2025 Best Mechanical Engineering Master's Degree Schools in California
Mechanical Engineering is of the hottest master's degree programs in the United States, coming in as the #29 most popular major in the country. So, there are lots of possibilities to explore when you're trying to determine where you want to get your degree.
College Factual reviewed 17 schools in California to determine which ones were the best for master's degree seekers in the field of mechanical engineering. Combined, these schools handed out 1,131 master's degrees in mechanical engineering to qualified students.
What's on this page: * Our Methodology
Choosing a Great Mechanical Engineering School for Your Master's Degree
Your choice of mechanical engineering for getting your master's degree school matters. This section explores some of the factors we include in our ranking and how much they vary depending on the school you select. Below we explain some of the most important factors to consider before making your choice:
Overall Quality Is a Must
The overall quality of a master's degree school is important to ensure a quality education, not just how well they do in a particular major. To take this into account we consider a school's overall Best Colleges for a Master's Degree ranking which itself looks at a combination of different factors like degree completion, educational resources, student body caliber and post-graduation earnings for the school as a whole.
Average Early-Career Salaries
Average early-career salary of those graduating with their master's degree is one indicator we use in our analysis to find the schools that offer the highest-quality education. After all, your master'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
The metrics below are just some of the other metrics that we use to determine our rankings.
- Major Focus - How much a school focuses on mechanical engineering students vs. other majors.
- Major Demand - The number of mechanical engineering students who choose to seek a master's degree at the school.
- Educational Resources - How many resources are allocated to students. These resources may include educational expenditures per student, number of students per instructor, and graduation rate among other things.
- Student Debt - How easy is it for mechanical engineering to pay back their student loans after receiving their master'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 master's degree.
More Ways to Rank Mechanical Engineering Schools
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 Master's Degree Schools in California list to help you make the college decision.
Best Schools for Master’s Students to Study Mechanical Engineering in California
Below you'll see a list of the best colleges and universities for pursuing a master's degree in mechanical engineering.
10 Top California Schools for a Master's in ME
It is hard to beat Stanford University if you wish to pursue a master's degree in mechanical engineering. Located in the suburb of Stanford, Stanford is a private not-for-profit university with a large student population.
Mechanical Engineering master's degree recipients from Stanford University earn a boost of about $19,108 over the typical income of mechanical engineering graduates.
More information about a master’s in mechanical engineering from Stanford University
University of Southern California is one of the finest schools in the country for getting a master's degree in mechanical engineering. Located in the large city of Los Angeles, USC is a private not-for-profit university with a fairly large student population.
Mechanical Engineering master's degree recipients from University of Southern California get an earnings boost of approximately $4,435 above the typical earnings of mechanical engineering majors.
More information about a master’s in mechanical engineering from University of Southern California
It's hard to beat University of California - Berkeley if you wish to pursue a master's degree in mechanical engineering. Located in the midsize city of Berkeley, UC Berkeley is a public university with a fairly large student population.More information about a master’s in mechanical engineering from University of California - Berkeley
University of California - Los Angeles is one of the finest schools in the United States for getting a master's degree in mechanical engineering. UCLA is a very large public university located in the large city of Los Angeles.
Master's recipients from the mechanical engineering major at University of California - Los Angeles make $6,592 above the standard college graduate in this field shortly after graduation.
More information about a master’s in mechanical engineering from University of California - Los Angeles
SCU is a moderately-sized private not-for-profit university located in the city of Santa Clara.
Mechanical Engineering master's degree recipients from Santa Clara University get an earnings boost of about $21,758 over the typical earnings of mechanical engineering majors.
More information about a master’s in mechanical engineering from Santa Clara University
