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BSMS-ME Program Description

Combined Program Leading to B.S./M.S. Degree in Mechanical Engineering (BSMS-ME)

Purpose

The joint BS/MS program in Mechanical Engineering (ME) is designed to present highly qualified students with the opportunity to work thereafter towards both the BS and MS degrees in ME. These students will be admitted to the BSMS-ME program during the second semester of their junior year of their BS program.

This program allows for early planning of the graduate portion of a student's education and provides more flexibility in the order in which courses are taken. The more efficient and better-planned use of time should result in reduction of the time required for obtaining the B.S. and MS. degrees.

As a result of the better coordination of courses within the ME Department than is usually possible for students who come to UW from other institutions to pursue the MS degree, up to six credit hours may be counted toward both the BS and MS degree programs (see Overlapping Credit below). By completing successfully up to six credit hours of graduate classes during their senior year, these exceptional students would have demonstrated their ability to do graduate level work as undergraduates, easing their transition to Mechanical Engineering's graduate program.

Admission

Application for admission to the BS/MS program may be submitted to the department at any time after the student enters his or her junior year. Minimum requirements for admission to the joint program are:

  1. the completion of the four core ME courses (see list below),
  2. a minimum overall GPA of 3.25,
  3. a minimum GPA of 3.25 in ME courses, and
  4. a minimum of three letters of recommendation (at least two must be from ME faculty at UW).

In place of requirement (1) above, transfer students must have taken courses equivalent to the ME core courses. Transfer students must have also completed at least 15 credit hours of courses at UW in order to be eligible for admission.

Retention requirements

The student must maintain a GPA of at least 3.25 in their undergraduate and at least 3.0 in their graduate studies in order to remain in good standing in the program. Not meeting the GPA requirement places a student on probation for one semester. If the GPA requirement is not met after that semester, the student will no longer be enrolled in the BSMS program.

Undergraduate and Graduate Regulations

Until a student in this program has completed a total of 128 credit hours of courses applicable to the BS or MS degree in Mechanical Engineering, he/she will be governed by the regulations applicable to undergraduate students in the department, unless specified otherwise in the regulations described herein. After a student has accumulated a total of 128 applicable credit hours, he/she will be governed by the regulations applicable to any graduate student in the ME department unless specified otherwise in the regulations described herein. These regulations include the requirement that every student must take the GRE general examination. It is the intention of the department that, to the degree possible, a student in this program is treated on the same basis as any other student in the department at a comparable stage of his/her academic career.

Overlapping credit

With the recommendation of the student's academic advisor and the approval of the ME Graduate Affairs Committee, as many as 6 credit hours of ME department courses at the 5000 level may be counted both towards the undergraduate degree requirements and to the requirements for the MS degree. In principle, therefore, the minimum number of course credit hours required for the BS/MS degrees will be 148 (thesis option- 4 additional hours of thesis research) or 152 (non-thesis option).

Student advising

Students in the BSMS-ME program must have a faculty advisor with whom they must consult to complete a program of study, which must include all the courses to be taken from the senior year through the end of the program. This plan must be filed with the ME Department Student Coordinator and the ME Graduate Affairs Committee by the end of the fourth week of the first semester in which the student has been admitted into the program.

ME Core Courses

ME 3010 Intermediate Mechanics of Materials

ME 3020 System Dynamics

ME 3040 Thermodynamics II

ME 3360 Transport Phenomena

For further information and an application form please contact Mrs. Gale Bandsma, EN 2052, me.info@uwyo.edu, or (307)766-2122.

College of Engineering