Mechanical Engineering is of the hottest bachelor's degree programs in the United States, coming in as the #17 most popular major in the country. This means there are lots of options to choose from when you decide to get your degree.
College Factual looked at 34 colleges and universities when compiling its 2023 Best Mechanical Engineering Bachelor's Degree Schools in the Southwest Region ranking. Combined, these schools handed out 4,367 bachelor's degrees in mechanical engineering to qualified students.
Choosing a Great Mechanical Engineering School for Your Bachelor's Degree
Your choice of mechanical engineering for getting your bachelor'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. To make it into this list, a school must excel in the following areas.
A Great Overall School
A school that excels in educating for a particular major and degree level must be a great school overall as well. To make it into this list a school must rank well in our overall Best Colleges ranking. This ranking considered factors such as graduation rates, overall graduate earnings and other educational resources to identify great colleges and universities.
Early-Career Earnings
One measure we use to determine the quality of a school is to look at the average salary of bachelor's graduates during the early years of their career. That is, everyone wants their bachelor'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 - How many other mechanical engineering students want to attend this school to pursue a bachelor's degree.
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 much debt mechanical engineering students go into to obtain their bachelor's degree and how well they are able to pay back that debt.
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 bachelor's degree.
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 Bachelor's Degree Schools in the Southwest Region list to help you make the college decision.
In addition to our rankings, you can take two colleges and compare them based on the criteria that matters most to you in our unique tool, College Combat.
Test it out when you get a chance! You may also want to bookmark the link and share it with others who are trying to make the college decision.
Best Schools for Bachelor’s Students to Study Mechanical Engineering in the Southwest Region
Learn about the top ranked colleges and universities for mechanical engineering students seeking a a bachelor's degree.
10 Top Southwest Region Schools for a Bachelor's in ME
Rice University is a great choice for students pursuing a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering. Rice is a medium-sized private not-for-profit university located in the large city of Houston.
Bachelor's recipients from the mechanical engineering degree program at Rice University make $6,704 more than the typical college grad in this field when they enter the workforce.
The University of Texas at Austin is a great choice for individuals interested in a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering. Located in the large city of Austin, UT Austin is a public university with a fairly large student population.
Bachelor's recipients from the mechanical engineering major at The University of Texas at Austin get $9,526 more than the standard college graduate with the same degree when they enter the workforce.
It is hard to beat Texas A&M University - College Station if you wish to pursue a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering. Located in the midsize city of College Station, Texas A&M College Station is a public university with a very large student population.
Bachelor's recipients from the mechanical engineering degree program at Texas A&M University - College Station get $7,324 more than the average college grad in this field shortly after graduation.
Any student pursuing a degree in a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering needs to take a look at Southern Methodist University. Located in the suburb of Dallas, SMU is a private not-for-profit university with a large student population.
Those mechanical engineering students who get their bachelor's degree from Southern Methodist University earn $4,710 more than the typical ME student.
Texas Tech is a fairly large public university located in the city of Lubbock.
Bachelor's recipients from the mechanical engineering degree program at Texas Tech University earn $6,913 more than the average college grad in this field when they enter the workforce.
ASU - Tempe is a very large public university located in the city of Tempe.
Bachelor's recipients from the mechanical engineering major at Arizona State University - Tempe get $2,481 above the standard college grad with the same degree when they enter the workforce.
Located in the large city of Houston, UH is a public university with a very large student population.
Mechanical Engineering bachelor's degree recipients from University of Houston receive an earnings boost of approximately $4,326 above the average earnings of mechanical engineering graduates.
University of Tulsa is a small private not-for-profit university located in the city of Tulsa.
Bachelor's recipients from the mechanical engineering program at University of Tulsa make $2,301 more than the standard graduate in this field when they enter the workforce.
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).