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Best Value Mechanical Engineering Doctor's Degree Schools in California

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2023 Best Value Mechanical Engineering Doctor's Degree Schools in California

Highlighting Quality Schools With More Affordable Pricing

11 Colleges
$22,439 Avg Tuition & Fees*
$103,564 Avg Salary

Finding the Best Mechanical Engineering Doctor's Degree School for You

With 1,202 degrees and certificates handed out in 2020-2021, mechanical engineering is the #23 most popular major in California.

Today's students have lots of options to pick from when considering higher education opportunities. With more and more schools offering online options, you could even register for a great program on the other side of the country. On top of that, there are a considerable number of trade schools that offer fast-track entry to many fields.

The Best Value Mechanical Engineering Doctor's Degree Schools in California ranking is one of many tools that Grad Degree Search has developed to help you make your educational decision. Our analysis looked at 11 schools in California to see which doctor's degree programs offered the best value experiences for ME students with the aim of identifying those quality schools that are more affordable than some of their counterparts.

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. Specifically, our score for quality is discounted by the published tuition and fees charged by the given college. This gives the cost per unit of quality for each college. The more quality your dollar buys, the better the value.

Our calculations use out-of-state tuition and fees in our nationwide and regional rankings. For statewide rankings, we use average in-state tuition and fees.

2023 Best Value Mechanical Engineering Doctor’s Degree Schools in California

Check out the ME doctor's degree programs at these schools if you want to get the best value for your educational dollar.

Top 10 Best Mechanical Engineering Doctor's Degree Schools

Our 2023 rankings named University of California - Berkeley the best value school in California for mechanical engineering students working on their doctor’s degree. UC Berkeley is a very large public school located in the city of Berkeley.

The average tuition and fees for an in-state graduate student at UC Berkeley are $14,160 a year.

In addition to its best value ranking, and one of the reasons why the school is on the list, UC Berkeley is ranked #3 for overall quality for ME in California.

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You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around you if you attend University of California - Los Angeles. The school came in at #2 on this year’s Best Value Mechanical Engineering Doctor’s Degree Schools in California list. UCLA is a fairly large public school located in the large city of Los Angeles.

The average tuition and fees for an in-state graduate student at UCLA are $13,036 a year.

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

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The excellent doctor’s degree programs at University of California - Santa Barbara helped the school earn the #3 place on this year’s ranking of the best value mechanical engineering schools in California. UCSB is a fairly large public school located in the suburb of Santa Barbara.

In-state tuition fees for graduate students at UCSB are $13,581 per year.

Read full report on Mechanical Engineering at University of California - Santa Barbara

The excellent doctor’s degree programs at University of California - Davis helped the school earn the #4 place on this year’s ranking of the best value mechanical engineering schools in California. UC Davis is a fairly large public school located in the small suburb of Davis.

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

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The excellent doctor’s degree programs at University of California - San Diego helped the school earn the #5 place on this year’s ranking of the best value mechanical engineering schools in California. Located in the large city of La Jolla, UCSD is a public school with a very large student population.

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

Read full report on Mechanical Engineering at University of California - San Diego

University of California - Irvine came in at #6 in this year’s edition of the Best Value Mechanical Engineering Doctor’s Degree Schools in California ranking. UC Irvine is a fairly large public school located in the large city of Irvine.

In-state tuition fees for graduate students at UC Irvine are $13,356 per year.

Read full report on Mechanical Engineering at University of California - Irvine

#7

Santa Clara University

Santa Clara, CA

Santa Clara University came in at #7 in this year’s edition of the Best Value Mechanical Engineering Doctor’s Degree Schools in California ranking. Located in the midsize city of Santa Clara, SCU is a private not-for-profit college with a moderately-sized student population.

SCU graduate students pay an average of $25,170 in in-state tuition and fees each year.

Read full report on Mechanical Engineering at Santa Clara University

University of California - Riverside did quite well in this year’s ranking of the best places for mechanical engineering students to get a doctor’s degree. It came in at #8 on the list. UCR is a very large public school located in the city of Riverside.

The average tuition and fees for an in-state graduate student at UCR are $13,467 a year.

Read full report on Mechanical Engineering at University of California - Riverside

University of California - Merced ranked #9 on this year’s Best Value Mechanical Engineering Doctor’s Degree Schools in California list. Located in the rural area of Merced, UC Merced is a public school with a medium-sized student population.

UC Merced graduate students pay an average of $13,207 in in-state tuition and fees each year.

Full Mechanical Engineering at University of California - Merced Report

#10

Stanford University

Stanford, CA

Stanford University did quite well in this year’s ranking of the best places for mechanical engineering students to get a doctor’s degree. It came in at #10 on the list. Located in the large suburb of Stanford, Stanford is a private not-for-profit college with a large student population.

The average tuition and fees for an in-state graduate student at Stanford are $55,011 a year.

Stanford not only placed well in our value ranking, but it is also #1 on our Best Mechanical Engineering Doctor’s Degree Schools in California list.

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Best Value Mechanical Engineering Colleges in the Far Western US Region

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

State Degrees Awarded
Washington 196
Oregon 86
Nevada 20
Hawaii 15
Alaska 7

Mechanical Engineering is one of 39 different types of programs to choose from.

Majors Similar to ME

Related Major Annual Graduates
Electrical Engineering 11,021
Civil Engineering 6,042
Computer Engineering 5,557
Biomedical Engineering 4,252
General Engineering 3,548

Notes and References

*These averages are for the top 11 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 Michel Villeneuve.

More about our data sources and methodologies.

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