2025 Best General Mechanical Engineering Doctor's Degree Schools in California

General Mechanical Engineering is of the hottest doctor's degree programs in the United States, coming in as the #18 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.

In 2025, College Factual analyzed 8 schools in order to identify the top ones for its Best General Mechanical Engineering Doctor's Degree Schools in California ranking. When you put them all together, these colleges and universities awarded 219 doctor's degrees in general mechanical engineering during the 2022-2023 academic year.

Jump to one of the following sections: * Our Methodology

• Best Doctor’s Degree Schools List

Choosing a Great General Mechanical Engineering School for Your Doctor's Degree

Your choice of general mechanical engineering for getting your doctor's degree school matters. Important measures of a quality general mechanical engineering program can vary widely even among the top schools. Below we explain some of the most important factors to consider before making your choice:

Overall Quality Is a Must

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.

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 general mechanical engineering students as compared to other majors.
• Major Demand - The number of general mechanical 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.
• Accreditation - Whether a school is regionally accredited and/or accredited by a recognized general mechanical engineering related body.

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

One Size Does Not Fit All

Since picking the right college can be one of the most important decisions of your life, we've developed the Best General Mechanical 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 General Mechanical Engineering in California

Learn about the top ranked colleges and universities for general mechanical engineering students seeking a a doctor's degree.

Top California Schools for a Doctorate in General Mechanical Engineering

1

Stanford University
Stanford, CA

Doctor's Degree Highest Degree Type

42 Annual Graduates

It's difficult to beat Stanford University if you wish to pursue a doctor's degree in general mechanical engineering. Stanford is a large private not-for-profit university located in the suburb of Stanford.More information about a doctorate in general mechanical engineering from Stanford University

2

University of California - Berkeley
Berkeley, CA

Doctor's Degree Highest Degree Type

42 Annual Graduates

It is hard to beat University of California - Berkeley if you wish to pursue a doctor's degree in general mechanical engineering. UC Berkeley is a fairly large public university located in the midsize city of Berkeley.More information about a doctorate in general mechanical engineering from University of California - Berkeley

3

University of California - Los Angeles
Los Angeles, CA

Doctor's Degree Highest Degree Type

39 Annual Graduates

It is difficult to beat University of California - Los Angeles if you want to pursue a doctor's degree in general mechanical engineering. Located in the large city of Los Angeles, UCLA is a public university with a fairly large student population.More information about a doctorate in general mechanical engineering from University of California - Los Angeles

4

University of California - Davis
Davis, CA

Doctor's Degree Highest Degree Type

12 Annual Graduates

Every student pursuing a degree in a doctor's degree in general mechanical engineering needs to look into University of California - Davis. Located in the suburb of Davis, UC Davis is a public university with a very large student population.More information about a doctorate in general mechanical engineering from University of California - Davis

5

University of California - Irvine
Irvine, CA

Doctor's Degree Highest Degree Type

19 Annual Graduates

UC Irvine is a fairly large public university located in the large city of Irvine.More information about a doctorate in general mechanical engineering from University of California - Irvine

6

University of California - San Diego
La Jolla, CA

Doctor's Degree Highest Degree Type

16 Annual Graduates

UCSD is a fairly large public university located in the large city of La Jolla.More information about a doctorate in general mechanical engineering from University of California - San Diego

7

University of California - Riverside
Riverside, CA

Doctor's Degree Highest Degree Type

11 Annual Graduates

Located in the large city of Riverside, UCR is a public university with a fairly large student population.More information about a doctorate in general mechanical engineering from University of California - Riverside

8

University of California - Merced
Merced, CA

Doctor's Degree Highest Degree Type

11 Annual Graduates

UC Merced is a moderately-sized public university located in the suburb of Merced.More information about a doctorate in general mechanical engineering from University of California - Merced

Best General Mechanical Engineering Colleges in the Far Western US Region

Explore all the Best General Mechanical Engineering Colleges in the Far Western US Area or other specific states within that region.

State	Colleges	Degrees Awarded
Washington	216	28
Oregon	145	14
Nevada	111	6
Hawaii	65	3

View All Rankings >

General Mechanical Engineering Related Rankings by Major

General Mechanical Engineering is one of 0 different types of Mechanical Engineering programs to choose from.

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 Michel Villeneuve. More about our data sources and methodologies.