Advising

Planning your academic career and negotiating the choices and challenges that arise is important to successfully completing your degree. Once you have declared your major as pre-mechanical or mechanical engineering, you will be assigned an advisor who can work with you on course scheduling, planning, support resources, and career guidance. Your advisor is a valuable resource to help you navigate your path and keep you apprised of changes along the way.

To find out who your advisor is, go to your Student Center. On the far right of the page is a blue box labeled Advisor. In some cases you may see two names here; this could result if you have a minor in a different department or have been assigned both an academic advisor in the Advising Office and a career advisor in the ME faculty.

Your academic program is driven by the catalog under which you enrolled. At times you may choose to change that catalog to a later one; always confer with an advisor before doing so.

Here are the suggested four-year plans for our most recent catalog years.

• 2023-2024
• 2022-2023
• 2021-2022
• 2020-2021
• 2019-2020
• 2018-2019
• 2017-2018
• 2016-2017
• 2015-2016
• 2014-2015

There are two resources that are essential to planning your schedule over the course of your academic career.

Degree Tracker is a tool for academic planning, available to students graduating under the 2014-15 catalog or after. (Students under an older catalog can still use the Degree Planner on my.boisestate.edu). This will allow you to determine more easily the courses you should take and which semesters they are offered, will alert you if you are missing a prerequisite, and will enable you to try out a number of scheduling scenarios to see which would work best for you.

For more information on the Degree Tracker click here.

Please Note: For graduation purposes, the Academic Advisement Report (AAR) will be used for graduation evaluation to ensure all degree and course requirements are met.

Most important is the Academic Advisement Report (AAR). The Academic Advisement Report (AAR) is an online interactive tool that will allow you to track your progress toward graduation and help with your enrollment planning. The report displays the academic requirements for your program of study and indicates whether you have completed those requirements. The report provides course details about the courses that are available and the courses already taken. You can add courses directly from the AAR into your planner and shopping cart.

Log in to myBoiseState and click on Student Center. Under Academics, click on the blue hyper-link “My Academics”, next to Academic Requirements, then click on “View my advisement report” link. To learn more about the AAR, how to generate it, and how to interpret it, refer to the FAQ page on the Registrar’s Page.

Boise State University recently changed its policy on course repeats. All students should be aware of this policy (Course Repetition – Policy #3190) and make sure that they understand how it impacts them.

Students who have repeated a course and still not passed are required to complete a “Request to Exceed Maximum Course Registration” form. This form requests approval by the student’s advisor, as well as the chair of the department offering the course.

The MBE Department will use the following criteria when evaluating a request to sign a “Request to Exceed Maximum Course Registration” form:

• If you have accumulated six (6) or more grades below C- (including W) in degree-required MATH, CHEM, PHYS, ENGR, CS or ME courses during your academic career, your request to repeat a course will be denied and you will be encouraged to meet with an advisor to review your academic career options.

• If you have accumulated fewer than six (6) grades below C- (including W) in degree-required MATH, CHEM, PHYS, ENGR, CS or ME courses during your academic career, you must initiate an “Academic Recovery Plan” as part of the approval process. This plan will be reviewed and signed by the Chair or designee.

• All “Request to Exceed Maximum Course Registration” forms will be reviewed for approval by the Department Chair or designee.

Remember: Our goal is to help you be successful. If you find you are having trouble with courses, talk to your advisor to find out what resources are available to help you. Proactive work early on can prevent many problems later.

Still have questions about repeats? Please contact our advising staff at AdviseME@boisestate.edu or the Department Chair (jgardner@boisestate.edu).

Have you taken courses at another school? It’s likely some of them weren’t automatically considered as equivalents to our courses. We often can accept your engineering courses as substitutions for ours. Think a class should count towards one of our requirements? Submit the course information to our Advising staff to review.

Email AdviseME@boisestate.edu

If you’ve earned an academic degree and are obtaining an additional undergraduate degree from us, it’s likely you’ve met most (if not all) of our foundational requirements. We also can apply to waive some of our courses when you’ve taken the appropriate equivalent courses for your previous degree.

Please send an email to AdviseME@boisestate.edu to begin this process.

If you have experience in a particular area, you can request credit for courses in that area. We don’t offer this for mechanical engineering; however, many of our students have successfully obtained credits for language and other courses. You may also be able to obtain College Level Examination (CLEP) credits for prior learning. Before pursuing these credits, talk with your advisor to make sure the courses will help you in your degree progress.

Credit for Prior Learning

Not all external courses meet requirements established for MBE programs. You need to do a MBE Course Evaluation request before you enroll in classes outside of Boise State University to verify the course is a valid substitute and will count as credit toward your major.

To request pre-approval of a non-Boise State course:

• Submit a MBE Course Evaluation Form.
• A separate submittal is required for each request.
• You will receive an e-mail indicating whether or not your request was approved. This e-mail will validate you’ve met pre-requisite course requirements and can be used in requests for permission numbers for follow-on courses.

Are you taking this class to replace a grade for a previous Boise State class you did not pass?
Your pre-approval request may be rejected. Please state any extenuating circumstances in your request so that information can be considered in the evaluation.

Planning on taking an online course for the Mechanical Engineering major or Biomedical minor degree? You’ll need approval from the MBE Department prior to taking the course.

Exceptions to this policy are:

• Courses you are taking to fulfill University DL or UF requirements
• Online courses offered by Boise State University

To request an online course pre-approval, complete the MBE Course Evaluation Form with documentation attached. You’ll receive an e-mail indicating whether or not your request was approved. A separate submittal is required for each request.

Is the class an online course from another program?
If so, the course syllabus must clearly document that a proctor is required, either from the instructor, department, or University offering the course. You must include course proctor information in your MBE Course Evaluation form.

Submit an MBE Course Evaluation Form

All ME majors must take nine elective credits as follows:

• A Mechanical Engineering program elective is a mechanical engineering course at an upper-division level (300 or above). There are two ME electives required, though that does not restrict a student from taking more if their program allows.
• An upper-division technical elective is an upper-division (300 or above) course in an engineering or affiliated area (Math, Physics, Chemistry, Biology, etc.) that can be shown to support the course of study of the student.

A number of courses have been pre-approved as electives in the math and science areas, as well as some Business courses. Mechanical Engineering courses can also be used. Courses in other areas (Art, Dance, Theater Arts, Communication, Health Science, Kinesiology, Political Science, etc.) may be accepted if they are shown to be applicable to the engineering studies of the student and are pre-approved by their advisor.

See the pre-approved technical electives

All ME majors must take nine elective credits as follows:

• A Mechanical Engineering program elective is a mechanical engineering course at an upper-division level (300 or above). There are two ME electives required, though that does not restrict a student from taking more if their program allows.
• An upper-division technical elective is an upper-division (300 or above) course in an engineering or affiliated area (Math, Physics, Chemistry, Biology, etc.) that can be shown to support the course of study of the student.

A number of courses have been pre-approved as electives in the math and science areas, as well as some Business courses. Mechanical Engineering courses can also be used. Courses in other areas (Art, Dance, Theater Arts, Communication, Health Science, Kinesiology, Political Science, etc.) may be accepted if they are shown to be applicable to the engineering studies of the student and are pre-approved by their advisor.

See the pre-approved technical electives

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 breaches of the Boise State University Student Code of Conduct will be reviewed by the MBE department and could result in ineligibility for admission to the Mechanical Engineering program.

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 breaches of the Boise State University Student Code of Conduct will be reviewed by the MBE department and could result in ineligibility for admission to the Mechanical Engineering program.