Resources for Academic Advisees

Tips for First Year Students
Overview of Degree Requirements. A visual representation of degree requirements intended primarily for first-year students.
Materials Minor Planning and Approval Form
Mechanical Engineering Major FAQs
Fellowships and Scholarships Information
Research Experiences for Undergraduates (NSF REU Programs)
What Good Is an Academic Advisor Anyway?
Tips on Planning for Sophomore Year, Junior Year, Senior Year

My Approach to Academic Advising

An academic advisor is someone to consult with about course and project selections, and someone who can help you track your progress toward distribution requirements. But really, that's just the minimum! For those students who are open to the possibility, I hope that I can do much more as an academic advisor. I encourage advisees to ponder the following questions and then to discuss them together:

What am I really interested in doing for my Sufficiency, IQP, and MQP? How do the projects connect to my personal and professional interests, and what opportunities are available?
What are my goals for this summer? Is earning $ my top priority? Maybe I could explore a field of interest via a REU (Research Experiences for Undergraduates) program around the country? Take some courses in E-term?
What might I do in my first five years after leaving WPI? Am I leaning more toward a career in industry right after WPI? Or is graduate school a possibility? Or something like teaching or the Peace Corps? How might I enhance my potential success in those areas by appropriate learning experiences in the next several years?
Am I happy with my educational experience so far at WPI (broadly interpreted!)? Am I in the right major? What would it take for me to really improve my learning and raise those Cs to Bs (granted, learning and grades aren't always correlated). Is raising some Bs to As important to me? Am I still struggling with study skills and time management? Do I have a good balance of academics and extracurricular activities? Am I too stressed out because of being committed to too many things? Am I developing leadership and teamwork skills both outside and inside the classroom?

In summary, an academic advisor can be a sounding board to help you figure out who you want to be and the opportunities that might get you there.

Planning Tips for Sophomore Year

If you haven't already done so, familiarize yourself with the ME distribution requirements on p.145 of the 2003-04 undergraduate catalog. For sophomore year, your goal should be to get a good grounding in the fundamentals, which are the Mechanical Systems stem (probably completing it), some of the Thermofluid Systems stem (at least starting it), and materials science requirement. Therefore, good courses to take sophomore year are Statics (ES2501), Stress Analysis (ES2502), Dynamics (ES2503), Thermodynamics (ES3001), and Intro to Materials (ES2001). There aren't many sequencing issues, except in general to take Statics before the other mechanical systems courses.

If you think you might be interested in an Aero concentration, it's good to take Fluids (ES3004) toward the end of your sophomore year (after you've had DiffyQs), as well as ME2713 (Astronautics). If you think you might be interested in a design concentration, ME2300 might be a good choice for sophomore year. Even though I'm mentioning concentrations, don't worry about them at this point! You don't need to concentrate in anything-- a general ME degree is just as valuable-- and sophomore year is the natural time to get a sense for the breadth of ME through those fundamental distribution requirements. If you become interested in a particular area, you can begin looking at concentrations at the end of sophomore or beginning of junior year.

A common model for sophomores is to take two "technical" and one non-technical course each term, although if you've decided to complete your Sufficiency quickly, then at some point that option runs out! Also continue making progress on your general math/science requirement (4 units which is 12 courses), humanities and arts courses, and perhaps take a social science course if you haven't taken one yet (ultimately 2 will be required). If you're going to schedule your final Suff project for sophomore year, that counts as one course. In other words, that term you'll register for two courses plus your Suff.

Planning Tips for Junior Year

For courses, your goal should be to complete almost all of the fundamental courses (Mechanical Systems stem, Thermofluid Systems stem, Materials, EE, and ME3901-Experimentation). Also, begin ticking off the more specific requirements (the lower set of boxes): mechanical system design, thermofluid system design, realization, etc.

If one particular area of ME is appealing to you more than others, then take a look at 3000- and 4000-level courses in those areas. (Often the Concentration requirements can help you identify core courses in each area.) If you're interested in Design, taking ME3310 (Kinematics) in A-term is always a good choice. If no particular area appeals to you more than others, then continue to take a breadth of courses in several areas, and strategically pick them to meet some of those key requirements at the bottom of p. 145.

If you have the recommended background and it fits in your schedule, consider taking a 4000-level course in junior year. Three 4000-level courses are a requirement, and you may not want to save all three for senior year. If you'll be doing your IQP on campus, then you'll most likely stretch it out over three terms-- 1/3 unit each in A,B,C terms or B,C,D terms. (You can begin looking at available projects on the Projects Program web page.) And finally, how are you coming along with those PE courses?

Planning Tips for Senior Year

The requirements that you're likely to have remaining are some 4000-level courses (total of three are required), and probably the thermofluid system design requirement and/or the mechanical system design requirement and capstone design requirement. If your MQP is going to be design-oriented, then it is likely to satisfy the capstone design requirement. The only person who will be able to tell you for sure is your MQP advisor. But fortunately, many of the courses that count for the mechanical and thermofluid system design requirements also satisfy the capstone design requirement, so it may not end up being an issue for you.

If you'll be doing your MQP on campus, definitely plan to begin your MQP in A-term, since often an extra 1/6 unit is necessary at the end. Again, the most usual process is to stretch it out, 1/3 unit each in A-B-C terms with 1/6 in D-term. You should begin the process of looking for a MQP by the end of C-term or the beginning of D-term your junior year. Some MQP opportunities will be advertised on the web; others you may need to find by talking directly with professors. If you have your own idea for a MQP, then you'll need to find a faculty member who's interested/willing to be your advisor.

Last but definitely not least, as you're thinking about your senior year, consider whether the BS/MS program might be a good choice for you. You would need to apply in the spring semester of your junior year, and take two graduate courses during your senior year. Those courses would count both toward your B.S. and M.S., enabling you to decrease the amount of time it takes to earn a M.S. degree. For more details, go to the B.S./M.S. program website.