OverviewSalary and DebtIs a Bachelor's EnoughCareersSchoolsRelated ProgramsGenderRace/Origin
Overview
Mechanical engineering is a program that prepares individuals to apply mathematical and scientific principles to the design, development and operational evaluation of physical systems used in manufacturing and end-product systems used for specific uses, including machine tools, jigs and other manufacturing equipment; stationary power units and appliances; engines; self-propelled vehicles; housings and containers; hydraulic and electric systems for controlling movement; and the integration of computers and remote control with operating systems.
Highlights
School with the highest reported median starting salary ($85K) with a Bachelor's Degree: California State University Maritime Academy
Career with the highest median salary ($127K) where most workers have a Bachelor's Degree: Architectural and Engineering Managers
Explore Pathways
Careers for program graduates
Mechanical engineering majors work in these careers, which are sized by percentage of majors in the career (at least 1%) and colored by the predominant level of education.
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Current completions
What level of degree do most graduates achieve, and do they match what your goals?
Completions over time
Have completions for mechanical engineering changed over time? Increasing completions may mean you'll likely have an easier time finding a school that offers this degree, with the opposite being true as well.
Show percentages
Number of graduates
Research Doctorate
Professional Degree
Post-master's Cert
Master's Degree
Postbaccalaureate Cert
Bachelor's Degree
Associate's Degree
1-2 Year Certificate
0-1 Year Certificate
Salary and Debt
How are students who recently completed a degree in mechanical engineering doing?
Below is the distribution of starting salaries along with accumulated federal and private education loans across schools that offer the degree.
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Context: median salaries
How does the median (middle) salary for mechanical engineering majors compare to the median salaries for other college majors?
Distribution: mechanical engineering majors' salaries by education level
What is the salary distribution for graduates with a bachelor's inmechanical engineering by the level of their highest degree (Graduate degrees may not be in the same field as the bachelor’s)
We only include salary data when the survey error is less than 20%, so you may see only partial information for some categories.
Is a bachelor's degree all you need?
Education level of workers with a bachelor's in mechanical engineering
Is a bachelor's degree going to be sufficient to make you competative in the job market? We can look at the education level of workers with a bachelors in this degree to see if there is a likely need for a graduate degree. You'll also want to check out the careers section on this page to where they are employed.
This chart shows the level of education of workers with a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering. The worker's graduate degree may have been completed in a different field.
Education level of workers
Bachelor's Degree
Master's Degree
Professional Degree
Doctorate
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Context: Graduate degrees in any field by undergraduate ACS degree
About 39% of mechanical engineering majors chose to also earn a graduate degree (possibly of a different major). The percentage of mechanical engineering majors who also earned a graduate degree is higher than about 68% of other fields.
Context: Percentage salary boost obtained with a graduate degree
How important is a graduate degree for earning a higher salary? We can see the difference in salary of workers with a bachelors in this degree to workers with a bachelor’s AND a graduate degree.
Careers
Top careers for those with a degree in mechanical engineering
Following are the most frequent jobs held by people who earned a bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering, though may not be limited to just those with a bachelor’s.
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Careers for mechanical engineering majors
Where do mechanical engineering majors work, and how well do those jobs pay? A ** in the job title indicates that the Department of Education recommends this job for this program.
Career
Select any column header to sort by that column, and select any row to explore that career.
Not so much?
The top ten careers for workers with a bachelor's in mechanical engineering
Take a minute to interact with this sankey diagram. Follow the top ten jobs held by mechanical engineering graduates through to their most hired majors. Learn where it may easiest to find work. Expand the careers to explore other majors that might lead to the job that excites you the most. *For many majors, the top ten jobs don't even include half of graduates!*
Expand careers
What careers hire mechanical engineering majors as one of their top 10?
To the left of this diagram, see all careers that hire mechanical engineering majors as one of their top 10 majors, and on the right, see what proportion of openings for the jobs on the left are filled by mechanical engineering majors.
Where can I complete this degree
Explore schools that offer mechanical engineering degrees and certificates
You can use this table to find schools that offer this program based on location and program level offered. Each entry goes to a school page similar to this one with all our information about that school.
Understanding the columns
The school list includes a few facts about each school that give you an idea of the educational quality each school might offer:
Student-Faculty Ratio: A small number of students per full-time instructor suggests individual attention for each student and an up-to-date curriculum.
Satisfaction Rate: A high percentage of returning first-year students should correlate with satisfaction (schools call this their retention rate).
Repayment Rate: A high repayment rate means most alumni earn enough to make progress repaying loans within 7 years of leaving.
We also show the total enrollment for the school as measured by full-time-equivalent (FTE) students enrolled annually.
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Offering this program at this level
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of
Only schools in these states
378 schools offer this award at any level in the selected area.
School
State
Total enrollment
Student to Full-time Faculty Ratio
Average Net Price
Repayment Rate
6-year Completion Rate
Related Programs
Top 10 similar programs
Following are related programs, ordered by those with the highest number of completions. You can explore a full list by pressing the more details button.
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Careers for mechanical engineering majors
mechanical engineering is part of a larger collection of programs: Engineering. Is there a different program that's close to mechanical engineering that might be a better match for your interests? You can use this table to see a little about the programs that fall under this umbrella. If you click on any of the table headers, that will sort the table by that column, or click on a row and see Ididio's profile for that program.
Gender
Gender of recent graduates
Of all people with any degree in mechanical engineering earned in the last academic year, 16% were women.
Gender
Men
Women
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Completions over time
Have completions by gender changed over time, or at specific levels of education?
Award level
All levels
Women
Men
Context: Gender representation
How does the gender distribution in this major compare to all other majors?
Context: Percentage women
This major has a lower percentage of women than 83% other programs.
Distribution: salaries by gender
Does gender greatly influence your salary with this degree? The closer the bar are, the less discrepancy there is.
Context: Salary inequity
For mechanical engineering graduates, men have a 12% higher median salary than women, This is better than many: 81% of programs have graduates with higher salary inequities.
Race/Origin
Race/Origin of recent graduates
Here is an overview of race/origin for all mechanical engineering graduates from this last academic year. We found a higher percentage of international graduates in this program than in 85% of other programs.
Race/Origin
White
Black
Pacific Islander
Hispanic
Asian
American Indian
Multiracial
Not Reported
International
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Completions over time
Have completions by race/origin changed over time, or at specific levels of education?
Award level
All levels
International
Not Reported
Multiracial
American Indian
Asian
Hispanic
Pacific Islander
Black
White
Context: Percentage of Minority Graduates
Minority students comprise a lower percentage of graduates than in 50% of other programs.
