2025 Best Engineering Doctor's Degree Schools in Virginia

a doctor's degree in engineering is more popular than many other degrees. In fact, it ranks #4 out of 36 on popularity of all such degrees in the nation. This means you won't have too much trouble finding schools that offer the degree.

College Factual reviewed 4 schools in Virginia to determine which ones were the best for doctor's degree seekers in the field of engineering. Combined, these schools handed out 426 doctor's degrees in engineering to qualified students.

Jump to one of the following sections: * Our Methodology

• Best Doctor’s Degree Schools List

Choosing a Great Engineering School for Your Doctor's Degree

The engineering doctor's degree program you select can have a big impact on your future. This section explores some of the factors we include in our ranking and how much they vary depending on the school you select. When choosing a school we recommend considering some of the following factors:

Quality Overall Is Important

The overall quality of a doctor's degree school is important to ensure a quality education, not just how well they do in a particular major. To make it into this list a school must rank well in our overall Best Colleges for a Doctor's Degree ranking. This ranking considered factors such as graduation rates, overall graduate earnings and other educational resources to identify great colleges and universities.

Average Earnings

To determine the overall quality of a graduate school, one factor we look at is the average early-career salary of those receiving their doctor's degree from the school. After all, your doctor'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 much a school focuses on engineering students vs. other majors.
• Major Demand - The number of 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 much debt engineering students go into to obtain their doctor'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 engineering related body.

Our full ranking methodology documents in more detail how we consider these factors to identify the best colleges for engineering students working on their doctor's degree.

One Size Does Not Fit All

The engineering school you choose to invest your time and money in matters. To help you make the decision that is right for you, we've developed a number of major-specific rankings, including this list of the Best Engineering Doctor's Degree Schools in Virginia.

Best Schools for Doctorate Students to Study Engineering in Virginia

Below you'll see a list of the best colleges and universities for pursuing a doctor's degree in engineering.

Top Virginia Schools for a Doctorate in Engineering

1

Virginia Tech
Blacksburg, VA

Doctor's Degree Highest Degree Type

209 Annual Graduates

It is difficult to beat Virginia Tech if you want to pursue a doctor's degree in engineering. Located in the small city of Blacksburg, Virginia Tech is a public school with a very large student population.More information about a doctorate in engineering from Virginia Tech

2

University of Virginia - Main Campus
Charlottesville, VA

Doctor's Degree Highest Degree Type

116 Annual Graduates

It's difficult to beat University of Virginia - Main Campus if you want to pursue a doctor's degree in engineering. Located in the suburb of Charlottesville, University of Virginia is a public university with a very large student population.More information about a doctorate in engineering from University of Virginia - Main Campus

3

George Mason University
Fairfax, VA

Doctor's Degree Highest Degree Type

36 Annual Graduates

It is difficult to beat George Mason University if you want to pursue a doctor's degree in engineering. GMU is a very large public university located in the suburb of Fairfax.More information about a doctorate in engineering from George Mason University

4

Old Dominion University
Norfolk, VA

Doctor's Degree Highest Degree Type

33 Annual Graduates

Old Dominion University is one of the finest schools in the country for getting a doctor's degree in engineering. Located in the medium-sized city of Norfolk, Old Dominion is a public university with a very large student population.More information about a doctorate in engineering from Old Dominion University

Best Engineering Colleges in the Southeast Region

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

State	Colleges	Degrees Awarded
Florida	29	499
Georgia	28	416
Mississippi	28	59
South Carolina	28	131
North Carolina	26	381
Kentucky	26	64
Alabama	25	133
Tennessee	25	186
Louisiana	25	102
Arkansas	23	56
West Virginia	20	41

View All Rankings >

Engineering Majors to Study

Major	Annual Graduates
Electrical Engineering	68
Civil Engineering	65
Biomedical Engineering	45
General Engineering	42
Other Engineering	30
Systems Engineering	28
Mechanical Engineering	26
Aerospace & Aeronautical Engineering	24
Chemical Engineering	24
Computer Engineering	19

Majors Similar to Engineering

Related Major	Annual Graduates
Biological & Biomedical Sciences	175
Agriculture & Agriculture Operations	155
Physical Sciences	130
Mathematics & Statistics	34
Natural Resources & Conservation	33
Architecture & Related Services	13
Engineering Technologies	3

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 Petty Officer 3rd Class Declan Barnes. More about our data sources and methodologies.