2025 Best Mechanical Engineering Schools in Virginia
7Colleges in Virginia
828ME Degrees Awarded
$76,023Avg Early-Career Salary
If you pursue a degree in mechanical engineering, you won't be alone. The field of study is the #21 most popular program in the country. So, there are lots of possibilities to explore when you're trying to determine where you want to get your degree.
For its 2025 ranking, College Factual looked at 7 schools in Virginia to determine which ones were the best for mechanical engineering students pursuing a degree. Combined, these schools handed out 828 degrees in mechanical engineering to qualified students.
Your choice of mechanical engineering school matters, so we have put together these rankings to help you make your decision. We derive our Best Overall Mechanical Engineering School rankings by rolling up our degree-level rankings after weighting them by the number of degrees awarded at each school.
In order to find the schools that are the best fit for you, you may want to filter to one of the degree levels below.
When choosing the right school for you, it's important to arm yourself with all the facts you can. To that end, we've created a number of major-specific rankings, including this Best Mechanical Engineering Schools in Virginia list to help you make the college decision.
More interested in schools in a specific area of the country? Filter this list by region or state.
To further help you make the college decision, we've developed a unique tool called College Combat that allows you to compare schools based on the factors that matter the most to you.
Go ahead and give it a try, or bookmark the link so you can check it out later.
Best Schools for Mechanical Engineering in Virginia
Although we recommend filtering by degree level first, you can view the list below to see which schools give the educational experience for the me degree levels they offer.
Virginia Tech is one of the best schools in the United States for getting a degree in mechanical engineering. Virginia Tech is a fairly large public school located in the small city of Blacksburg. A Best Colleges rank of #58 out of 2,152 schools nationwide means Virginia Tech is a great school overall.
There were roughly 379 mechanical engineering students who graduated with this degree at Virginia Tech in the most recent data year. Those mechanical engineering students who get their degree from Virginia Tech earn $2,725 more than the typical me graduate.
University of Virginia - Main Campus is a great decision for students interested in a degree in mechanical engineering. University of Virginia is a very large public university located in the medium-sized suburb of Charlottesville. A Best Colleges rank of #35 out of 2,152 schools nationwide means University of Virginia is a great university overall.
There were about 88 mechanical engineering students who graduated with this degree at University of Virginia in the most recent data year. Graduates who receive their degree from the me program make about $74,366 in the first couple years of their career.
Virginia Commonwealth University is a wonderful choice for students interested in a degree in mechanical engineering. VCU is a fairly large public university located in the medium-sized city of Richmond. This university ranks 8th out of 57 schools for overall quality in the state of Virginia.
There were roughly 86 mechanical engineering students who graduated with this degree at VCU in the most recent data year. Graduates who receive their degree from the me program earn around $73,355 in their early career salary.
Any student pursuing a degree in mechanical engineering has to check out George Mason University. Located in the suburb of Fairfax, GMU is a public university with a fairly large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #92 out of 2,152 schools nationwide means GMU is a great university overall.
There were approximately 75 mechanical engineering students who graduated with this degree at GMU in the most recent data year. Graduates who receive their degree from the me program earn around $73,570 for their early career.
Old Dominion is a very large public university located in the medium-sized city of Norfolk. This university ranks 16th out of 57 schools for overall quality in the state of Virginia.
There were approximately 114 mechanical engineering students who graduated with this degree at Old Dominion in the most recent data year. Students who graduate with their degree from the me program report average early career income of $71,774.
VMI is a small public school located in the town of Lexington. This school ranks 23rd out of 57 schools for overall quality in the state of Virginia.
There were roughly 30 mechanical engineering students who graduated with this degree at VMI in the most recent year we have data available. Students who receive their degree from the me program make an average of $47,837 in their early career salary.
Liberty University is a very large private not-for-profit university located in the city of Lynchburg. This university ranks 11th out of 57 schools for overall quality in the state of Virginia.
There were approximately 56 mechanical engineering students who graduated with this degree at Liberty University in the most recent data year. After graduation, me degree recipients usually earn around $65,794 at the beginning of their careers.
The bars on the spread charts above show the distribution of the schools on this list +/- one standard deviation from the mean.
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).
Your choice of mechanical engineering school matters, so we have put together these rankings to help you make your decision. We derive our Best Overall Mechanical Engineering School rankings by rolling up our degree-level rankings after weighting them by the number of degrees awarded at each school.
