2025 Best Mechanical Engineering Doctor's Degree Schools in North Carolina

If you pursue a doctor's degree in mechanical engineering, you won't be alone. The field of study is the #17 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 2 schools in North Carolina to determine which ones were the best for mechanical engineering students pursuing a doctor's degree. When you put them all together, these colleges and universities awarded 50 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

Average Early-Career Salaries

Average early-career salary of those graduating with their doctor's degree is one indicator we use in our analysis to find the schools that offer the highest-quality education. That is, everyone wants their doctor's degree to be worth something, and salaries are one measure of determining that.

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 schools for mechanical engineering students working on their doctor's degree.

One Size Does Not Fit All

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 Doctor's Degree Schools in North Carolina list to help you make the college decision.

Best Schools for Doctorate Students to Study Mechanical Engineering in North Carolina

Learn about the top ranked colleges and universities for mechanical engineering students seeking a a doctor's degree.

Top North Carolina Schools for a Doctorate in ME

1

Duke University
Durham, NC

13 Annual Graduates

Every student who is interested in a doctor's degree in mechanical engineering needs to look into Duke University. Located in the large city of Durham, Duke is a private not-for-profit university with a fairly large student population.More information about a doctorate in mechanical engineering from Duke University

2

North Carolina State University
Raleigh, NC

22 Annual Graduates

North Carolina State University is one of the best schools in the country for getting a doctor's degree in mechanical engineering. NC State is a very large public university located in the large city of Raleigh.More information about a doctorate in mechanical engineering from North Carolina State University

Best Mechanical Engineering Colleges in the Southeast Region

Explore all the Best Mechanical Engineering Colleges in the Southeast Area or other specific states within that region.

State	Colleges	Degrees Awarded
Florida	138	82
Virginia	127	31
Georgia	126	61
Mississippi	113	0
Louisiana	103	6
Tennessee	102	22
Alabama	98	24
South Carolina	91	27
Kentucky	87	12

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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	50

Most Popular Related Majors

Related Major	Annual Graduates
Electrical Engineering	97
Biomedical Engineering	64
Civil Engineering	48
Textile Engineering	28
Nuclear Engineering	20
Chemical Engineering	18
Other Engineering	16
Industrial Engineering	14
Agricultural Engineering	11
Materials Engineering	10

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.