Ranked #17 in popularity, mechanical engineering is one of the most sought-after bachelor's degree programs in the nation. So, there are lots of possibilities to explore when you're trying to determine where you want to get your degree.
In 2023, College Factual analyzed 2 schools in order to identify the top ones for its Best Mechanical Engineering Bachelor's Degree Schools in South Dakota ranking. When you put them all together, these colleges and universities awarded 133 bachelor's degrees in mechanical engineering during the 2020-2021 academic year.
Average early-career salary of those graduating with their bachelor's degree is one indicator we use in our analysis to find the schools that offer the highest-quality education. After all, your bachelor'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 - 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 schools 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 South Dakota list to help you make the college decision.
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 Bachelor’s Students to Study Mechanical Engineering in South Dakota
Below you'll see a list of the best colleges and universities for pursuing a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering.
Any student who is interested in a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering has to look into South Dakota School of Mines and Technology. SD Mines is a small public school located in the small city of Rapid City.
Bachelor's students who receive their degree from the ME program make about $63,634 in the first couple years of working.
It's hard to beat South Dakota State University if you wish to pursue a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering. South Dakota State is a fairly large public university located in the remote town of Brookings.
Bachelor's graduates who receive their degree from the ME program earn an average of $60,229 for their early career.
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).