What Are the Different Types of Mechanical Engineering Degree Requirements?

Mechanical engineering broadly concerns itself with understanding the process of designing and producing engines, machines, and other mechanical devices. Students studying for a degree in mechanical engineering need a broad background in mathematics, science, and engineering principles, in addition to more specific courses in mechanical construction and analysis. Mechanical engineering degree requirements for undergraduates cover these areas, and can include a project in which the student applies his or her knowledge in helping produce a mechanical product.

Most undergraduate degrees in engineering are bachelor of science degrees, so the mechanical engineering degree requirements for students in their first two years heavily emphasize courses in math and science. These will usually include both single variable calculus, multiple variable calculus, and linear algebra. Mechanical engineering students will also have to take courses in elementary chemistry and physics.

Different engineering disciplines are built upon the same set of general principles for systematically solving problems and designing products. Engineering students from different fields usually begin by taking courses together that teach the fundamentals of engineering and professionalism in engineering. After these introductory courses, they will begin to take classes that are specific to their individual disciplines within the field. The mechanical engineering degree requirements for these specialized courses generally cover the physics of heat transfer, the workings of internal combustion engines, composite materials, and fluid mechanics.

Some programs include a senior project as one of the mechanical engineering degree requirements. These require the student to take what he or she has learned during college and apply it to creating a mechanical system. Such projects can be as simple as creating a remote-controlled vehicle that is solar powered, or as complex as creating a high-performance race car that is solar powered. Students can undertake these projects individually, or join into campus engineering teams that work on long-term projects to fulfill this requirement.

Graduate mechanical engineering degree requirements generally include having already earned an undergraduate degree in the field itself. These programs build upon the knowledge that students gained while obtaining bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering, without which candidates would not be able to succeed as a graduate student. Some schools allow students with technical degrees in fields other than mechanical engineering to enroll in their programs. These students are often required to show that they possess the same knowledge as someone who graduated with a degree in mechanical engineering through equivalent coursework, demonstrating their knowledge to engineering professors, or taking additional undergraduate coursework before beginning the program.