Engineering colleges in California, ranked by graduates
37 colleges in California awarded at least 10 bachelor's degrees in engineering in 2023: 13,198 degrees, 7.8% of all bachelor's degrees at those colleges (6.8% across every college CollegeCalcAI tracks). University of California, Berkeley graduated the most (1,180, 12.8% of its class). 25 of the 37 are public universities. The median acceptance rate among them is 74%; the most selective is California Institute of Technology at 3%.
Engineering colleges in California
Every California college awarding at least 10 bachelor's degrees in engineering, ranked by 2023 graduates. Click a college for its engineering page.
| # | College | Type | Degrees (2023) | Share of grads | Acceptance rate | SAT 75th |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | University of California, Berkeley | Public | 1,180 | 12.8% | 11% | 1530 |
| 2 | Cal Poly San Luis Obispo | Public | 1,060 | 21.3% | 31% | 1420 |
| 3 | UC San Diego | Public | 1,033 | 11.6% | 27% | 1490 |
| 4 | Cal Poly Pomona | Public | 1,033 | 17.6% | 75% | 1300 |
| 5 | UC Irvine | Public | 842 | 10.2% | 29% | 1420 |
| 6 | San Jose State University | Public | 788 | 12.5% | 85% | 1220 |
| 7 | Cal State Long Beach | Public | 770 | 8.8% | 46% | 1280 |
| 8 | UCLA | Public | 753 | 7.9% | 9% | 1510 |
| 9 | UC Davis | Public | 700 | 8.6% | 42% | 1380 |
| 10 | San Diego State University | Public | 635 | 7.4% | 36% | 1340 |
| 11 | University of Southern California | Private | 446 | 7.7% | 10% | 1530 |
| 12 | Sacramento State University | Public | 433 | 5.7% | 94% | 1170 |
| 13 | UC Riverside | Public | 390 | 7.2% | 76% | 1300 |
| 14 | Cal State Northridge | Public | 379 | 4.6% | 93% | 1150 |
| 15 | Cal State Fullerton | Public | 310 | 3.3% | 91% | 1230 |
| 16 | Stanford University | Private | 305 | 16.7% | 4% | 1570 |
| 17 | UC Santa Barbara | Public | 270 | 4.2% | 33% | 1430 |
| 18 | Cal State Los Angeles | Public | 236 | 4.4% | 91% | 1150 |
| 19 | UC Santa Cruz | Public | 207 | 4.4% | 66% | 1180 |
| 20 | San Francisco State University | Public | 201 | 4% | 96% | 1180 |
| 21 | Santa Clara University | Private | 200 | 15% | 48% | 1430 |
| 22 | Cal State Chico | Public | 166 | 5.1% | 93% | 1170 |
| 23 | Fresno State University | Public | 162 | 3.1% | 95% | 1160 |
| 24 | California Baptist University | Private | 132 | 7% | 85% | 1170 |
| 25 | University of San Diego | Private | 107 | 8.3% | 52% | 1360 |
| 26 | California Institute of Technology | Private | 73 | 31.1% | 3% | 1580 |
| 27 | Loyola Marymount University | Private | 67 | 4% | 45% | 1370 |
| 28 | University of the Pacific | Private | 63 | 8% | 71% | 1300 |
| 29 | Cal State San Marcos | Public | 59 | 1.8% | 95% | 1190 |
| 30 | Cal Maritime Academy | Public | 43 | 19.2% | 95% | 1100 |
| 31 | Cal State East Bay | Public | 40 | 1.2% | 97% | 1080 |
| 32 | Cal State San Bernardino | Public | 40 | 0.9% | 94% | 1090 |
| 33 | Cal Poly Humboldt | Public | 20 | 1.5% | 98% | 1150 |
| 34 | Biola University | Private | 17 | 2.2% | 74% | 1260 |
| 35 | Chapman University | Private | 17 | 0.9% | 65% | 1380 |
| 36 | Westmont College | Private | 11 | 3.4% | 77% | 1150 |
| 37 | Point Loma Nazarene University | Private | 10 | 1.3% | 84% | 1290 |
Questions about engineering colleges in California
What is the best college for engineering in California?
By bachelor's degrees awarded in 2023, the largest engineering programs in California are University of California, Berkeley (1,180), Cal Poly San Luis Obispo (1,060), UC San Diego (1,033). "Best" depends on your profile: this page ranks every California college in the field by output and shows each one's acceptance rate and admitted SAT so you can match it to your own numbers.
How many colleges in California offer engineering?
37 four-year colleges in California awarded 10 or more bachelor's degrees in engineering in 2023, 25 public and 12 private, for 13,198 graduates in total.
Is in-state status an advantage for engineering in California?
At the 25 public universities on this list, California residents are usually admitted at a higher rate than out-of-state applicants and pay in-state tuition. CollegeCalcAI applies the residency effect when you set your home state, and the per-major adjustment when you set the major.
Engineering elsewhere
The same field in other states, and the national ranking.
Source: U.S. Department of Education, IPEDS 2023 Completions (bachelor's degrees, first majors, CIP 2-digit series), joined to CollegeCalcAI's admissions dataset. Built 2026-09-19. Estimates from CollegeCalcAI are not predictions or guarantees.