School of Engineering

Admission and Transfer Policies

All Applicants

To be admitted to the School of Engineering (Engineering), a student must be admitted to the University of Mississippi (UM) and meet certain academic requirements.

Freshman Applicants

For direct admission into one of the School of Engineering’s degree programs, a student must meet either of the following criteria:

• 24 or higher on the Math portion of the ACT (or SAT equivalent)
• Minimum core high school GPA of 3.2 (no ACT/SAT required).

School of Engineering degree programs require strong mathematics skills. Entering a degree program without one of the following prerequisites may result in more than eight semesters of study:

• 24 or higher on the Math portion of the ACT (or SAT equivalent)
• 76 or higher on the ALEKS PPL Placement Assessment
• B or higher in MATH 125 (or in MATH 121 and 123), or a higher mathematics course.

Change of Major Applicants and Transfer Applicants

For a current UM student or a transfer student from another domestic institution to declare a major within the School of Engineering, the student must have a cumulative collegiate GPA of 2.25 or higher on a minimum of 12 hours on a quality grade scale AND meet one of the following:

• 24 or higher on the Math portion of the ACT (or SAT equivalent)
• 76 or higher on the ALEKS PPL Placement Assessment
• B or higher in MATH 125 (or in both MATH 121 and 123), or a higher mathematics course.

International Applicants

Upon admission to the University in accordance with International Programs requirements, admission to Engineering has an additional component. Though an ACT or SAT score is not required for admission for students who were educated outside the US, international students who intend to seek a degree in Engineering, Mathematics, Chemistry, and other physical science disciplines that require registration in Calculus 1 (Math 261) in their freshman year, must meet either of the following requirements:

• Cambridge O Level International Examination (Math) or equivalent with a passing grade of C or higher, or minimum ACT Mathematics score of 24 (or SAT equivalent)
• 76 or higher on the ALEKS PPL Placement Assessment.  

Academic Regulations

General Education Core Curriculum

The general education requirements of the undergraduate degree programs of the School of Engineering are consistent with The University of Mississippi's tradition of educating engineering leaders through the school's strong interaction with the university's liberal arts programs. Further, these requirements are established to fulfill the school's published mission of preparing "students with a broad-based education" intended to develop "leadership skills" and "communication skills."

The core/general education requirements for the School of Engineering include Writ 101, Writ 102; Math 261-262; and a minimum of 8 credit hours of laboratory science courses as specified by each department.

In addition, 18 credit hours as described below must be taken, but students should check with their department to learn the specific course requirements for an individual program.

Fifteen Credits of Liberal Arts

Students must complete at least 15 semester hours consisting of social/behavioral sciences, humanities, and fine arts course work. At least 6 credit hours must be in the social/behavioral sciences, and at least 9 credit hours must be in combined humanities and fine arts courses with at least 3 semester hours from each of these areas. For the purpose of these requirements, social/behavioral sciences will include anthropology, economics, political science, psychology, and sociology; humanities will include classics, literature, history, modern languages, philosophy, religion, African American Studies, Gender Studies, and Southern Studies; and fine arts will include courses in the history, appreciation, and criticism of art, dance, music, and theatre arts. (Courses emphasizing the enhancement of skills and performance are not acceptable.) Honors courses may be used to meet these requirements as appropriate.

Three credits of additional general education course work

Students must complete an additional 3 semester hours of course work beyond the 15 hours required above. These additional 3 hours are to be composed of any additional fine arts, humanities, or social science course work (as defined above) or any combination of credits from the courses listed below:

Cooperative Education Program

A student desiring to participate in the new School of Engineering Professional Practice Program (Cooperative Education) must obtain approval from his or her department chair. The three defined co-op work terms are fall, spring, and full summer as defined by the UM Academic Calendar. Students desiring to enroll in the program will be registered for C OP 300 and have an approved internship offer for a minimum of 37.5 hours per week for the full duration of the academic term (or a minimum of 12 weeks during the summer). Enrollment status during a co-op work term is equivalent to a full academic load at the University of Mississippi. The Engineering Dean's Office will administratively enroll co-op students. The enrolled co-op student is considered full-time for insurance purposes and the deferment of loan re-payment. C OP 300 may serve as a prerequisite for departmental technical elective credit-bearing courses.

Students participating in a co-op work term must submit required documentation to the School of Engineering Dean's Office to remain in good standing.

School of Engineering Overall Degree Requirements

Basic Degree Requirements

All of the curricula of the School of Engineering leading to a Bachelor of Science or Bachelor of Engineering degree are four-year curricula. The curricula requirements for the degrees of Bachelor of Science in Chemical Engineering, Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering, Bachelor of Science in Computer Science, Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering, Bachelor of Science in Geological Engineering, Bachelor of Science in Geology, Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering, and Bachelor of Engineering are listed in their respective sections of the catalog.

Technical Electives

In some programs, students are allowed to choose a coherent group of courses from appropriate areas to permit the student to pursue particular topics in more depth than provided by required courses or to complement the student's major area of study. Selection of these courses should be made in consultation with and approved by the student's department chair/adviser.

Minors

Students pursuing any of the ten degree programs within the School of Engineering may choose to declare a minor. A minor field may be any discipline that offers a minor at the University of Mississippi with the exception of chemistry for chemical engineering students, geology for geological engineering students, and computer science for electrical engineering students pursuing the computer engineering option. The required courses and number of hours for each minor field can be found in the university undergraduate catalog. However, no more than 8 credit hours from courses required by the engineering degree may be used toward fulfillment of the minor requirements. A minor is available for students pursuing the Bachelor of Engineering (B.E.) degree if different from the emphasis area within the B.E. program. The engineering math minor is available for all students of the School of Engineering and requirements are specified. The engineering math minor is exempt from this minor policy.

Advising

Each entering freshman and transfer student is assigned to a member of the School of Engineering faculty in their department who acts as the student’s adviser. Students are required to schedule regular conferences with their adviser. In addition, students are encouraged to confer with their advisers or other faculty members as the need arises at times other than the regularly scheduled conferences. A record of advising meetings and degree progress is maintained by the department in which the student is majoring. The purpose for the faculty advising is to ensure that students are completing the appropriate required courses in the proper prerequisite order to meet graduation requirements that have been previously specified to meet ABET, the Institutions of Higher Learning (IHL), university, and other criteria.

Honor Code Policy

Honor System

The purpose of the School of Engineering honor system is to inculcate in each student the highest standard of personal integrity and professional responsibility. The honor pledge below stresses student honesty both in and out of the classroom. For dealing with infractions, the School of Engineering adopted the University policy "Student Academic Conduct and Discipline".

"I PLEDGE MYSELF TO UPHOLD THE HIGHEST STANDARDS OF HONESTY IN MY UNIVERSITY LIFE AND I WILL NOT TOLERATE DISHONESTY ON THE PART OF OTHERS."

Application for Degree

During the semester prior to completing degree requirements for a particular degree, each student is required to make formal application for that degree. The process includes the student completing the Degree Application found on the School of Engineering website under Current Students. This application must be submitted to the student's department for review. With departmental approval, the Engineering Dean's Office will then authorize the student's Diploma Application in MyOleMiss. When the student completes the Diploma Application, the student is considered an official candidate for graduation for the specified term. The Dean's office will verify whether all degree requirements have been fulfilled using the Degree Audit system. In addition to University GPA requirements, all undergraduate degree programs in the School of Engineering require that students earn a GPA of at least 2.00 in all courses taken from the School of Engineering applicable to their degree. The Dean's office then certifies degrees that have been fulfilled in a Degree Confirmation report to the Office of the Registrar for the granting of the diploma.