2022 Best Value Doctor’s Degree Colleges for Petroleum Engineering in California

Students have lots of options to chooose from today when trying to decide which college to attend. One of our goals at College Factual is to give you as much information as we can - such as our “Best Value Petroleum Engineering Schools for a Doctorate in California” ranking - to help you make that decision.

Petroleum Engineering is the 180th most popular major in the country with 1,582 degrees awarded in 2019-2020. In 2017-2018, petroleum engineering graduates who were awarded their degree in 2015-2017, earned an average of $66,730 and had an average of $24,667 in loans still to pay off.

Across California, there were 51 petroleum engineering graduates with average earnings and debt of $72,200 and $0 respectively. At the doctor’s degree level specifically, there were 8 petroleum engineering graduates with average earnings and debt of $71,544 and $133,402 respectively.

This year’s “Best Value Petroleum Engineering Schools for a Doctorate in California” ranking looked at 2 colleges that offer degrees in a bachelor’s in petroleum engineering. This ranking identifies schools with high-quality petroleum engineering programs that also have a lower cost than schools of similar quality.

When determining these rankings, we looked at things such as overall quality of the petroleum engineering program at the school and the cost to attend the school once aid has been awarded. For more information, check out our ranking methodology.

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 “Best Value Petroleum Engineering Schools for a Doctorate in California” list, to help you choose the best school for you.

We’ve created a tool called College Combat that lets you create your own customized comparisons based on the factors that matter the most to you. When you have some time, check it out - you may want to bookmark the link so you don’t forget it.

Best Value Petroleum Engineering Schools for a Doctorate in California

The following schools top our list of the Best Best Value Petroleum Engineering Schools for a Doctorate in California.

Top 2 Best Value Doctor’s Degree Colleges for Petroleum Engineering in California

#1

University of Southern California

Los Angeles, California

#2 in overall quality

$48,715 Avg Grad Tuition & Fees

Out of the 2 schools in the Best Value Petroleum Engineering Schools for a Doctorate in California that were part of this year’s ranking, University of Southern California landed the #1 spot on the list. Located in Los Angeles, California, this large private not-for-profit school handed out 4 diplomas to qualified doctorate’s petroleum engineering students in 2019-2020.

USC also made our “Best Petroleum Engineering Doctor’s Degree Schools in California” list, coming in at #2. Although you might pay more or less depending on your area of study, average graduate tuition and fees at University of Southern California are $48,715.

Full USC Petroleum Engineering Report

#2

Stanford University

Stanford, California

#1 in overall quality

$55,011 Avg Grad Tuition & Fees

You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around if you attend Stanford University. The school came in at #2 for the Best Value Petroleum Engineering Schools for a Doctorate in California. Stanford, California is the setting for this fairly large institution of higher learning. The private not-for-profit school handed out doctorate’s petroleum engineering degrees to 4 students in 2019-2020.

Stanford not only placed well in this ranking. It is also #1 on our “Best Petroleum Engineering Doctor’s Degree Schools in California” list. Average graduate tuition and fees at Stanford are $55,011, but some majors have different tuition rates.

Full Stanford University Petroleum Engineering Report

• Best Value Doctor’s Degree Colleges for Petroleum Engineering in the Far Western US Region
• Best Value Doctor’s Degree Colleges for Petroleum 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

• *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.

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