2023 Schools for a Bachelor’s Highly Focused on ME Major in South Carolina

With all of the options students have for higher education today, it can be tough to choose which direction to take. Our mission at College Factual is to arm you with as much information as we can to help you make that decision. Our “Schools for a Bachelor’s Highly Focused on ME Major in South Carolina” ranking is one tool we have developed to help in this regard.

Mechanical Engineering is the 21st most popular major in the country with 46,178 degrees awarded in 2020-2021. In 2019-2020, mechanical engineering graduates who were awarded their degree in 2017-2019, earned an average of $69,007 and had an average of $23,944 in loans still to pay off.

Across South Carolina, there were 715 mechanical engineering graduates with average earnings and debt of $61,969 and $23,761 respectively. At the bachelor’s degree level specifically, there were 586 mechanical engineering graduates with average earnings and debt of $35,293 and $28,603 respectively.

This year’s “Schools for a Bachelor’s Highly Focused on ME Major in South Carolina” ranking analyzed 5 colleges that offered a degree in mechanical engineering. The colleges and universities that top this list are recognized because their mechanical engineering program is one of the largest majors offered at the school.

See our ranking methodology to learn more.

One Size Does Not Fit All

Since picking the right college can be one of the most important decisions of your life, we’ve developed the “Schools for a Bachelor’s Highly Focused on ME Major in South Carolina” ranking, along with many other major-related rankings, to help you make that decision.

You can create your own custom comparison that focuses on the factors most important to you using our tool, College Combat. Test it out when you get a chance! You may also want to bookmark the link and share it with others who are trying to make the college decision.

Schools for a Bachelor’s Highly Focused on ME Major in South Carolina

The following schools top our list of the Best “Schools for a Bachelor’s Highly Focused on ME Major in South Carolina”.

Top 5 Most Focused Bachelor’s Degree Colleges for Mechanical Engineering in South Carolina

1

Citadel Military College of South Carolina
Charleston, South Carolina

#5 overall quality in South Carolina

$54,877 Average Early-Career Earnings

$22,348 Average Student Debt

You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around if you attend Citadel Military College of South Carolina. The school came in at #1 for the Schools for a Bachelor’s Highly Focused on ME Major in South Carolina. Citadel Military College of South Carolina is located in Charleston, South Carolina and, has a small student population. In 2020-2021, this school awarded 91 bachelors’s ME degrees to qualified students.

The low undergrad student loan default rate of 3.1% is a good sign that students have an easier time paying off their loans than they might at other schools. For comparison, the national default rate is 10.1%. Students who start out at the school are likely to stick around. The freshman retention rate is 87%.

Read full report on Mechanical Engineering at The Citadel

2

Clemson University
Clemson, South Carolina

#1 overall quality in South Carolina

$66,398 Average Early-Career Earnings

$22,899 Average Student Debt

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend Clemson University. It ranked #2 on our 2023 Schools for a Bachelor’s Highly Focused on ME Major in South Carolina list. Clemson is a large public school situated in Clemson, South Carolina. It awarded 288 bachelors’s ME degrees in 2020-2021.

The school has an impressive undergrad student loan default rate. It’s only 1.7%, which is much lower than the national rate of 10.1%. With a freshman retention rate of 94%, the school does an excellent job of retaining its undergraduate students.

Read more about Mechanical Engineering at Clemson

3

University of South Carolina - Columbia
Columbia, South Carolina

#2 overall quality in South Carolina

$64,632 Average Early-Career Earnings

$26,035 Average Student Debt

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend University of South Carolina - Columbia. It ranked #3 on our 2023 Schools for a Bachelor’s Highly Focused on ME Major in South Carolina list. Columbia, South Carolina is the setting for this large institution of higher learning. The public school handed out bachelors’s ME degrees to 207 students in 2020-2021.

With a freshman retention rate of 90%, the school does an excellent job of retaining its undergraduate students. The school has an impressive undergrad student loan default rate. It’s only 3.1%, which is much lower than the national rate of 10.1%.

Full University of South Carolina - Columbia Mechanical Engineering Report

4

Francis Marion University
Florence, South Carolina

#24 overall quality in South Carolina

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend Francis Marion University. It ranked #4 on our 2023 Schools for a Bachelor’s Highly Focused on ME Major in South Carolina list. Francis Marion University is a public institution located in Florence, South Carolina. The school has a small population, and it awarded 0 bachelors’s degrees in 2020-2021.

Read full report on Mechanical Engineering at Francis Marion University

4

University of South Carolina - Aiken
Aiken, South Carolina

#25 overall quality in South Carolina

You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around if you attend University of South Carolina - Aiken. The school came in at #4 for the Schools for a Bachelor’s Highly Focused on ME Major in South Carolina. University of South Carolina - Aiken is located in Aiken, South Carolina and, has a small student population. In 2020-2021, this school awarded 0 bachelors’s ME degrees to qualified students.

Read full report on Mechanical Engineering at UofSC Aiken

• Most Focused Bachelor’s Degree Colleges for Mechanical Engineering in the Southeast Region
• Most Focused Bachelor’s Degree Colleges for Mechanical Engineering

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

• *Avg Salary and Avg 4-Year Grad Rate 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 Michel Villeneuve.