Mechanical Engineering
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Program Type
Overview
Mechanical engineers serve society by solving problems in transportation, energy, the environment, and human health. The activity of mechanical engineers extends from the investigation of physical phenomena governing the behavior of our surroundings to the manufacture and evaluation of products. The mechanical engineering profession encompasses numerous technical areas, including acoustics, automatic control, bioengineering, combustion, cryogenics, design, dynamics, energy conversion, engines, environment, heat transfer, lubrication, mass transfer, manufacturing and sustainability, materials processing, mechanics of solids and fluids, mechanisms, plasma dynamics, propulsion, thermodynamics, vibration, and wave propagation.
The undergraduate program in mechanical engineering seeks to provide students with a broad education emphasizing an excellent foundation in scientific and engineering fundamentals. The objectives of the undergraduate program are to prepare undergraduate students for employment or advanced studies with four primary constituencies: industry, the national laboratories, state and federal agencies, and academia (graduate research programs).
Accreditation
Our programs are accredited by ABET, a non-profit and non-governmental accrediting agency for academic programs in the disciplines of applied science, computing, engineering, and engineering technology. ABET is a recognized accreditor in the United States (U.S.) by the Council for Higher Education Accreditation. For information about how the program achieves ABET course outcomes, please see the Department's website.
Admission to the Major
Prospective undergraduates in the College of Engineering will apply for admission to a specific program in the college. For further information, please see the College of Engineering's website.
Admission to Engineering via a Change of College application for current UC Berkeley students is highly unlikely and very competitive as there are few, if any, spaces that open in the college each year to students from other colleges at UC Berkeley. For further information regarding a Change of College to Engineering, please see the College's website.
Five-Year BS/MS Program
This program is for Berkeley ME undergraduates who wish to broaden their education experiences at Berkeley. In contrast to the standard MS program, this BS/MS program is completely course-based. Students in the five-year BS/MS program are also able to take some courses in professional disciplines such as business or public policy. This two-semester program is not intended for students with the desire to continue to the PhD. For further information regarding this option, please see the department's website.