Best General Engineering Degree Programs in California in 2026
General engineering degrees in California range from a tightly connected engineering core to a substantial individual concentration. Harvey Mudd emphasizes engineering science, systems and design. USD connects its broad BS/BA with concentrations in areas such as sustainability and engineering with AI. San José State and Santa Clara offer different ways to build an advised interdisciplinary plan.
These reviews preserve the actual degree names and structures. Integrated and Interdisciplinary Engineering can be complete bachelor’s degrees, while an engineering-entry label by itself does not establish the final award. Read each required course sequence alongside the optional concentrations and projects.
How we ranked general engineering bachelor’s programs in California
This selection reviews completed broad Engineering, Integrated Engineering and Interdisciplinary Engineering bachelor’s degrees at four California institutions. Official curriculum, admissions and cost sources support the assessments, and program-specific accreditation information is kept separate from the standing of other degrees at the same school.
Harvey Mudd leads for its connected science, systems and design curriculum and three-semester Clinic. USD follows for its integrated technical and liberal education with a defined capstone. San José State adds a structured combination of technical depth and a separate breadth area. Santa Clara offers substantial concentration flexibility, with its distinct accreditation status important to the choice. The order is an editorial assessment of these reviewed programs.
Institution-wide full-time tuition for one academic year. The $401 student body fee, housing, food and other expenses are additional; new students also pay a $250 fall orientation fee. The college provides a net price calculator for an individual need-based aid estimate.
Harvey Mudd’s broad engineering identity runs through the required curriculum and into substantial professional practice. Engineering science, systems, and design form three connected parts of the major. You study topics ranging from materials and thermal processes to electronics, then use a shared systems framework to analyze problems across those boundaries. The design sequence starts with nonprofit clients in the first year and concludes with three semesters of Engineering Clinic. That repeated progression from analysis to experiments to an external project is central to the program’s approach.
Where it stands out
This is a strong fit if you enjoy several branches of engineering and want a coherent technical foundation before choosing advanced electives. The required Clinic sequence gives you a sustained setting in which to contribute to a team, test ideas and explain engineering decisions.
What to weigh
The broad core occupies substantial space in your schedule, with three required upper division technical electives providing the main additional specialization. Plan early: Engineering 4 and 79 should be completed before the fourth semester, and many electives run in alternate years.
University-wide tuition for full-time enrollment of 12–18 units per semester. Fees, housing, food and other expenses are separate. Compare the complete nine-semester engineering plan with the annual tuition figure, and review current billing rules for additional credits or summer study.
USD’s Integrated Engineering program awards a BS/BA in Engineering through a nine-semester curriculum connecting technical breadth with liberal education. Required courses cover energy, electrical systems, materials, statics and sustainability. Experimental Engineering develops measurement and instrumentation skills before the two-course senior design sequence. Students can choose a defined concentration or build an individual plan with faculty approval. The 2026–27 curriculum includes Engineering with Artificial Intelligence alongside biomedical, sustainability and engineering-and-law directions, giving the broad core several different applications.
Where it stands out
This program is worth considering if the social setting of engineering decisions matters to you alongside technical analysis. User-centered design and Engineering and Social Justice are required parts of the degree. An individual plan of study can also connect subjects that would otherwise sit in different majors.
What to weigh
Build the budget around the nine-semester plan rather than four annual tuition payments. Entry year also changes concentration choices: Embedded Software is no longer offered under the 2026–27 catalog. Students pursuing Engineering and the Law need approval for law-school classes, which follow a different academic calendar.
Attendance:Integrated BS/BA dual degree awarded by USD.
The shared core includes energy, electrical engineering, materials, statics, sustainability and engineering’s social effects.
Students select a concentration or an individually approved plan of study.
The 2026–27 concentration choices include Engineering with Artificial Intelligence, Biomedical, Sustainability, Engineering and the Law, and an Individual Plan of Study.
Areas of focus
Engineering with Artificial Intelligence
Biomedical Engineering
Sustainability
Engineering and the Law
Individual Plan of Study
Admission & progression
First-year applicants submit the Common Application, official high school transcript, essay and USD member questions, and an academic recommendation.
To follow the standard engineering sequence, incoming students should be prepared for calculus, English composition and the third semester of a second language.
Transfer students are advised initially by the professional engineering adviser, associate dean or program chair before receiving a permanent faculty adviser.
Design & practical experience
Experimental Engineering covers measurement, instrumentation and student-designed experiments.
Engineering Senior Design I and II form the required capstone sequence.
First-year study includes both electromechanical system design and user-centered design.
$3,419 · Fall undergraduate base tuition for more than six units
Cost basis & conditions +
This is base tuition for the 6.1-or-more-unit band, before mandatory campus fees. The published tuition-and-mandatory-fee total is $4,776.50 for the fall term. Non-California residents add $471 per unit. Course charges and living expenses are separate; the tuition band does not define full-time financial-aid eligibility.
San José State’s Interdisciplinary Engineering B.S. combines a technical depth area with a separate area of breadth or a minor. The required upper-division courses already cross several boundaries: renewable energy, engineering statistics, intellectual property, programming and mechatronics all appear in the plan. Senior Design Project I and II give the degree a required project sequence, supported by engineering writing and ethics. An adviser approves the elective choices through a Major Course Proposal, so the individualized element has a documented structure rather than an unrestricted set of courses.
Where it stands out
Consider this public-university option if you want an engineering foundation connected with another subject such as business, computing or pre-law study. The program’s separate depth and breadth requirements encourage you to identify both the technical expertise you need and the complementary perspective you want.
What to weigh
The depth and breadth areas cannot be the same: the department specifically rules out combining computer engineering depth with a computer science minor. Course prerequisites and enrollment capacity also matter, and adviser meetings are required to clear registration holds. Choose this completed degree for its own plan rather than assuming a later transfer into a different major.
Required upper-division work includes renewable energy engineering, probability and statistics, intellectual property, programming and mechatronics.
Students develop a depth area, technical electives and a separate breadth or minor plan with adviser approval.
The depth area and the breadth/minor area must be different; the program gives computer engineering and computer science as an example of an impermissible combination.
Areas of focus
Adviser-approved depth area with separate breadth or minor electives
Admission & progression
SJSU first-year applicants are evaluated within each major’s capacity; College of Engineering review includes mathematics GPA.
New Interdisciplinary Engineering students should start the appropriate mathematics course promptly and plan the prerequisite physics sequence.
The department encourages a Major Course Proposal by the end of the first year or sooner. Students meet an adviser to clear the recurring engineering registration hold.
Design & practical experience
Senior Design Project I and II are required.
Engineering Reports develops technical communication, while the degree also requires professional and business ethics.
University-wide annual tuition before aid. The published student engagement and well-being fee is $780 per year. Housing, food, books, travel and personal expenses are separate and vary with living arrangements.
Santa Clara’s Engineering B.S. reserves a substantial part of upper-division study for an individual concentration. The 189-unit degree begins with breadth across engineering disciplines, then asks students to build a coherent 36-unit concentration with an academic adviser. Required coursework spans computing, civil, electrical, mechanical and bioengineering, alongside advanced writing and the university core. A senior design sequence moves from defining the problem through design, construction and testing to a final report and presentation. An alternative department’s capstone can be used with permission.
Where it stands out
This Santa Clara program is relevant if your interests cross department boundaries and you want to develop a deliberate concentration rather than choose a preset specialist major. Community-based design and the university’s broader core also make the context and communication of engineering work part of the academic plan.
What to weigh
The 2026–27 university bulletin explicitly identifies the general engineering program as not yet ABET-accredited, even though several specialist degrees at the same university are accredited. Evaluate that program-specific status before choosing it for a credential or professional pathway. The concentration also requires careful prerequisite planning with an adviser.
The first two years build breadth across engineering disciplines; later study includes an adviser-designed concentration.
The plan requires 36 upper-division units forming a coherent concentration.
Required coursework spans bioengineering, civil engineering, computing, electrical and mechanical engineering, alongside advanced writing and the university core.
Areas of focus
Individual concentration approved by an academic adviser
Admission & progression
First-year applicants select the School of Engineering when applying through the Common Application.
Engineering applicants are expected to be ready for calculus.
The application requires academic transcripts, a teacher evaluation or counselor recommendation, and a secondary school report; first-year testing is optional.
Design & practical experience
The required design sequence develops a project from definition and preliminary analysis through construction, testing and a final presentation.
A different engineering department’s capstone sequence can substitute with permission.
Community-Based Engineering Design is part of the published major requirements.
What matters in general engineering bachelor’s programs in California
Depth inside a broad degree
We examine the common engineering core, the room for advanced work and how an adviser approves the technical plan.
Design that develops over time
Required experiments, client work and capstones show how students apply the different subjects they study.
The actual degree commitment
A nine-semester dual award, a quarter-based plan and a semester-based public program require different cost and scheduling comparisons.
How general engineering degrees in California organize breadth
Harvey Mudd uses a shared systems sequence to connect technical subjects and leaves three upper-division engineering electives for additional specialization. Santa Clara reserves 36 upper-division units for a coherent individual concentration. Both offer breadth, but they allocate the later part of the degree differently.
San José State separates depth-area electives from a breadth area or minor; those two areas cannot be the same. USD offers a faculty-approved Individual Plan of Study alongside defined concentrations. Bring a sample technical problem to an adviser and ask which advanced courses would help you work on it.
Compare the projects you must complete
Harvey Mudd’s Engineering Clinic runs across three semesters. USD requires Experimental Engineering and a two-course senior design sequence. Santa Clara’s project sequence continues through design, construction, testing and presentation, while San José State requires Senior Design Project I and II. Look at the preparation leading into each project as well as the final result.
San José State’s core also includes Fundamentals of Mechatronics Engineering. If combining sensors, computation and moving machinery interests you, the explanation at Mechatronics Programs can help you frame questions about the advanced electives that follow that introductory course.
Use the current catalog and your actual tuition category
USD’s 2026–27 plan adds Engineering with Artificial Intelligence and closes Embedded Software to students using that catalog. Its engineering curriculum is a nine-semester BS/BA, so the annual tuition figure is only part of the degree budget. Santa Clara publishes annual costs within a quarter-based undergraduate system; compare calendar length as well as unit totals.
San José State’s base tuition depends on the credit band, with campus fees added and non-California residents paying an additional per-unit amount. At each private institution, compare an individual aid offer with the full attendance budget. Also read Santa Clara’s program-specific accreditation statement before making a credential decision; the engineering accreditation guide explains what to check.
Questions, answered
What else should you know?
Does USD’s integrated degree require transferring to a second institution?+
The reviewed program is USD’s own BS/BA in Engineering, described by its engineering school as a nine-semester integrated curriculum. It is not a preparatory 3–2 transfer route.
Can I combine an engineering depth area with a minor at San José State?+
Yes, but the breadth or minor area must differ from the depth area. The department gives a computer science minor combined with computer engineering depth as a combination it does not allow.
Is Santa Clara’s broad Engineering B.S. ABET-accredited?+
The 2026–27 university bulletin identifies its general engineering program as not yet ABET-accredited. It separately identifies accredited specialist programs, so check the exact degree.
Can new USD students choose Embedded Software in 2026–27?+
USD says that concentration is no longer offered under the 2026–27 catalog. The current plan includes Engineering with Artificial Intelligence; continuing students on older catalogs should use their own advising plan.
Keep researching
Choosing a general engineering degree
Learn what a general engineering degree covers, how concentrations build technical depth and how broad bachelor's programs compare with specialized majors.
