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Best Value Materials Engineering Master's Degree Schools in California

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2023 Best Value Materials Engineering Master's Degree Schools in California

Identifying Quality Schools at More Affordable Prices

10 Colleges
$20,916 Avg Tuition & Fees*
$79,677 Avg Salary

Finding the Best Materials Engineering Master's Degree School for You

Materials Engineering is the #67 most popular major in California with 308 degrees and certificates awarded in 2020-2021.

There are lots of options to pick from today when trying to decide which program is right for you. Along with traditional schools that require in-person attendence, you can attend one of many reputable online schools. Some programs even offer a hybrid experience. Alternatively, you may choose a trade school that prepares you to enter the workforce with knowledge in a specific field.

To assist you in seeing some of the education options that are available to you, Grad Degree Search has created its Best Value Materials Engineering Master's Degree Schools in California ranking. This report analyzed 10 schools in California to see which ones offered the best value master's degree programs for materials engineering students. The goal was to highlight schools with more affordable prices than others offering similar quality experiences.

When determining this ranking, we place a high emphasis on the school's quality as well as its sticker price. Even though a college may be affordable, it may not offer value. More specifically, we discount our quality score by the published tuition and fees charged by a school. This gives the cost per unit of quality for each college. The value is determined by how much quality your dollar buys.

Our calculations use out-of-state tuition and fees in our nationwide and regional rankings. Average in-state tuition and fees are used for our statewide rankings.

2023 Best Value Materials Engineering Master’s Degree Schools in California

The colleges and universities below are the best value schools for materials engineering majors pursuing a master's degree.

Top 10 Best Materials Engineering Master's Degree Schools

Our analysis found San Jose State University to be the best value school for materials engineering students who want to pursue a master’s degree in California. Located in the city of San Jose, San Jose State is a public college with a fairly large student population.

In-state tuition fees for graduate students at San Jose State are $9,286 per year.

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A rank of #2 on this year’s list means University of California - Los Angeles is a great value for materials engineering students working on their master’s degree. Located in the large city of Los Angeles, UCLA is a public college with a very large student population.

In-state tuition fees for graduate students at UCLA are $13,036 per year.

UCLA also made our Best Materials Engineering Master’s Degree Schools in California list, coming in at #4.

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You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around you if you attend University of California - San Diego. The school came in at #3 on this year’s Best Value Materials Engineering Master’s Degree Schools in California list. UCSD is a very large public school located in the city of La Jolla.

The average tuition and fees for an in-state graduate student at UCSD are $13,564 a year.

On top of its placing in our value ranking, UCSD also did well on our Best Materials Engineering Master’s Degree Schools in California list. It’s in the top 20% of all schools reviewed in this analysis.

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Out of the 10 schools in California that were part of this year’s ranking, California State University - Northridge landed the # 4 spot on the list. CSUN is a fairly large public school located in the city of Northridge.

CSUN graduate students pay an average of $8,477 in in-state tuition and fees each year.

Read full report on Materials Engineering at California State University - Northridge

You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around you if you attend University of California - Davis. The school came in at #5 on this year’s Best Value Materials Engineering Master’s Degree Schools in California list. Located in the small suburb of Davis, UC Davis is a public school with a very large student population.

The average tuition and fees for an in-state graduate student at UC Davis are $13,608 a year.

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With a ranking of #6, University of California - Irvine did quite well on this year’s best value schools for materials engineering students working on their master’s degree. Located in the large city of Irvine, UC Irvine is a public school with a very large student population.

UC Irvine graduate students pay an average of $13,356 in in-state tuition and fees each year.

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California State University - Los Angeles came in at #7 in this year’s edition of the Best Value Materials Engineering Master’s Degree Schools in California ranking. Cal State LA is a fairly large public school located in the city of Los Angeles.

Cal State LA graduate students pay an average of $8,219 in in-state tuition and fees each year.

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#8

Stanford University

Stanford, CA

Stanford University came in at #8 in this year’s edition of the Best Value Materials Engineering Master’s Degree Schools in California ranking. Stanford is a fairly large private not-for-profit school located in the suburb of Stanford.

Stanford graduate students pay an average of $55,011 in in-state tuition and fees each year.

In addition to its best value ranking, and one of the reasons why the school is on the list, Stanford is ranked #1 for overall quality for materials engineering in California.

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University of California - Merced landed the #9 spot in the 2023 rankings for the best value master’s degree materials engineering programs. UC Merced is a medium-sized public school located in the rural area of Merced.

In-state tuition fees for graduate students at UC Merced are $13,207 per year.

Read full report on Materials Engineering at University of California - Merced

With a ranking of #10, University of Southern California did quite well on this year’s best value schools for materials engineering students working on their master’s degree. USC is a very large private not-for-profit school located in the city of Los Angeles.

The average tuition and fees for an in-state graduate student at USC are $61,396 a year.

USC also made our Best Materials Engineering Master’s Degree Schools in California list, coming in at #5.

Full Materials Engineering at University of Southern California Report

Best Value Materials Engineering Colleges in the Far Western US Region

Explore all the Best Value Materials Engineering Schools in the Far Western US Area or other specific states within that region.

State Degrees Awarded
Washington 59
Oregon 14
Nevada 2

One of 39 majors within the area of study, materials engineering has other similar majors worth exploring.

Related Major Annual Graduates
Electrical Engineering 11,021
Mechanical Engineering 9,007
Civil Engineering 6,042
Computer Engineering 5,557
Biomedical Engineering 4,252

Notes and References

*These averages are for the top 10 schools only.

  • 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).
  • Credit for the banner image above goes to Panoramedia.

More about our data sources and methodologies.

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