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Most Popular Engineering Master's Degree Schools in California

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2023 Most Popular Engineering Master's Degree Schools in California

35 Colleges
$85,090 Avg Salary

Finding the Best Engineering Master's Degree School for You

In 2020-2021, engineering students earned 25,076 degrees and certificates from a California school, making the subject the 8th in the state.

It's not easy to decide which program to enroll in when you have so many options available. Along with traditional schools that require in-person attendence, you can attend one of many reputable online schools. Some programs even offer a hybrid experience. Alternatively, you may choose a trade school that prepares you to enter the workforce with knowledge in a specific field.

To help you arm yourself with the information you need to make your decision, Course Advisor has developed this Most Popular Engineering Master's Degree Schools in California ranking. This report analyzed 35 schools in California to see which ones were the most popular master's degree programs for students. To create this ranking we looked at how many students graduated from the Engineering program at each school on the list.

The colleges and universities below are the most popular for engineering majors pursuing a master's degree.

Our 2023 rankings named University of Southern California the most popular school in California for engineering students working on their master’s degree. Located in the large city of Los Angeles, USC is a private not-for-profit college with a fairly large student population.

About 29% of the students majoring in engineering at the school are women while 71% are male.

Full Engineering at University of Southern California Report

A rank of #2 on this year’s list means San Jose State University is a great place for engineering students working on their master’s degree. San Jose State is a fairly large public school located in the large city of San Jose.

Women make up 38% of the engineering majors at the school.

Read full report on Engineering at San Jose State University

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend University of California - San Diego. It ranked #3 on our 2023 Most Popular Engineering Master’s Degree Schools in California list. Located in the large city of La Jolla, UCSD is a public school with a very large student population.

Women make up 24% of the engineering majors at the school.

Read full report on Engineering at University of California - San Diego

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend University of California - Berkeley. It ranked #4 on our 2023 Most Popular Engineering Master’s Degree Schools in California list. UC Berkeley is a fairly large public school located in the midsize city of Berkeley.

Of the 645 students majoring in engineering at UC Berkeley, 63% are male and 37% are female.

Full Engineering at University of California - Berkeley Report

#5

Stanford University

Stanford, CA

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend Stanford University. It ranked #5 on our 2023 Most Popular Engineering Master’s Degree Schools in California list. Located in the large suburb of Stanford, Stanford is a private not-for-profit school with a fairly large student population.

Women make up 37% of the engineering majors at the school.

Read full report on Engineering at Stanford University

With a ranking of #6, University of California - Los Angeles did quite well on this year’s most popular schools for engineering students working on their master’s degree. UCLA is a very large public school located in the large city of Los Angeles.

Women make up 25% of the engineering majors at the school.

Read full report on Engineering at University of California - Los Angeles

With a ranking of #7, Naval Postgraduate School did quite well on this year’s most popular schools for engineering students working on their master’s degree. Located in the midsize suburb of Monterey, Naval Postgraduate School is a public college with a small student population.

About 19% of the students majoring in engineering at the school are women while 81% are male.

Read full report on Engineering at Naval Postgraduate School

University of California - Irvine landed the #8 spot in the 2023 rankings for the most popular master’s degree engineering programs. UC Irvine is a fairly large public school located in the large city of Irvine.

About 31% of the students majoring in engineering at the school are women while 69% are male.

Read full report on Engineering at University of California - Irvine

With a ranking of #9, University of California - Riverside did quite well on this year’s most popular schools for engineering students working on their master’s degree. UCR is a very large public school located in the large city of Riverside.

Of the 205 students majoring in engineering at UCR, 73% are male and 27% are female.

Read full report on Engineering at University of California - Riverside

#10

Santa Clara University

Santa Clara, CA

With a ranking of #10, Santa Clara University did quite well on this year’s most popular schools for engineering students working on their master’s degree. Located in the midsize city of Santa Clara, SCU is a private not-for-profit school with a medium-sized student population.

Women make up 36% of the engineering majors at the school.

Read More…

Best Engineering Colleges in the Far Western US Region

Explore all the Most Popular Engineering Colleges in the Far Western US Area or other specific states within that region.

State Degrees Awarded
Washington 3,545
Oregon 2,281
Hawaii 301
Nevada 900
Alaska 178

Engineering Majors to Study

Major Annual Graduates
Mechanical Engineering 46,178
Electrical Engineering 28,844
Civil Engineering 21,388
Computer Engineering 17,987
Chemical Engineering 12,917
Biomedical Engineering 12,811
General Engineering 11,796
Industrial Engineering 9,072
Aerospace & Aeronautical Engineering 8,001
Systems Engineering 3,904
Materials Engineering 3,415
Other Engineering 2,760
Environmental Engineering 2,759
Operations Research 1,698
Agricultural Engineering 1,472
Engineering Science 1,454
Electrical and Computer Engineering. 1,378
Petroleum Engineering 1,256
Robotics Engineering 1,243
Architectural Engineering 1,012
Engineering Physics 994
Manufacturing Engineering 947
Construction Engineering 878
Nuclear Engineering 864
Marine Engineering 445
Biological Engineering 410
Polymer & Plastics Engineering 360
Geoscience Engineering 325
Mining Engineering 314
Textile Engineering 310
Ocean Engineering 285
Engineering Mechanics 272
Metallurgical Engineering 179
Energy Systems Engineering 138
Biochemical Engineering 109
Ceramic Engineering 94
Surveying Engineering 73
Electromechanical Engineering 45
Forest Engineering 41
Paper Science & Engineering 27
Engineering Chemistry 13

Related Major Annual Graduates
Computer & Information Sciences 254,454
Biological & Biomedical Sciences 177,778
Engineering Technologies 85,188
Mathematics & Statistics 52,396
Physical Sciences 50,306

Notes and References

*These averages are for the top 25 schools only.

  • 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 Petty Officer 3rd Class Declan Barnes.

More about our data sources and methodologies.

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