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 2025, College Factual analyzed 56 schools in order to identify the top ones for its Best Mechanical Engineering Bachelor's Degree Schools in the Great Lakes Region ranking. Combined, these schools handed out 5,763 bachelor's degrees in mechanical engineering to qualified students.
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Choosing a Great Mechanical Engineering School for Your Bachelor's Degree
The me bachelor's degree program you select can have a big impact on your future. Important measures of a quality me 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
A school that excels in educating for a particular major and degree level must be a great school overall as well. To make it into this list a school must rank well in our overall Best Colleges ranking. This ranking considered factors such as graduation rates, overall graduate earnings and other educational resources to identify great colleges and universities.
Average Early-Career Salaries
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 the Great Lakes Region 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.
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ADBLOCK #171
Best Schools for Bachelor’s Students to Study Mechanical Engineering in the Great Lakes Region
Below you'll see a list of the best colleges and universities for pursuing a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering. Only those schools that rank in the top 20% of all the schools we analyze get awarded with a place on this list.
11 Top Great Lakes Region Schools for a Bachelor's in ME
University of Michigan - Ann Arbor is a wonderful choice for students pursuing a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering. U-M is a fairly large public university located in the city of Ann Arbor.
Bachelor's recipients from the mechanical engineering major at University of Michigan - Ann Arbor get $10,525 above the typical graduate in this field when they enter the workforce.
Any student pursuing a degree in a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering has to look into Purdue University - Main Campus. Purdue is a very large public university located in the city of West Lafayette.
Bachelor's recipients from the mechanical engineering major at Purdue University - Main Campus get $8,076 more than the standard graduate in this field shortly after graduation.
University of Wisconsin - Madison is one of the finest schools in the United States for getting a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering. Located in the large city of Madison, UW - Madison is a public university with a fairly large student population.
Mechanical Engineering bachelor's degree recipients from University of Wisconsin - Madison receive an earnings boost of approximately $2,313 above the average income of mechanical engineering graduates.
University of Notre Dame is one of the best schools in the United States for getting a bachelor's 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.
Mechanical Engineering bachelor's degree recipients from University of Notre Dame earn a boost of around $12,701 above the typical earnings of mechanical engineering majors.
Located in the city of Champaign, UIUC is a public university with a very large student population.
Bachelor's recipients from the mechanical engineering program at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign earn $7,889 above the average college graduate in this field when they enter the workforce.
Located in the small city of East Lansing, Michigan State is a public university with a very large student population.
Mechanical Engineering bachelor's degree recipients from Michigan State University get an earnings boost of about $7,961 above the average income of mechanical engineering graduates.
Ohio State is a very large public university located in the city of Columbus.
Mechanical Engineering bachelor's degree recipients from Ohio State University - Main Campus receive an earnings boost of approximately $7,061 above the typical earnings of mechanical engineering graduates.
Located in the remote town of Houghton, Michigan Tech is a public university with a medium-sized student population.
Mechanical Engineering bachelor's degree recipients from Michigan Technological University earn a boost of around $2,624 over the typical income of mechanical engineering graduates.
Located in the city of Terre Haute, Rose - Hulman Institute of Technology is a private not-for-profit school with a small student population.
Bachelor's recipients from the mechanical engineering degree program at Rose - Hulman Institute of Technology earn $6,434 above the typical graduate in this field shortly after graduation.
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Additional Noteworthy Schools
Here are some additional great schools for Mechanical Engineering students in the Great Lakes Region that almost earned our Best Mechanical Engineering Bachelor's Degree 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).