2025 Best Mechanical Engineering Doctor's Degree Schools in the Far Western US Region

Mechanical Engineering is of the hottest doctor's degree programs in the United States, coming in as the #17 most popular major in the country. This makes choosing the right school a hard decision.

College Factual looked at 10 colleges and universities when compiling its 2025 Best Mechanical Engineering Doctor's Degree Schools in the Far Western US Region ranking. When you put them all together, these colleges and universities awarded 276 doctor's degrees in mechanical engineering during the 2022-2023 academic year.

Jump to one of the following sections: * Our Methodology

• Best Doctor’s Degree Schools List

Choosing a Great Mechanical Engineering School for Your Doctor's Degree

The me doctor's degree program you select can have a big impact on your future. Important measures of a quality me program can vary widely even among the top schools. When choosing a school we recommend considering some of the following factors:

Quality Overall Is Important

The overall quality of a doctor's degree school is important to ensure a good education, not just how well they do in a particular major. To make it into this list a school must rank well in our overall Best Colleges for a Doctor's Degree ranking. This ranking considered factors such as graduation rates, overall graduate earnings and other educational resources to identify great colleges and universities.

Average Earnings

To determine the overall quality of a graduate school, one factor we look at is the average early-career salary of those receiving their doctor's degree from the school. After all, your doctor's degree won't mean much if it doesn't help you find a job that will help you earn a living.

Other Factors We Consider

In addition to the above, you should consider some of the following factors:

• Major Focus - How many resources a school devotes to mechanical engineering students as compared to other majors.
• Major Demand - The number of mechanical engineering students who choose to seek a doctor's degree at the school.
• Educational Resources - The amount of money and other resources allocated to students while they are pursuing their degree. These resources include such things as number of students per instructor and education expenditures per student.
• Student Debt - How easy is it for mechanical engineering to pay back their student loans after receiving their doctor's degree.
• Accreditation - Whether a school is regionally accredited and/or accredited by a recognized mechanical engineering related body.

Our full ranking methodology documents in more detail how we consider these factors to identify the best colleges for mechanical engineering students working on their doctor's degree.

One Size Does Not Fit All

The me school you choose to invest your time and money in matters. To help you make the decision that is right for you, we've developed a number of major-specific rankings, including this list of the Best Mechanical Engineering Doctor's Degree Schools in the Far Western US Region.

Best Schools for Doctorate Students to Study Mechanical Engineering in the Far Western US Region

Below you'll see a list of the best colleges and universities for pursuing a doctor's degree in mechanical engineering.

10 Top Far Western US Region Schools for a Doctorate in ME

1

Stanford University
Stanford, CA

42 Annual Graduates

$143,758 Median Starting Salary

Every student who is interested in a doctor's degree in mechanical engineering has to take a look at Stanford University. Stanford is a fairly large private not-for-profit university located in the large suburb of Stanford.

Students who graduate with their doctorate from the me program state that they receive average early career earnings of $143,758.

More information about a doctorate in mechanical engineering from Stanford University

2

University of California - Berkeley
Berkeley, CA

42 Annual Graduates

It's difficult to beat University of California - Berkeley if you wish to pursue a doctor's degree in mechanical engineering. UC Berkeley is a fairly large public university located in the medium-sized city of Berkeley.More information about a doctorate in mechanical engineering from University of California - Berkeley

3

University of California - Los Angeles
Los Angeles, CA

39 Annual Graduates

Any student who is interested in a doctor's degree in mechanical engineering has to check out University of California - Los Angeles. Located in the large city of Los Angeles, UCLA is a public university with a fairly large student population.More information about a doctorate in mechanical engineering from University of California - Los Angeles

4

University of California - Davis
Davis, CA

12 Annual Graduates

University of California - Davis is a wonderful option for individuals pursuing a doctor's degree in mechanical engineering. Located in the small suburb of Davis, UC Davis is a public university with a fairly large student population.More information about a doctorate in mechanical engineering from University of California - Davis

5

University of California - Irvine
Irvine, CA

19 Annual Graduates

UC Irvine is a very large public university located in the city of Irvine.More information about a doctorate in mechanical engineering from University of California - Irvine

6

University of California - San Diego
La Jolla, CA

16 Annual Graduates

UCSD is a fairly large public university located in the large city of La Jolla.More information about a doctorate in mechanical engineering from University of California - San Diego

7

University of Washington - Seattle Campus
Seattle, WA

26 Annual Graduates

Located in the city of Seattle, UW Seattle is a public university with a very large student population.More information about a doctorate in mechanical engineering from University of Washington - Seattle Campus

8

University of California - Riverside
Riverside, CA

11 Annual Graduates

Located in the large city of Riverside, UCR is a public university with a very large student population.More information about a doctorate in mechanical engineering from University of California - Riverside

9

University of California - Merced
Merced, CA

11 Annual Graduates

UC Merced is a moderately-sized public university located in the midsize suburb of Merced.More information about a doctorate in mechanical engineering from University of California - Merced

10

University of Nevada - Las Vegas
Las Vegas, NV

10 Annual Graduates

UNLV is a fairly large public university located in the city of Las Vegas.More information about a doctorate in mechanical engineering from University of Nevada - Las Vegas

Best Mechanical Engineering Colleges by State

Explore the best mechanical engineering schools for a specific state in the Far Western US Region .

State	Colleges	Degrees Awarded
California	180	217
Washington	122	28
Oregon	107	14
Nevada	84	6
Hawaii	53	3

View All Rankings >

Rankings in Majors Related to ME

Mechanical Engineering is one of 41 different types of Engineering programs to choose from.

ME Concentrations

Major	Annual Graduates
General Mechanical Engineering	276

Most Popular Majors Related to ME

Related Major	Annual Graduates
Electrical Engineering	409
Biomedical Engineering	230
Civil Engineering	193
Chemical Engineering	169
Materials Engineering	139
Aerospace & Aeronautical Engineering	51
Computer Engineering	51
Other Engineering	39
Agricultural Engineering	20
Industrial Engineering	19

Notes and References

• 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).
• Credit for the banner image above goes to Michel Villeneuve. More about our data sources and methodologies.