2022 Best Value Bachelor’s Degree Colleges for General Engineering Science in California

When it comes to choosing a college, students have a lot of options - but not all of them are good. One of our goals at College Factual is to give you as much information as we can - such as our “Best Value Engineering Science Schools for a Bachelor’s in California” ranking - to help you make that decision.

In 2019-2020, 1,668 people earned their degree in general engineering science, making the major the 337th most popular in the United States.

Across California, there were 119 general engineering science graduates with average earnings and debt of $0 and $0 respectively. At the bachelor’s degree level specifically, there were 68 general engineering science graduates with average earnings and debt of $37,907 and $21,546 respectively.

This year’s “Best Value Engineering Science Schools for a Bachelor’s in California” ranking looked at 3 colleges that offer degrees in a bachelor’s in general engineering science. Not only do the schools that top this list have excellent general engineering science programs, but they also cost less that schools of similar quality.

When determining these rankings, we looked at things such as overall quality of the general engineering science program at the school and the cost to attend the school once aid has been awarded. See our ranking methodology to learn more.

More Ways to Rank General Engineering Science Schools

The engineering science school you choose to invest your time and money in matters. To help you make the decision that is right for you, we’ve developed a number of major-specific rankings, including this list of “Best Value Engineering Science Schools for a Bachelor’s in California”.

In addition to our rankings, you can take two colleges and compare them based on the criteria that matters most to you in our unique tool, College Combat. Go ahead and give it a try, or bookmark the link so you can check it out later.

Best Value Engineering Science Schools for a Bachelor’s in California

The following schools top our list of the Best Best Value Engineering Science Schools for a Bachelor’s in California.

Top 3 Best Value Bachelor’s Degree Colleges for General Engineering Science in California

#1

California Polytechnic State University - San Luis Obispo

San Luis Obispo, California

#2 in overall quality

$21,595 Average Net Price

You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around if you attend California Polytechnic State University - San Luis Obispo. The school came in at #1 for the Best Value Engineering Science Schools for a Bachelor’s in California. San Luis Obispo, California is the setting for this large institution of higher learning. The public school handed out bachelors’s engineering science degrees to 18 students in 2019-2020.

Cal Poly San Luis Obispo also made our “Best General Engineering Science Bachelor’s Degree Schools in California” list, coming in at #2. The estimated yearly cost for California Polytechnic State University - San Luis Obispo is $21,595 for california bachelor’s degree engineering science students.

The student loan default rate at the school is 1.1%, which is quite low when compared to the national default rate of 10.1%. Students who start out at the school are likely to stick around. The freshman retention rate is 94%.

Full California Polytechnic State University - San Luis Obispo General Engineering Science Report

#2

University of California - Berkeley

Berkeley, California

#1 in overall quality

$15,329 Average Net Price

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend University of California - Berkeley. It ranked #2 on our 2022 Best Value Engineering Science Schools for a Bachelor’s in California list. This large school is located in Berkeley, California, and it awarded 17 bachelors’s engineering science degrees in 2019-2020.

UC Berkeley also made our “Best General Engineering Science Bachelor’s Degree Schools in California” list, coming in at #1. The yearly cost to attend UC Berkeley is $15,329 for california bachelor’s degree engineering science students.

The school has an excellent freshman retention rate of 96%, which means students like the school well enough to return for a second year. The school has an impressive student loan default rate. It’s only 1.7%, which is much lower than the national rate of 10.1%.

Read more about General Engineering Science at University of California - Berkeley

#3

California State University - Bakersfield

Bakersfield, California

#3 in overall quality

$5,318 Average Net Price

You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around if you attend California State University - Bakersfield. The school came in at #3 for the Best Value Engineering Science Schools for a Bachelor’s in California. CSUB is located in Bakersfield, California and, has a fairly large student population. In 2019-2020, this school awarded 33 bachelors’s engineering science degrees to qualified students.

As a testament to the quality of education offered at CSUB, the school also landed the #3 spot in our “Best General Engineering Science Bachelor’s Degree Schools in California” ranking. The estimated yearly cost for California State University - Bakersfield is $5,318 for California Bachelor’s Degree Engineering Science students.

Read more about General Engineering Science at CSUB

• Best Value Bachelor’s Degree Colleges for General Engineering Science in the Far Western US Region
• Best Value Bachelor’s Degree Colleges for General Engineering Science

Notes and References

References

• The Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) from the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), a branch of the U.S. Department of Education (DOE) serves as the core of our data about colleges.
• Some other college data, including much of the graduate earnings data, comes from the U.S. Department of Education’s (College Scorecard).
• Information about the national average student loan default rate is from the U.S. Department of Education and refers to data about the 2016 borrower cohort tracking period for which the cohort default rate (CDR) was 10.1%.

Read more about our data sources and methodologies

Footnotes

• *Average salary, average net price, and average tuition and fees are for the top schools only.
• Some schools otherwise deserving of recognition may have been removed from this ranking in the event that new data identified post-publication warranted it, or at the request of the school.

Credits

• Credit for the banner image above goes to Nicolás Pérez.

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