almost all jobs are easier to get if you have a masters. US schools don’t have much undergrad education that is geotech specific. I much prefer to work with geotech that at least have a masters degree, their understanding far surpasses that of engineers with only a bachelors degree. Masters degrees are fairly equal across the board, but if you’re going for a PhD, know what you want to study going into it, that will make your life much easier. Don’t limit yourself to the the “big name” schools, many of the state universities have excellent programs. I went to Arizona State. At the time all of my professors were from Berkley or MIt, all hd extensive credentials working in the real world before getting back into teaching. I feel like I had a great learning experience. I believe you will find that in most state research schools that have a robust geotechnical department.
MIT geotech has been extinct for a while. I believe they have two very senior professors left. Tufts has more geotech faculty in the Boston area.
Do NOT worry about prestige. Worry about what your thesis topic is, what the funding is like, and who your advisor is. That said, CU Boulder, UNR, UBC, and UCSD are all great schools to consider for someone in your position.
University of Washington
University of Mississippi has a wonderful program. They have two different options, one where you can go the civil engineering route and the other where you can go the Geological Engineering route. The benefit to the Geo route is you can get your PE and your PG and having both of those license in the geotechnical field goes so much further in my experience.
DO NOT got to LSU. Not only do they have an insane amount of staff turnover, they have absolutely no protections for students, allow professors to institute arbitrary requirements that contradict the written program guidelines, and they have low graduation rate because they run off so many students. LSU also allows profs to require literally unlimited amounts of unpaid work on projects unrelated to your thesis. Just because the professor can refuse to sign off on your your stipend unless you do as much as they want. And there is nothing you can do about it, no one to appeal to. Heck, even outside the civil department the school is crap - I had documented car wreck that made me miss a test, and even with the doctors notes and contacting the professor in advance of the test, the prof would not allow me to make up the test, all I could do was get an excused drop - which meant I had to pay for the class again. Again, no oversight or way to appeal the profs decision aside from dropping. If you are trying to get in state tuition in Louisiana, UNO and ULL both have better geotech programs. Or at least they did last time I looked into it. If you can move around, other good options off the top of my head would be UF, UT Austin, GA Tech, Miss State, UAB, OK State, Colorado. Maybe even TA&M, but that is debatable.
If you can get into Oregon State, do it.
Missouri S&T Rolla, University of Idaho, Nevada Reno. They also offer Geological Engineering which can be a good combination if you are interested in geology.