Objective To explore the status quo of the career planning in engineering college students

and to provide reference for the promotion of pertinent instructions for career development.Method An adaptation of engineering college students’ career development inventory was employed to investigate 1927 engineering college students from chongqing university and southwest university etc

and the results were statistically analyzed.Results The level of career exploration was higher than that of career orientation among engineering college students;as for career orientation

the differences in whether being impoverished students

whether being a single child

whether having internship experience and whether living in urban areas were statistically significant（P<0.05 or P<0.01）;in career exploration

there was no statistically significant difference（P>0.05） in gender

in whether being impoverished students and in family environment

and differences in whether being a single child and whether having internship were statistically significant（P<0.01）;in terms of grade and academic achievement there were statistically significant differences（P<0.01） in main effects in the dimensions of career orientation and career exploration.Conclusion Universities should promote career education early and cultivate an awareness for career planning among engineering college students according to their characteristics and academic stages.