2025 Best Mechanical Engineering Doctor's Degree Schools in Tennessee

Ranked #17 in popularity, mechanical engineering is one of the most sought-after doctor's degree programs in the nation. This means there are lots of options to choose from when you decide to get your degree.

For its 2025 ranking, College Factual looked at 2 schools in Tennessee to determine which ones were the best for mechanical engineering students pursuing a doctor's degree. When you put them all together, these colleges and universities awarded 33 doctor's degrees in mechanical engineering during the 2022-2023 academic year.

Jump to one of the following sections: * Our Methodology

• Best Doctor’s Degree Schools List

Early-Career Earnings

One measure we use to determine the quality of a school is to look at the average salary of doctorate graduates during the early years of their career. This is because one of the main reasons people pursue their doctor's degree is to enable themselves to find better-paying positions.

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 - The number of 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.
• Student Debt - How easy is it for mechanical 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 mechanical engineering related body.

Our complete ranking methodology documents in more detail how we consider these factors to identify the best colleges for 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 Mechanical Engineering Doctor's Degree Schools in Tennessee ranking, along with many other major-related rankings, to help you make that decision.

Best Schools for Doctorate Students to Study Mechanical Engineering in Tennessee

The following list ranks the best colleges and universities for pursuing a doctor's degree in mechanical engineering.

Top Tennessee Schools for a Doctorate in ME

1

Vanderbilt University
Nashville, TN

17 Annual Graduates

Vanderbilt University is a good decision for individuals pursuing a doctor's degree in mechanical engineering. Vanderbilt is a fairly large private not-for-profit university located in the large city of Nashville.More information about a doctorate in mechanical engineering from Vanderbilt University

2

The University of Tennessee - Knoxville
Knoxville, TN

16 Annual Graduates

The University of Tennessee - Knoxville is a great decision for students pursuing a doctor's degree in mechanical engineering. Located in the medium-sized city of Knoxville, UT Knoxville is a public university with a fairly large student population.More information about a doctorate in mechanical engineering from The University of Tennessee - Knoxville

Best Mechanical Engineering Colleges in the Southeast Region

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

State	Colleges	Degrees Awarded
Florida	138	82
Virginia	127	31
Georgia	126	61
North Carolina	115	55
Mississippi	113	0
Louisiana	103	6
Alabama	98	24
South Carolina	91	27
Kentucky	87	12

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Rankings in Majors Related to ME

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

ME Concentrations

Major	Annual Graduates
General Mechanical Engineering	33

Majors Similar to ME

Related Major	Annual Graduates
Electrical Engineering	37
General Engineering	34
Biomedical Engineering	24
Civil Engineering	21
Nuclear Engineering	16
Industrial Engineering	13
Chemical Engineering	12
Materials Engineering	10
Computer Engineering	6
Other Engineering	6

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.