Curriculum

Admission to ME

Admission to the ME Major program is based on various academic criteria including performance in a set of designated CORE courses, number of repeated CORE courses, as well as professional and ethical behavior.

Students seeking a Mechanical Engineering degree who are admitted to BSU in academic year 2014-2015 or later enter under the Pre-Mechanical Engineering academic plan. Pre-ME students are able to enroll in the courses that make up the ME curriculum for the first five semesters of their academic career, but must be admitted into the ME major prior to enrolling in select upper-division ME courses. The admission criteria are based on GPA in ME CORE courses, the number of repeated ME CORE courses, and evidence of professional and ethical behavior.

Students accepted into the ME Major are expected to maintain a high level of professional and ethical behavior throughout their academic careers; failure to do so may result in expulsion from the program.

Eligibility for Upper Division

2019-20 Catalog or before

Students can advance from pre-ME to full ME major status upon completion of these courses.

• CHEM 111 College Chemistry
• MATH 170 Calculus I
• MATH 175 Calculus II
• PHYS 211 Physics I with Calculus
• ENGR 210 Engineering Statics
• ENGR 220 Engineering Dynamics
• ME 105 Mechanical Engineering Graphics
• ME 302 Thermodynamics I (or ENGR 320)

To be considered for admission, students must:

• Complete the designated CORE courses with a minimum GPA of 2.4.
• Complete the designated CORE courses with no more than 2 repeated CORE courses.
• Demonstrate professional and ethical behavior. All documented history of academic integrity student code of conduct violations as reported by the Office of the Dean of Students will be reviewed by the MBE department and could result in ineligibility for admission to the Mechanical Engineering program.

Current Catalog

The following CORE courses are used as a basis for admission to the undergraduate Mechanical Engineering program:

• MATH 170 Calculus I

• MATH 175 Calculus II: Concepts and Applications
• ME 201 Engineering Mechanics I
• ME 203 Engineering Mechanics II
• ME 273 Introduction to Computation for Engineers w/lab
• PHYS 211 Physics I with Calculus

To be considered for admission, students must:

• Complete the designated CORE courses with a minimum GPA of 2.6.
• Complete the designated CORE courses with no more than 3 repeated CORE courses.
• Demonstrate professional and ethical behavior. All documented history of academic integrity student code of conduct violations as reported by the Office of the Dean of Students will be reviewed by the MBE department and could result in ineligibility for admission to the Mechanical Engineering program.

Application Process

To be considered for admission to Mechanical Engineering, students must fill out the Admission to Mechanical Engineering form in the semester you are finishing your ME Core Courses. Applications in the Fall semester are due by December 1 and for the Spring semester by April 15. Once you have submitted your application, we will review your student record for the following information:

1. GPA in the core courses
2. Repeats in the core courses
3. Academic integrity student code of conduct violations as reported by the Office of the Dean of Students

Students will be notified via email of their admission status no later than one (1) week after grades are posted for that semester.

Admission to Mechanical Engineering form

Appeal Process

Students who wish to appeal admission decisions made by the MBE Department should contact the Department Chair.

Professional Fees

What are professional fees?

Professional fees are applied for courses in disciplines that have higher costs to teach (specific equipment, software, licenses, consumables, etc.). They replace previous class fees and allow students to better predict the overall cost of their education.

How much are professional fees?

They are $35 per credit for students enrolling in any upper-division engineering (ENGR), civil engineering (CE), electrical engineering (ECE), materials science and engineering (MSE), and mechanical engineering (ME) courses.

Why create these extra costs on top of tuition?

Quite simply: It is expensive to teach engineering. The equipment we use is costly. Many universities charge a higher tuition for engineering and other high-cost majors.

How do we use professional fees?

The Department of Mechanical and Biomedical Engineering dedicates the professional fees on our upper-division courses directly into student learning.

Educational support

Engineering is a challenging discipline that depends on highly technical instruction. Professional fees have been used to hire peer educators and course support assistants to ensure students have access to tutoring sessions, one-on-one assistance, and quick turn-around on feedback from assignments. The fees also fund equipment maintenance and replenish consumable materials for student projects.

Engineering Innovation Studio

In planning with students, access to resources was strongly requested. In response, professional fees have been invested in enlarging the space of our student machine shop and increasing the capability and capacity of the facilities. To date, investments quadrupled the floor space of the shop and added additional equipment, collaboration space, and staffing.

Student support

In addition to classroom instruction, we believe students benefit from experiential learning activities. A portion of professional fees are used to supplement funds for student organizations, undergraduate travel awards, and other expenses that contribute to student learning.

Departmental program advancement

Our department recognizes that mechanical engineering is a broad field with innumerable career options. Professional fees aid us in providing exposure to speakers and activities in a variety of the disciplines mechanical engineers can pursue. This “value-added” commitment allows our students access to researchers, industry professionals, and professional development instruction that they can use to better prepare for a professional career after graduation.