2025 Best Mechanical Engineering Schools in the Great Lakes Region
56Colleges in the Great Lakes Region
7,839ME Degrees Awarded
$76,023Avg Early-Career Salary
If you pursue a degree in mechanical engineering, you won't be alone. The field of study is the #21 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.
College Factual looked at 56 colleges and universities when compiling its 2025 Best Mechanical Engineering Schools in the Great Lakes Region ranking. When you put them all together, these colleges and universities awarded 7,839 degrees in mechanical engineering annually.
The me program you select can have a big impact on your future. That's why we developed our collection of Best Schools for Mechanical Engineering rankings. We derive our Best Overall Mechanical Engineering School rankings by rolling up our degree-level rankings after weighting them by the number of degrees awarded at each school.
You may want to choose one of the degree levels below to find the schools of most interest to you.
Since picking the right college can be one of the most important decisions of your life, we've developed the Best Mechanical Engineering Schools in the Great Lakes Region ranking, along with many other major-related rankings, to help you make that decision.
More interested in schools in a specific area of the country? Filter this list by region or state.
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 Mechanical Engineering in the Great Lakes Region
Although we recommend filtering by degree level first, you can view the list below to see which schools give the educational experience for the me degree levels they offer. Only those schools that rank in the top 20% of all the schools we analyze get awarded with a place on this list.
Every student who is interested in mechanical engineering has to look into University of Michigan - Ann Arbor. U-M is a very large public university located in the midsize city of Ann Arbor. A Best Colleges rank of #22 out of 2,152 schools nationwide means U-M is a great university overall.
There were approximately 461 mechanical engineering students who graduated with this degree at U-M in the most recent year we have data available. Degree recipients from the mechanical engineering degree program at University of Michigan - Ann Arbor earn $8,364 above the typical college graduate in this field shortly after graduation.
It's hard to beat Purdue University - Main Campus if you wish to pursue a degree in mechanical engineering. Purdue is a very large public university located in the small city of West Lafayette. A Best Colleges rank of #65 out of 2,152 colleges nationwide means Purdue is a great university overall.
There were roughly 648 mechanical engineering students who graduated with this degree at Purdue in the most recent year we have data available. Those mechanical engineering students who get their degree from Purdue University - Main Campus make $7,937 more than the typical me grad.
Every student pursuing a degree in mechanical engineering needs to take a look at University of Wisconsin - Madison. Located in the city of Madison, UW - Madison is a public university with a fairly large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #40 out of 2,152 schools nationwide means UW - Madison is a great university overall.
There were roughly 259 mechanical engineering students who graduated with this degree at UW - Madison in the most recent data year. Students who graduate with their degree from the me program state that they receive average early career earnings of $74,611.
University of Notre Dame is a good option for students pursuing a degree in mechanical engineering. Located in the suburb of Notre Dame, Notre Dame is a private not-for-profit university with a fairly large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #29 out of 2,152 schools nationwide means Notre Dame is a great university overall.
There were about 132 mechanical engineering students who graduated with this degree at Notre Dame in the most recent year we have data available. Mechanical Engineering degree recipients from University of Notre Dame earn a boost of approximately $8,976 over the typical income of mechanical engineering graduates.
Northwestern is a fairly large private not-for-profit university located in the city of Evanston. A Best Colleges rank of #5 out of 2,152 colleges nationwide means Northwestern is a great university overall.
There were approximately 125 mechanical engineering students who graduated with this degree at Northwestern in the most recent data year. After graduating, me degree recipients usually make an average of $77,020 in the first five years of their career.
Located in the city of Champaign, UIUC is a public university with a fairly large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #41 out of 2,152 schools nationwide means UIUC is a great university overall.
There were about 370 mechanical engineering students who graduated with this degree at UIUC in the most recent data year. Mechanical Engineering degree recipients from University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign get an earnings boost of approximately $7,677 above the typical earnings of mechanical engineering graduates.
Located in the small city of East Lansing, Michigan State is a public university with a fairly large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #54 out of 2,152 schools nationwide means Michigan State is a great university overall.
There were about 315 mechanical engineering students who graduated with this degree at Michigan State in the most recent data year. Mechanical Engineering degree recipients from Michigan State University receive an earnings boost of about $4,236 over the typical income of mechanical engineering majors.
Ohio State is a very large public university located in the large city of Columbus. A Best Colleges rank of #70 out of 2,152 colleges nationwide means Ohio State is a great university overall.
There were about 283 mechanical engineering students who graduated with this degree at Ohio State in the most recent year we have data available. Those mechanical engineering students who get their degree from Ohio State University - Main Campus earn $6,689 more than the average me graduate.
Case Western is a large private not-for-profit university located in the large city of Cleveland. A Best Colleges rank of #116 out of 2,152 schools nationwide means Case Western is a great university overall.
There were roughly 141 mechanical engineering students who graduated with this degree at Case Western in the most recent data year. Students who receive their degree from the me program make an average of $76,736 for their early career.
Located in the remote town of Houghton, Michigan Tech is a public university with a moderately-sized student population. This university ranks 3rd out of 56 colleges for overall quality in the state of Michigan.
There were approximately 378 mechanical engineering students who graduated with this degree at Michigan Tech in the most recent data year. Students who graduate with their degree from the me program report average early career earnings of $75,769.
Located in the small city of Terre Haute, Rose - Hulman Institute of Technology is a private not-for-profit school with a small student population.
There were approximately 120 mechanical engineering students who graduated with this degree at Rose - Hulman Institute of Technology in the most recent year we have data available. Degree recipients from the mechanical engineering major at Rose - Hulman Institute of Technology earn $2,709 more than the average college grad with the same degree when they enter the workforce.
These are some additional schools worth mentioning that are also great but just didn't quite make the cut to earn our top Best Mechanical Engineering Schools in the Great Lakes Region award.
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).
The me program you select can have a big impact on your future. That's why we developed our collection of Best Schools for Mechanical Engineering rankings. We derive our Best Overall Mechanical Engineering School rankings by rolling up our degree-level rankings after weighting them by the number of degrees awarded at each school.
