Have you ever wanted to build your own robot or maybe even build an aeroplane or a ship? Well, that’s just a small handful of things you could get to work on as a mechanical engineer. But before you get to sink your teeth into the fun stuff, you’ll need a degree. So to help you on your journey, we’ve put together a list of the 15 best schools for mechanical engineering programs.
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Location: Boston, Massachusetts, USA
Degrees offered: Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering (BSME), Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering (MSME), Doctorate Degree
Tuition fees: An undergraduate degree costs around $50,000-$60,000, while a master's degree costs around $25,000 - $30,000
Unsurprisingly, MIT tops the list as consistently being one of the best schools for mechanical engineering. MIT’s mechanical engineering department is one of the most advanced and best-developed in the world. The program is dedicated to using finding ways to improve and help many different fields, such as health, security, energy and sustainability. One of their recent projects involves using machine learning to try and enhance the growth of seaweed in the oceans.
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Stanford University
Location: Stanford, California, USA
Degrees offered: Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering (BSME), Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering (MSME), Doctorate Degree
Tuition fees: An undergraduate degree costs around $50,000-$55,000, while a master's degree costs around $18,000 - $24,000
If Gabriella Montez could get into Stanford after spending her senior year in theatre practice, you sure can too! Stanford University has one of the best schools for mechanical engineering, boasting one of the highest employment rates in the country, with 100% of their graduates reporting that they have found jobs less than a year after graduating. Stanford’s Department of Mechanical Engineering is focused in 4 main fields: human health, design, computational engineering and sustainability.
Johns Hopkins University
Location: Baltimore, Maryland, USA
Degrees offered: Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering (BSME), Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering (MSME), Doctorate Degree
Tuition fees: An undergraduate degree costs around $45,000-$50,000, while a master's degree costs around $60,000 - $65,000
If you want to join the fight against cancer, without a medical degree, JHU is the place for you. Primarily known for its medical programs, JHU is also home to one of the best schools for mechanical engineering. Current graduate students at JHU are working with NASA on the Artemis program that aims to send humans to the moon for the first time since 1972.
Duke University
Location: Durham, North Carolina, USA
Degrees offered: Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering (BSME), Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering (MSME), Doctorate Degree
Tuition fees: An undergraduate degree costs around $50,000-$65,000, while a master's degree costs around $30,000 - $40,000.
Want to take a swing at making Harry Potter’s invisibility cloak? Back in 2012, some magic-obsessed pioneers tried to replicate the cloak using a combination of metamaterials and copper strings to completely hide an object from sight. All this and more awaits you if you choose to study at one of the best schools for mechanical engineering at Duke University.
University of Pennsylvania
Location: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
Degrees offered: Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering (BSME), Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering (MSME), Doctorate Degree
Tuition fees: An undergraduate degree costs around $50,000-$55,000, while a master's degree costs around $8,000 - $34,000.
UPenn’s department of Mechanical Engineering and Applied Mechanics is one of the best schools for mechanical engineering in the country. If you want to get involved in the latest developments in AI robots, UPenn is the place for you. Their most research project involves developing VR gloves that can better combine strength and softness so the user can better experience the feeling of being in a different environment.
University of Michigan
Location: Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA
Degrees offered: BSME, MSME, Sequential Undergraduate/Graduate Studies (SUGS), Joint Institute – Sequential Undergraduate/Graduate Study (JI-SUGS), Doctorate Degree
Tuition fees: An undergraduate degree costs around $33,000-$74,000, while a master's degree costs around $14,000 - $28,000.
The University of Michigan is home to one of the best schools for mechanical engineering. Currently, a lot of the university’s research is geared towards finding ways to improve the speed and quality of 3D printing to not only save time, but to also promote the better use of resources. The university’s PhD programs are also fully funded and their graduate and undergraduate programs are known for being very hands-on.
Cornell University
Location: Ithaca, New York, USA
Degrees offered: Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering (BSME), Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering (MSME), Doctorate Degree
Tuition fees: An undergraduate degree costs around $60,000-$62,000, while a master's degree costs around $29,000 - $32,000.
A soft robot with Wolverine’s ability to self-heal - that’s what engineers at Cornell’s Sibley School of Mechanical Engineering are working on. With this scale of innovation, it's safe to say that Cornell is home to one of the best schools for mechanical engineering. The school is always pushing barriers as far as they can go and finding new ways to help improve our quality of life.
University of Notre Dame
Location: St. Joseph County, Indiana, USA
Degrees offered: Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering (BSME), Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering (MSME), Doctorate Degree
Tuition fees: An undergraduate degree costs around $55,000-$60,000, while a master's degree costs around $30,000 - $32,000.
Building prosthetics, harvesting thermoelectric energy and using nanotech to promote stem cell growth - those are just a few of the things that the geniuses at the Notre Dame school for aerospace and mechanical engineering are working on. Undoubtedly one of the best schools for mechanical engineering in the world, going to Notre Dame would be a dream come true for many.
Northwestern University
Location: Evanston, Illinois, USA
Degrees offered: Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering (BSME), Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering (MSME), Doctorate Degree
Tuition fees: An undergraduate degree costs around $60,000-$62,000, while a master's degree costs around $20,000 - $25,000.
Northwestern University’s McCormick school is not only known for having one of the best schools for mechanical engineering, but it is also famous for its flexible curriculum. Students have the opportunity to create their own plan of study for their time at the university so they can spend time learning what interests them. Researchers at the university are currently working on building high-performance robots with a strong focus on haptics.
Carnegie Mellon University
Location: Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA
Degrees offered: Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering (BSME), Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering (MSME), Doctorate Degree
Tuition fees: An undergraduate degree costs around $60,000-$70,000, while a master's degree costs around $50,000 - $55,000.
Have you ever considered the possibility of using turmeric root in microneedles to help fight a plethora of skin diseases and promote cell growth? Well, if you did, then Carnegie Mellon’s engineering school is certainly the place for you. The university is home to one of best schools for mechanical engineering and is constantly pushing the boundaries of medicine, energy, robotics and AI.

Columbia University
Location: New York City, New York, USA
Degrees offered: Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering (BSME), Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering (MSME), Doctorate Degree
Tuition fees: An undergraduate degree costs around $60,000-$65,000, while a master's degree costs around $50,000 - $55,000.
Columbia has one of the best schools for mechanical engineering and is dedicated to finding practical solutions to help improve the quality of life by making advancements in the fields of health and safety. Columbia’s department of mechanical engineering is currently at the forefront of developing revolutionary AI technology by discovering the fundamentals of AI - a necessary step in any new scientific discovery.
Washington University
Location: St. Louis, Missouri, USA
Degrees offered: Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering (BSME), Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering (MSME), Doctorate Degree
Tuition fees: An undergraduate degree costs around $55,000-$60,000, while a master's degree costs around $35,000 - $45,000.
Washington university is home to one of the best schools for mechanical engineering and together with partners in the fields of biomedical engineering, energy, environmental, chemical, chemistry, physics, biology, and medicine, faculty members and students work on interdisciplinary projects. The university is currently conducting research to help the search for climate friendly energy sources.
Rice University
Location: Houston, Texas, USA
Degrees offered: Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering (BSME), Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering (MSME), Doctorate Degree
Tuition fees: An undergraduate degree costs around $50,000-$55,000, while a master's degree costs around $35,000 - $40,000.
Rice University is home to one of the best schools for mechanical engineering in the country and has an extremely sought after program. The university is known for having a diverse faculty that are at the forefront of innovation and invention. In 2022 alone, 6 of their faculty members received the NSF Career awards, proving that they are the best in their fields.
University of Florida
Location: Gainesville, Florida, USA
Degrees offered: Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering (BSME), Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering (MSME), Doctorate Degree
Tuition fees: An undergraduate degree costs around $28,000-$35,000, while a master's degree costs around $18,000 - $32,000.
The university’s Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering (MAE )is one of the best schools for mechanical engineering in the country and is also the campus's largest academic programme. The department conducts research for some of the most prestigious institutions in the country like NASA, the Department of Defense, National Science Foundation and the National Institutes of Health.
University of California Los Angeles
Location: Los Angeles, California, USA
Degrees offered: Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering (BSME), Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering (MSME), Doctorate Degree
Tuition fees: An undergraduate degree costs around $40,000-$50,000, while a master's degree costs around $30,000 - $45,000.
UCLA is home to one of the best schools for mechanical engineering in the country and is incredibly sought after by students from all across the globe, not only because its one of the top mechanical engineering programs, but also because of the extremely sought after west-coast weather. Their department of mechanical and aerospace engineering is perhaps best known for its biomechatronics lab that is at the centre of innovation in the field of robotics.
That was the list of some of the best schools for mechanical engineering in 2023. We’ve tried our best to outline everything you need to know about each school’s programs and some of the highlights of their research. We hope you’ve found this blog helpful and wish you all the best on your journey.