A student must meet the requirements listed here for continued enrollment in, and successful completion of, any of our graduate programs:
- Degree plans must be approved by the Director of Graduate Studies and must meet the specific requirements listed in this document for the degree program. These requirements are in addition to the general requirements of the University as described in the Graduate and Professional Studies Catalog.
- Students on F-1 or J-1 visas are required by U.S. law to be enrolled as full-time students.
- Only full-time students are eligible to receive financial support from the University in the form of scholarships, academic fellowships, teaching fellowships or assistantships, research fellowships or assistantships, or other comparable forms of support.
- Continuous enrollment in MECE 6111 Graduate Seminar is required of full-time students.
- A minimum grade point average of 3.00 over all graduate courses attempted is required for the successful completion of any graduate degree. See the specific degree program descriptions for any additional graduation requirements.
- No grade lower than "C-" can be counted toward the completion of the credit hour requirements for a degree program.
- Up to 6 credit hours of course work may be transferred from another institution with the approval of the Director of Graduate Studies.*Note:Graded homework, mid-term, any exams, and syllabus must be received in order to determine transfer eligibility.
- No course used for a prior degree can be repeated or applied to another degree.
- No more than 6 hours can be transferred from post-baccalaureate to the graduate credit level.
- The Four-C rule: the University requires that a graduate student who receives a grade of C+ or lower in 12 semester hours attempted at this institution for graduate credit or for application toward the graduate degree, whether or not in repeated courses, is ineligible for any advanced degree at this institution and will not be permitted to re-enroll for graduate study. Students wishing to enroll in courses not for graduate credit (hence not subject to the 4-C rule) must submit a written declaration to that effect to the Director of Graduate Studies prior to enrollment in those courses.
- Changing degree programs requires approval of the Director of Graduate Studies and of the research advisor and may result in withdrawal of departmental financial support.
Students requiring Masters/Doctoral Research and Thesis/Dissertation hours should be advised of the following:
M.S. Thesis Option. The Mechanical Engineering, MS thesis option requires the completion of 9 hours of thesis credits (MECE 6399, MECE 7399, and MECE 7399) Only one MECE 7399 course can be taken per semester, so please plan accordingly. An IP grade must be assigned to every thesis course until the thesis is successfully completed (defended and submitted). A final letter grade via grade change request will be assigned to the required number of thesis hours once the student has successfully completed the thesis (defended and submitted). In case a student registers for thesis hours over and above the nine hours that are required, these additional hours will remain as IP on the student’s transcript. This is a Graduate School directive and aimed at avoiding grade inflation.
Doctoral Research and Dissertation. Doctoral Dissertation hours should be assigned an IP grade which is changed to a letter grade after successful completion of the dissertation. An IP grade must be assigned to every dissertation course until the dissertation is successfully completed (defended and submitted). A final letter grade via grade change request will be assigned to the required number of dissertation hours once the student has successfully completed the dissertation (defended and submitted). In case a student registers for dissertation hours over and above the nine hours that are required, these additional hours will remain as IP on the student’s transcript. This is a Graduate School directive and aimed at avoiding grade inflation.
Dissertation hours (8x99) for a PhD degree are restricted to 12 hours. PhD students must take at least 30 hours of research and dissertation. Any additional hours should be registered as Doctoral Research 8x98 to complete the research credit hours requirement. Doctoral Dissertation hours should be assigned an IP grade which is changed to a letter grade after successful completion of the dissertation. If a student is not done after registering required number of Doctoral Research and Dissertation hours, additional hours should be registered as Doctoral Research which are graded on S/U basis. In the event a student registers for extra Dissertation hours, these hours will be left as IP. It is not necessary to assign the same grade to all the hours while completing IP grades.