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2024 Best Mechanical Engineering Doctor's Degree Schools

129 Colleges in the United States
1,634 Doctor's Degrees
$103,564 Avg Early-Career Salary
Ranked #17 in popularity, mechanical engineering is one of the most sought-after doctor's degree programs in the nation. This means there are lots of options to choose from when you decide to get your degree.

College Factual reviewed 129 schools in the United States to determine which ones were the best for doctor's degree seekers in the field of mechanical engineering. Combined, these schools handed out 1,634 doctor's degrees in mechanical engineering to qualified students.

Jump to one of the following sections: * Our Methodology

Choosing a Great Mechanical Engineering School for Your Doctor's Degree

Best Mechanical Engineering Doctor's Degree Schools The me doctor's degree program you select can have a big impact on your future. Important measures of a quality me program can vary widely even among the top schools. To make it into this list, a school must excel in the following areas.

A Great Overall School

The overall quality of a doctor's degree school is important to ensure a good education, not just how well they do in a particular major. To make it into this list a school must rank well in our overall Best Colleges for a Doctor's Degree ranking. This ranking considered factors such as graduation rates, overall graduate earnings and other educational resources to identify great colleges and universities.

Early-Career Earnings

One measure we use to determine the quality of a school is to look at the average salary of doctorate graduates during the early years of their career. This is because one of the main reasons people pursue their doctor's degree is to enable themselves to find better-paying positions.

Other Factors We Consider

In addition to the above, you should consider some of the following factors:

Our complete ranking methodology documents in more detail how we consider these factors to identify the best schools for mechanical engineering students working on their doctor's degree.

One Size Does Not Fit All

Rankings by Location Check Out Other Locales
More ME Rankings Other Ranking Categories

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 Doctor's Degree Schools list to help you make the college decision.

Best Schools for Doctorate Students to Study Mechanical Engineering in the United States

The following list ranks the best colleges and universities for pursuing a doctor's degree in mechanical engineering. Only those schools that rank in the top 15% of all the schools we analyze get awarded with a place on this list.

19 Top Schools for a Doctorate in ME

1
45 Annual Graduates

It is difficult to beat Massachusetts Institute of Technology if you want to pursue a doctor's degree in mechanical engineering. Located in the medium-sized city of Cambridge, MIT is a private not-for-profit school with a large student population.More information about a doctorate in mechanical engineering from Massachusetts Institute of Technology

2
Stanford crest
Stanford University
Stanford, CA
49 Annual Graduates

Every student pursuing a degree in a doctor's degree in mechanical engineering has to look into Stanford University. Stanford is a fairly large private not-for-profit university located in the suburb of Stanford.More information about a doctorate in mechanical engineering from Stanford University

3
UPenn crest
University of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, PA
9 Annual Graduates

It is hard to beat University of Pennsylvania if you want to pursue a doctor's degree in mechanical engineering. Located in the large city of Philadelphia, UPenn is a private not-for-profit university with a fairly large student population.More information about a doctorate in mechanical engineering from University of Pennsylvania

4
Duke crest
Duke University
Durham, NC
17 Annual Graduates

Duke University is one of the best schools in the country for getting a doctor's degree in mechanical engineering. Located in the city of Durham, Duke is a private not-for-profit university with a fairly large student population.More information about a doctorate in mechanical engineering from Duke University

5
14 Annual Graduates

Located in the suburb of Notre Dame, Notre Dame is a private not-for-profit university with a large student population.More information about a doctorate in mechanical engineering from University of Notre Dame

6
36 Annual Graduates

U-M is a very large public university located in the medium-sized city of Ann Arbor.More information about a doctorate in mechanical engineering from University of Michigan - Ann Arbor

7
21 Annual Graduates

Northwestern is a fairly large private not-for-profit university located in the city of Evanston.More information about a doctorate in mechanical engineering from Northwestern University

8
61 Annual Graduates

Located in the large city of Atlanta, Georgia Tech is a public school with a very large student population.More information about a doctorate in mechanical engineering from Georgia Institute of Technology - Main Campus

9
34 Annual Graduates

Located in the city of Austin, UT Austin is a public university with a fairly large student population.More information about a doctorate in mechanical engineering from The University of Texas at Austin

10
69 Annual Graduates

Purdue is a fairly large public university located in the small city of West Lafayette.More information about a doctorate in mechanical engineering from Purdue University - Main Campus

11
17 Annual Graduates

Cornell is a fairly large private not-for-profit university located in the city of Ithaca.More information about a doctorate in mechanical engineering from Cornell University

12
Rice crest
Rice University
Houston, TX
7 Annual Graduates

Rice is a moderately-sized private not-for-profit university located in the city of Houston.More information about a doctorate in mechanical engineering from Rice University

13
7 Annual Graduates

USC is a fairly large private not-for-profit university located in the large city of Los Angeles.More information about a doctorate in mechanical engineering from University of Southern California

14
Vanderbilt crest
Vanderbilt University
Nashville, TN
10 Annual Graduates

Vanderbilt is a fairly large private not-for-profit university located in the large city of Nashville.More information about a doctorate in mechanical engineering from Vanderbilt University

15
34 Annual Graduates

UC Berkeley is a fairly large public university located in the city of Berkeley.More information about a doctorate in mechanical engineering from University of California - Berkeley

16
29 Annual Graduates

Located in the large city of Pittsburgh, Carnegie Mellon is a private not-for-profit university with a large student population.More information about a doctorate in mechanical engineering from Carnegie Mellon University

17
Princeton crest
Princeton University
Princeton, NJ
9 Annual Graduates

Princeton is a medium-sized private not-for-profit university located in the small city of Princeton.More information about a doctorate in mechanical engineering from Princeton University

18
29 Annual Graduates

Located in the city of Champaign, UIUC is a public university with a fairly large student population.More information about a doctorate in mechanical engineering from University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

19
32 Annual Graduates

Located in the city of College Station, Texas A&M College Station is a public university with a very large student population.More information about a doctorate in mechanical engineering from Texas A&M University - College Station

Rest of the Top Best Mechanical Engineering Doctor's Degree Schools

Additional Noteworthy Schools

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 Doctor's Degree Schools award.

Rank College Location
20 Washington University in St Louis Saint Louis, MO
21 Johns Hopkins University Baltimore, MD
22 Columbia University in the City of New York New York, NY
23 University of California - Los Angeles Los Angeles, CA
24 Virginia Tech Blacksburg, VA
25 University of Maryland - College Park College Park, MD

Mechanical Engineering by Region

View the Best Mechanical Engineering Doctor's Degree Schools for a specific region near you.

Region
Southeast
New England
Rocky Mountains
Plains States
Middle Atlantic
Far Western US
Southwest
Other U.S. Territories
Great Lakes

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Mechanical Engineering is one of 41 different types of Engineering programs to choose from.

ME Concentrations

Major Annual Graduates
General Mechanical Engineering 1,634

Majors Similar to ME

Related Major Annual Graduates
Electrical Engineering 2,179
Biomedical Engineering 1,096
Chemical Engineering 1,087
Civil Engineering 1,086
Materials Engineering 712
General Engineering 477
Computer Engineering 386
Industrial Engineering 370
Aerospace & Aeronautical Engineering 361
Other Engineering 182

Notes and References

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