2023 Most Popular Bachelor’s Degree Colleges for Mechanical Engineering in South Dakota

With all of the options students have for higher education today, it can be tough to choose which direction to take. One of our goals at College Factual is to give you as much information as we can - such as our “Most Well Attended ME Major in South Dakota for a Bachelor’s” ranking - to help you make that decision.

In 2020-2021, 46,178 people earned their degree in mechanical engineering, making the major the 21st most popular in the United States. 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 Dakota, there were 144 mechanical engineering graduates with average earnings and debt of $61,932 and $27,288 respectively. At the bachelor’s degree level specifically, there were 133 mechanical engineering graduates with average earnings and debt of $41,663 and $32,117 respectively.

For this year’s “Most Well Attended ME Major in South Dakota for a Bachelor’s” ranking, we looked at 2 colleges that offer a degree in mechanical engineering. The schools that top this list are recognized because they have one of the most popular mechanical engineering programs in the United States.

See our ranking methodology to learn more.

One Size Does Not Fit All

Since the program you select can have a significant impact on your future, we’ve developed a number of rankings, including this “Most Well Attended ME Major in South Dakota for a Bachelor’s” list, to help you choose the best school for you.

One of our other unique offerings is College Combat. This tool lets you build your own customized comparisons utilizing the factors that are most important to you. Go ahead and give it a try, or bookmark the link so you can check it out later.

Most Well Attended ME Major in South Dakota for a Bachelor’s

The following schools top our list of the Best “Most Well Attended ME Major in South Dakota for a Bachelor’s”.

Top 2 Most Popular Bachelor’s Degree Colleges for Mechanical Engineering in South Dakota

1

South Dakota State University
Brookings, South Dakota

#1 overall quality in South Dakota

$60,229 Average Early-Career Earnings

$26,750 Average Student Debt

Out of the 2 schools in the Most Well Attended ME Major in South Dakota for a Bachelor’s that were part of this year’s ranking, South Dakota State University landed the #1 spot on the list. South Dakota State University is a fairly large public school situated in Brookings, South Dakota. It awarded 69 bachelors’s ME degrees in 2020-2021.

The low undergrad student loan default rate of 2.7% 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%.

Full South Dakota State University Mechanical Engineering Report

2

South Dakota School of Mines and Technology
Rapid City, South Dakota

$63,634 Average Early-Career Earnings

$27,825 Average Student Debt

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend South Dakota School of Mines and Technology. It ranked #2 on our 2023 Most Well Attended ME Major in South Dakota for a Bachelor’s list. South Dakota School of Mines and Technology is located in Rapid City, South Dakota and, has a small student population. In 2020-2021, this school awarded 64 bachelors’s ME degrees to qualified students.

The undergrad student loan default rate at the school is 3.7%, which is quite low when compared to the national default rate of 10.1%.

Read more about Mechanical Engineering at South Dakota School of Mines and Technology

• Most Popular Bachelor’s Degree Colleges for Mechanical Engineering in the Plains States Region
• Most Popular 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.