If you pursue a master's degree in mechanical engineering, you won't be alone. The field of study is the #29 most popular program in the country. This means there are lots of options to choose from when you decide to get your degree.
College Factual looked at 158 colleges and universities when compiling its 2025 Best Mechanical Engineering Master's Degree Schools ranking. Combined, these schools handed out 6,953 master's degrees in mechanical engineering to qualified students.
Choosing a Great Mechanical Engineering School for Your Master's Degree
Your choice of mechanical engineering for getting your master's degree school matters. This section explores some of the factors we include in our ranking and how much they vary depending on the school you select. To make it into this list, a school must excel in the following areas.
A Great Overall School
The overall quality of a master's degree school is important to ensure a quality education, not just how well they do in a particular major. To take this into account we include a school's overall Best Colleges for a Master's Degree ranking which itself looks at a collection of different factors like degree completion, educational resources, student body caliber and post-graduation earnings for the school as a whole.
Early-Career Earnings
One measure we use to determine the quality of a school is to look at the average salary of master's graduates during the early years of their career. That is, everyone wants their master's degree to be worth something, and salaries are one measure of determining that.
Other Factors We Consider
The metrics below are just some of the other metrics that we use to determine our rankings.
Major Focus - How much a school focuses on mechanical engineering students vs. other majors.
Major Demand - The number of mechanical engineering students who choose to seek a master's degree at the school.
Educational Resources - How many resources are allocated to students. These resources may include educational expenditures per student, number of students per instructor, and graduation rate among other things.
Student Debt - How easy is it for mechanical engineering to pay back their student loans after receiving their master's degree.
Accreditation - Whether a school is regionally accredited and/or accredited by a recognized mechanical engineering related body.
Our full ranking methodology documents in more detail how we consider these factors to identify the best schools for mechanical engineering students working on their master's degree.
When choosing the right school for you, it's important to arm yourself with all the facts you can. To that end, we've created a number of major-specific rankings, including this Best Mechanical Engineering Master's Degree Schools list to help you make the college decision.
Best Schools for Master’s Students to Study Mechanical Engineering in the United States
Learn about the top ranked colleges and universities for mechanical engineering students seeking a a master's degree. Only those schools that rank in the top 20% of all the schools we analyze get awarded with a place on this list.
It is difficult to beat Massachusetts Institute of Technology if you want to pursue a master's degree in mechanical engineering. MIT is a fairly large private not-for-profit school located in the city of Cambridge.
Master's recipients from the mechanical engineering degree program at Massachusetts Institute of Technology make $62,301 more than the standard college graduate with the same degree when they enter the workforce.
It is difficult to beat Stanford University if you wish to pursue a master's degree in mechanical engineering. Located in the suburb of Stanford, Stanford is a private not-for-profit university with a large student population.
Master's recipients from the mechanical engineering degree program at Stanford University earn $27,820 more than the standard graduate with the same degree when they enter the workforce.
Johns Hopkins University is a great option for individuals pursuing a master's degree in mechanical engineering. Located in the large city of Baltimore, Johns Hopkins is a private not-for-profit university with a very large student population.
Master's recipients from the mechanical engineering degree program at Johns Hopkins University get $21,000 more than the standard college graduate with the same degree shortly after graduation.
Every student who is interested in a master's degree in mechanical engineering needs to check out Columbia University in the City of New York. Columbia is a very large private not-for-profit university located in the large city of New York.
Master's recipients from the mechanical engineering major at Columbia University in the City of New York earn $10,915 above the standard college graduate in this field when they enter the workforce.
Located in the city of Los Angeles, USC is a private not-for-profit university with a very large student population.
Mechanical Engineering master's degree recipients from University of Southern California get an earnings boost of approximately $13,147 above the average earnings of mechanical engineering graduates.
Located in the small city of Ithaca, Cornell is a private not-for-profit university with a very large student population.
Mechanical Engineering master's degree recipients from Cornell University receive an earnings boost of about $5,999 above the average income of mechanical engineering majors.
Located in the city of West Lafayette, Purdue is a public university with a fairly large student population.
Mechanical Engineering master's degree recipients from Purdue University - Main Campus earn a boost of around $12,176 over the average income of mechanical engineering graduates.
Georgia Tech is a fairly large public school located in the large city of Atlanta.
Mechanical Engineering master's degree recipients from Georgia Institute of Technology - Main Campus earn a boost of around $4,411 above the typical income of mechanical engineering graduates.
UT Austin is a very large public university located in the city of Austin.
Master's recipients from the mechanical engineering program at The University of Texas at Austin make $5,988 more than the average college graduate with the same degree when they enter the workforce.
UCLA is a fairly large public university located in the city of Los Angeles.
Master's recipients from the mechanical engineering degree program at University of California - Los Angeles get $15,304 more than the average college graduate in this field shortly after graduation.
SCU is a moderately-sized private not-for-profit university located in the medium-sized city of Santa Clara.
Master's recipients from the mechanical engineering program at Santa Clara University earn $30,470 above the standard graduate with the same degree shortly after graduation.
Located in the city of La Jolla, UCSD is a public university with a very large student population.
Master's recipients from the mechanical engineering degree program at University of California - San Diego earn $19,408 above the average graduate in this field shortly after graduation.
UIUC is a very large public university located in the small city of Champaign.
Master's recipients from the mechanical engineering program at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign make $11,987 above the average college grad in this field when they enter the workforce.
These are some additional schools worth mentioning that are also great but just didn't quite make the cut to earn our top Best Mechanical Engineering Master's Degree Schools award.
The bars on the spread charts above show the distribution of the schools on this list +/- one standard deviation from the mean.
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 the rest 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).
Your choice of mechanical engineering for getting your master's degree school matters. This section explores some of the factors we include in our ranking and how much they vary depending on the school you select. To make it into this list, a school must excel in the following areas.
