Advising

Announcements

• ME 414/414L Intermediate Heat Transfer is moving to spring semester.
• ME 453/453L Vibrations is moving to fall semester.
• A new restricted elective in manufacturing is being created for the Fall 2025 semester.
• ME 432/432L Materials will no longer be offered.

General information

The goal of advisement is to provide you with guidance in planning your academic and professional careers. All students in Mechanical Engineering are advised by the College of Engineering advisors at the Engineering Advising Center in the Scrugham Engineering & Mines Building, Suite 131. If you have questions about special permission, technical electives, graduate school, or other mechanical engineering topics you can contact a faculty mentor. Faculty contact information is in the table at the bottom of the page. For a complete description of the ME program and its classes please see the University course catalog.

Appointments

Advising appointments can be scheduled using Navigate. You can also visit the College of Engineering advising web page for additional information.

Policies

• Course Waivers: The Mechanical Engineering Department does not give waivers for pre-requisites or co-requisites.
• Repeat Policy: A course may only be taken a maximum of 3 times. For C or better courses, you have 3 tries to get a C; all other courses, you have 3 tries to get a D-. You need advisor permission to enroll in a course a 3rd time and you must sign a form stating you know that it is your final chance to enroll in the course.

Electives

Most electives are only offered once a year. Four electives are required, one restricted elective (lecture and lab – 4 credits) and three technical electives (9 credits). 

Restricted Electives

Technical Electives

Any course 300 level or above with an ME prefix that is not required, is a technical elective. They vary each semester. See the course catalog for possible elective courses and MyNevada for current course offerings.

ME 493 - Special Topics
ME 496 - Mechanical Engineering Internship Projects
ME 499 - Special Projects

Restrictions and Substitutions

There are some limits on the number of credits that can be used towards your degree which are listed below. If you would like to use an upper division course that does not have an ME prefix but is related to mechanical engineering, you must get faculty mentor approval. The table below shows who approves electives.

• Maximum of 6 credits towards your degree: ME 493 Special Topics
• Maximum of 3 credits towards your degree: ME 499 Special Projects OR ME 496 Mechanical Engineering Internship Projects OR ME 493 Special Topics - Design Process OR one approved course outside of the ME department

Suggested course sequence

The recommended schedule for the mechanical engineering curriculum, available on the course catalog, is designed so that you complete prerequisite courses before you take more advanced courses and so that you can avoid scheduling problems.

If you enter the University in the fall semester with all your college preparatory courses completed, you can complete your degree in four years by following this sequence. While you do not need to complete the curriculum in exactly the order shown, you are required to complete prerequisite courses before you enroll in more advanced classes.

External conditions may prevent you from completing the curriculum in the suggested order. This can substantially increase the time required to complete your degree, since some courses are not offered every semester and some of these courses are prerequisites for higher-level classes.

The curriculum flow chart identifies the courses that are prerequisites and co-requisites for more advanced classes. If you must take courses out of the suggested sequence, you should consider this information very carefully in consultation with your advisor.

General advising: Technical electives, graduate school or other mechanical engineering topics