Majors › Mechanical Engineering, B.S. (Engineering)
Mechanical Engineering at Penn State: 4‑year plan & entrance requirements
Penn State’s suggested 8-semester route through the Mechanical Engineering B.S. at University Park, 131 credits in all, with every course titled and the Entrance to Major courses marked.
Entrance to Major
The courses you need before you can formally enter the major.
- CHEM 110 Chemical Principles I
- EDSGN 100 Cornerstone Engineering Design
- MATH 140 Calculus With Analytic Geometry I
- MATH 141 Calculus with Analytic Geometry II
- PHYS 211 General Physics: Mechanics
Each course needs a grade of C or better.
The bulletin gives more than one GPA figure depending on your situation, so check the official section for the one that applies to you.
There are other conditions too, such as credit windows, application deadlines or space limits, that aren’t summarised here.
Semester-by-semester plan
The order Penn State suggests, so prerequisites come first and credit loads stay balanced.
Entrance marks a course that counts toward the Entrance to Major requirements.
First year · Fall 17 credits
| Course | Credits |
|---|---|
| General Education | 1 |
| ENGL 15 Rhetoric and Composition | 3 |
| EDSGN 100 Cornerstone Engineering Design Entrance | 3 |
| General Education | 3 |
| MATH 140 Calculus With Analytic Geometry I Entrance | 4 |
| CHEM 110 Chemical Principles I Entrance | 3 |
First year · Spring 16 credits
| Course | Credits |
|---|---|
| MATH 220 Matrices | 2 |
| ECON 102 Introductory Microeconomic Analysis and Policy or ECON 104 Introductory Macroeconomic Analysis and Policy | 3 |
| MATH 141 Calculus with Analytic Geometry II Entrance | 4 |
| General Education | 3 |
| PHYS 211 General Physics: Mechanics Entrance | 4 |
Second year · Fall 17 credits
| Course | Credits |
|---|---|
| CMPSC 200 Programming for Engineers with MATLAB or CMPSC 201 Programming for Engineers with C++ | 3 |
| CAS 100A Effective Speech or CAS 100B Effective Speech | 3 |
| EMCH 211 Statics | 3 |
| MATH 251 Ordinary and Partial Differential Equations | 4 |
| PHYS 212 General Physics: Electricity and Magnetism | 4 |
Second year · Spring 17.5 credits
| Course | Credits |
|---|---|
| EMCH 212 Dynamics | 3 |
| EMCH 213 Strength of Materials | 3 |
| ME 300 Engineering Thermodynamics I | 3 |
| ME 390 Academic and Career Development for Mechanical Engineers | 0.5 |
| MATH 231 Calculus of Several Variables | 2 |
| General Education | 3 |
| General Education | 3 |
Third year · Fall 16.5 credits
| Course | Credits |
|---|---|
| IE 312 Product Design and Manufacturing Processes | 3 |
| MATSE 259 Properties and Processing of Engineering Materials | 3 |
| ME 330 Computational Tools | 3 |
| ME 370 Vibration of Mechanical Systems | 3 |
| ME 348 Circuit Analysis, Instrumentation, and Statistics | 3 |
| General Education — Health and Wellness (GHW) | 1.5 |
Third year · Spring 15.5 credits
| Course | Credits |
|---|---|
| ME 454 Mechatronics | 3 |
| ENGL 202C Effective Writing: Technical Writing | 3 |
| ME 340 Mechanical Engineering Design Methodology | 3 |
| ME 360 Mechanical Design | 3 |
| ME 320 Fluid Flow | 3 |
| ME 490 Professional Development for Mechanical Engineers | 0.5 |
Fourth year · Fall 16.5 credits
| Course | Credits |
|---|---|
| General Education | 3 |
| ME 410 Heat Transfer | 3 |
| General Education | 3 |
| ME 435 Mechanical Engineering Systems Lab | 3 |
| General Education | 3 |
| General Education — Health and Wellness (GHW) | 1.5 |
Fourth year · Spring 15 credits
| Course | Credits |
|---|---|
| ME 440W Mechanical Systems Design Project | 3 |
| ME 450 Modeling of Dynamic Systems | 3 |
| General Education | 3 |
| General Education | 3 |
| General Education | 3 |
Source: the Suggested Academic Plan in the Penn State Undergraduate Bulletin. GradGPS is an independent student project and isn’t affiliated with Penn State. Requirements change, so confirm your plan with your adviser.
Already partway through?
This plan assumes you start from zero. GradGPS reads your LionPATH transcript, checks off what you’ve done, and reflows the rest of this plan around you, including AP, transfer credit and switched majors.
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