2025 Best Electrical Engineering Doctor's Degree Schools in California

Electrical Engineering is of the hottest doctor's degree programs in the United States, coming in as the #13 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 looked at 9 colleges and universities when compiling its 2025 Best Electrical Engineering Doctor's Degree Schools in California ranking. Combined, these schools handed out 350 doctor's degrees in electrical engineering to qualified students.

What's on this page: * Our Methodology

• Best Doctor’s Degree Schools List

Choosing a Great Electrical Engineering School for Your Doctor's Degree

Your choice of electrical engineering for getting your doctor'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

A school that excels in educating for a particular major and degree level must be a great school overall as well. To account for this we consider a school's overall Best Colleges for a Doctor'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 doctor's degree is one indicator we use in our analysis to find the schools that offer the highest-quality education. That is, everyone wants their doctor's degree to be worth something, and salaries are one measure of determining that.

Other Factors We Consider

The metrics below are just some of the other metrics that we use to determine our rankings.

• Major Focus - How many resources a school devotes to electrical engineering students as compared to other majors.
• Major Demand - How many other electrical engineering students want to attend this school to pursue a doctor's degree.
• 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 electrical engineering to pay back their student loans after receiving their doctor's degree.
• Accreditation - Whether a school is regionally accredited and/or accredited by a recognized electrical engineering related body.

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

More Ways to Rank Electrical Engineering Schools

Since picking the right college can be one of the most important decisions of your life, we've developed the Best Electrical Engineering Doctor's Degree Schools in California ranking, along with many other major-related rankings, to help you make that decision.

Best Schools for Doctorate Students to Study Electrical Engineering in California

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

Top California Schools for a Doctorate in EE

1

Stanford University
Stanford, CA

72 Annual Graduates

Any student who is interested in a doctor's degree in electrical engineering needs to check out Stanford University. Located in the suburb of Stanford, Stanford is a private not-for-profit university with a large student population.More information about a doctorate in electrical engineering from Stanford University

2

University of California - Berkeley
Berkeley, CA

48 Annual Graduates

Every student pursuing a degree in a doctor's degree in electrical engineering needs to take a look at University of California - Berkeley. Located in the medium-sized city of Berkeley, UC Berkeley is a public university with a fairly large student population.More information about a doctorate in electrical engineering from University of California - Berkeley

3

University of Southern California
Los Angeles, CA

45 Annual Graduates

It is hard to beat University of Southern California if you wish to pursue a doctor's degree in electrical engineering. Located in the large city of Los Angeles, USC is a private not-for-profit university with a very large student population.More information about a doctorate in electrical engineering from University of Southern California

4

University of California - Los Angeles
Los Angeles, CA

37 Annual Graduates

Any student pursuing a degree in a doctor's degree in electrical engineering has to check out University of California - Los Angeles. UCLA is a fairly large public university located in the city of Los Angeles.More information about a doctorate in electrical engineering from University of California - Los Angeles

5

University of California - San Diego
La Jolla, CA

29 Annual Graduates

Located in the city of La Jolla, UCSD is a public university with a fairly large student population.More information about a doctorate in electrical engineering from University of California - San Diego

6

University of California - Davis
Davis, CA

27 Annual Graduates

UC Davis is a very large public university located in the small suburb of Davis.More information about a doctorate in electrical engineering from University of California - Davis

7

University of California - Santa Barbara
Santa Barbara, CA

33 Annual Graduates

UCSB is a very large public university located in the midsize suburb of Santa Barbara.More information about a doctorate in electrical engineering from University of California - Santa Barbara

8

University of California - Irvine
Irvine, CA

17 Annual Graduates

Located in the large city of Irvine, UC Irvine is a public university with a very large student population.More information about a doctorate in electrical engineering from University of California - Irvine

9

University of California - Riverside
Riverside, CA

27 Annual Graduates

UCR is a very large public university located in the city of Riverside.More information about a doctorate in electrical engineering from University of California - Riverside

Best Electrical Engineering Colleges in the Far Western US Region

Explore all the Best Electrical Engineering Schools in the Far Western US Area or other specific states within that region.

State	Colleges	Degrees Awarded
Washington	122	38
Oregon	107	16
Nevada	84	10
Hawaii	53	1

View All Rankings >

Rankings in Majors Related to EE

Electrical Engineering is one of 41 different types of Engineering programs to choose from.

EE Focus Areas

Major	Annual Graduates
Electrical Engineering	343
Other Electrical Engineering	7

Majors Similar to EE

Related Major	Annual Graduates
Mechanical Engineering	219
Biomedical Engineering	193
Chemical Engineering	138
Civil Engineering	135
Materials Engineering	105
Computer Engineering	50
Aerospace & Aeronautical Engineering	43
Other Engineering	39
Systems Engineering	16
Environmental Engineering	13

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 NASA. More about our data sources and methodologies.