The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign offers its Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering (MSME) completely online. No campus visits are required. Specific information about the Department of Mechanical Science and Engineering's (MechSE) on-campus programs can be found at the departmental website, http://www.mechse.uiuc.edu.

Admission Requirements

• Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering or the equivalent from an accredited college in the United States or an approved institution of higher learning abroad
  Persons who are enrolled in their senior or final year are also eligible to apply. Students without a BS degree in mechanical engineering do not have the required prerequisites for this program.
  
  
• Minimum grade point average (GPA): 3.25/4.0 (or equivalent) for the last 60 semester hours (or last two years), or 90 quarter-hours of undergraduate study, and 3.50/4.0 (or equivalent) for previous graduate degree work
  Note that these grade point average requirements are higher than those required by the Graduate College at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. A 3.25 average is considered the approximate equivalent of a "Very Good," a "Second Class Upper Division" degree award (British systems), 70% of marks and "First Class Division" degree award (India, Pakistan, Bangladesh), and 85% (China). Applicants who are currently in their final year of a bachelor's degree program will have their grade point average computed on the last 45 semester hours (or at least one and one-half years) of undergraduate study.
  
  
• Supporting Materials

Statement of purpose
The Statement of Purpose should be submitted online with the application. If you choose to send the statement of purpose after the application submission deadline, it must be mailed or sent electronically by e-mail to the "Graduate Admission Coordinator" at the address below under the Application Procedures section.

Official copies of transcripts for all completed university coursework

Area of specialization form
http://www.mechse.uiuc.edu/media/pdfs/for/prospective_students/areasdegobj.pdf

Three letters of reference
The letters of reference should come from instructors in the applicant's undergraduate program or from employers who can address quantitative and qualitative skills as well as potential success in graduate school.

Rank in class should be submitted for international applicants
http://www.mechse.uiuc.edu/media/pdfs/for/prospective_students/classrank.pdf.

TOEFL exam scores (if applicable)
Applicants whose native language is not English are required to have the Educational Testing Service (ETS) submit the results of the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL). A graduate applicant is exempt from this testing if, within five years of the proposed term of enrollment, he or she has completed at least two academic years of full-time study as defined by the home institution, or completed a graduate degree, in a country where English is the primary language and in a school where English is the primary language of instruction. For admission purposes, TOEFL scores are valid for only two years prior to the proposed term of entry. The institution code for the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign is 1836. The department code can be listed as 00 or 99.

The MechSE Department requires a minimum 257 (computer based) / 613 (paper based) / 103 (Internet based) score. Applicants will not be considered if they do not meet this minimum score.

Individuals do not have to be admitted to a degree program in order to enroll in an online course. Only 12 hours of coursework completed prior to being admitted to the degree program can be transferred into the program. Please see Transfer of Credit for details.

Taking courses prior to enrolling in the degree program does not in any way guarantee a future admission to the regular or online degree program. Your application will be reviewed in the same manner as all other prospective applicants. All prior coursework taken will be reviewed including online UIUC coursework.

Application Procedures

Submission of Application Materials

Please apply online at: http://www.grad.uiuc.edu/admissions/apply/

Your statement of purpose should be submitted online. In your statement of purpose, identify yourself as online student, give examples of your work experiences, state the nature of your work with your present employer, and identify professional goals that you might have regarding the completion of the degree program or future areas of employment.

Please note: if you choose to send the statement of purpose after the application submission deadline, it must be mailed or sent electronically by e-mail to the "Graduate Admission Coordinator" at the address below.

All other supporting materials should be sent directly to the MechSE office at the address below. These would include transcripts, the Area of specialization form, letters of reference (if you choose not to have them submitted online), and class rank (international applicants only). Please send supporting materials to:

Department of Mechanical Science and Engineering
Attn: Graduate Admission Coordinator
158 Mechanical Engineering Building, MC-244
1206 West Green Street
Urbana, Illinois 61801
mechse-grad@uiuc.edu

Nonrefundable Application Processing Fee

US Citizens: $60 application processing fee
Required with the receipt of the application. Please pay by credit card online. If you are unable to pay by credit card, please contact OCEE for further instructions.

International Applicants: $75 (US) application processing fee
Required with the receipt of the application. Please pay by credit card online. If you are unable to pay by credit card, please contact OCEE for further instructions.

The nonrefundable application processing fee is valid for only one semester and must be submitted before any action can be taken. The fee cannot be waived or temporarily deferred regardless of currency restrictions imposed by certain countries.

Application Deadlines

In order to be considered for admission, the following deadlines for receipt of the application are in effect for applicants to the MechSE Department:

• For Summer or Fall admission: January 15
• For Spring admission: October 1

Applicants are strongly urged to submit their applications and supporting documents in advance of the above dates. These deadlines do not apply to supporting documents. The deadline for these documents are as follows: Summer admission, April 1; Fall admission, July 1; Spring admission, December 1.

Admission Decisions

All graduate applications to the MechSE Department are evaluated by a departmental admissions committee which meets on a regular basis during the two semesters beginning mid-September each academic year. The admissions committee evaluates and makes admission/denial recommendations on all available complete application files at each meeting. Students, whose application file is complete (including all supplemental materials), are notified regarding admission and financial aid within 1-2 days following each admissions meeting.

The Department will notify an applicant by letter and/or email as soon as a decision on admission has been reached. No decision will be made on an application until the processing fee is paid. Admission recommendations by the MechSE Department are not official until the Office of Admissions and Records issues a Notice of Admission and sends registration instructions.

Staff in the graduate programs office will be happy to answer any questions about the application process. Contact Laura Herriott at 217-244-3416 or by email at mechse-grad@uiuc.edu.

Degree Requirements for the MSME Program

Thesis Option

The Graduate College specifies that at least 32 hours of graduate level credit are required for a Master of Science (MS) degree at the University of Illinois. Of these 32 hours:

• 24 must be formal, graded coursework
  • 8 of which must be at the 500-level
    • 4 of these eight 500-level hours must be in the major field
• 8 hours of ME 599 thesis credit (for those in the thesis option). No more than 8 hours of ME 599 thesis credit can be applied towards the MS degree.

Before beginning to write the thesis, students are encouraged to obtain a copy of the Handbook for Graduate Students Preparing to Deposit. This brochure is available from the Graduate College at http://www.grad.uiuc.edu/thesis/thesisGC.html.

Both the department and the Graduate College require a format check for a thesis. Thesis titles should be reported to the Graduate College at least six weeks before the expected conferral date. The Master of Science degree is conferred in May, August, October, and January.

Non-thesis Option

Upon consent of the advisor and approval by petition of the Graduate Programs Committee, the ME thesis requirement may be waived. The non-thesis option requires a total of 36 hours. Of these 36 hours:

• 32 must be graded, formal coursework
  • 8 of which must be at the 500-level
    • 4 of these eight 500-level hours must be in the major field
• 4 hours of ME 597 — Independent Study (4 hours maximum allowed towards MS degree).

Students intending to pursue the non-thesis MSME option must complete the MS Degree Non-thesis Option form:

http://online.engr.uiuc.edu/degrees/MSME-Non-Thesis-Option.pdf

Please submit this form to:

Department of Mechanical Science and Engineering
Attn: Kathy Smith
158 Mechanical Engineering Building, MC-244
1206 West Green Street
Urbana, IL 61801

Courses Available Online

Courses numbered 400-499 are graduate level courses open to senior-level undergraduates and entry-level graduate students; 500-599 are open to graduate students only.

Graduate credit at UIUC is measured in semester hours. Most 400-level courses carry either 3 or 4 hours of credit. Most 500-level courses carry 4 hours of credit.

Visit the Course Offerings section of the Engineering and Computer Science Online website to determine the semester offering of the following courses:

ME 420 - Intermediate Heat Transfer
ME 430 - Failure Mechanisms in Engineering Materials
ME 431 - Failure Analysis of Mechanical Components
ME 450 - Modeling in Materials Processing
ME 460 - Industrial Control Systems
ME 471 - Introduction to Finite Element Analysis
ME 498 AV - Introduction to Nonlinear Dynamics
ME 532 - Fracture Resistant Design
ME 597 - Non-thesis Project (offered upon request)
ME 598 AV2 - Advanced Nonlinear Dynamics and Chaos
ME 598 WT - Materials for Water Treatment Systems
ME 599 - Thesis Research (offered upon request)
TAM 524 - Micromechanical Behavior of Materials
(TAM 524 counts as a 500-level course "in the major field" toward fulfillment of the MSME degree requirements)

In addition, other online courses offered by the College of Engineering will count toward the MSME degree requirements. Examples of these courses include:

AE 598 MFL - Multiphase Flow
CEE 440 - Hazardous and Solid Waste Management
CEE 453 - Urban Hydrology and Hydraulics
CEE 457 - Groundwater
Online courses in Computer Science (CS)
Online courses in ECE (offered online from time to time)
GE 411 - Introduction to Reliability Engineering
GE 498 GRN - An Entrepreneurial Approach to Green Engineering
GE 498 LH - Lectures in Entrepreneurship I
GE 498 QE - Quality Engineering
GE 498 SM - Sales and Marketing for Engineers
GE 498 TEE - The Entrepreneurial Engineer
GE 498 TV - Creative Modeling for Technology Visionaries
GE 531 - Genetic Algorithms in Search, Optimization and Machine Learning
GE 560 (formerly 598 BV2) - Managing Advanced Technology in Industry
GE 561 (formerly 598 BV3) - Case Studies in Managing Advanced Technology in Industry
GE 598 FM - Financial Statement Analysis - OR -
GE 598 FM2 - Finance for Engineering Managers
(Credit will not be awarded for both GE 598 FM and GE 598 FM2)
GE 598 IS - Technology Innovation and Strategy
GE 598 JK - Legal Issues in Entrepreneurship
GE 598 VFS - Venture Funded Startups
GEOL 593 MM - Molecular Modeling of Water and Interfaces
IE 400 - Design and Analysis of Experiments
MATH 461 - Probability Theory I
MATH 490 A - Calculus Refresher
MATH 490 B - Systems of Linear Differential Equations
MATH 488 - Math Methods in Engineering
MSE 445 - Corrosion of Metals

Math 415 - Linear Algebra (Math 315) cannot be used to satisfy MSME course requirements.

The requirements listed above are subject to change by the MechSE Department.

Transfer of Credit

Students may take UIUC courses prior to being admitted to a degree program or courses at other institutions and petition to transfer credit toward the MSME degree. For Mechanical Engineering, no more than 8 semester hours may be transferred from another institution and only 12 semester hours total may be transferred. The petition must mention the UIUC course that is believed to be the equivalent of the course that is being transferred. Both the Department and the Graduate College must approve all transfer credit. Restrictions by the Graduate College, on the transfer of credit, are as follows:

• The student must have completed at least 8 semester hours of graduate credit at UIUC before petitioning for the transfer of credit;
  
  
• The course(s) must have been taken within the past five years at an accredited institution;
  
  
• The course(s) must be graduate-level at that institution and may not already have been applied to another degree (written verification must come from a college or university official whose responsibilities include degree certification);
  
  
• The student must have received a grade of A or B; and
  
  
• The petition must include an original, official (not issued to the student) transcript.

The maximum credit for a three-hour course on the quarter system is 2 hours. An instructor may recommend less credit if he or she feels that a smaller portion of the UIUC course has been mastered by the student.

Petition forms are available on the Engineering and Computer Science Online Policies website. The completed form should be sent to:

Department of Mechanical Science and Engineering
Attn: Kathy Smith
158 Mechanical Engineering Building, MC-244
1206 West Green Street
Urbana, IL 61801