General Guidelines
Students who apply for admission to UMBC and select Mechanical Engineering as their desired major are not automatically admitted into the Mechanical Engineering program. Students are admitted into the program only after successfully completing four gateway courses.
NOTE: Incoming freshmen and transfer students should familiarize themselves with our Academic Policies relating to the gateway and repeating courses as these are critical for admission and success in the Mechanical Engineering program.
Students should consult with the UMBC Office of Undergraduate Admissions for university admissions requirements.
Curriculum
Mechanical engineering students begin their studies by acquiring a solid foundation in mathematics, physics and design. Higher-level courses cover the fundamental principles in the areas of solid mechanics, thermo fluids and design and manufacturing systems. Laboratory and elective courses give students the opportunity to test these principles and apply them individually and as teams in projects that involve design challenges from the material processing, energy conversion and aerospace industries, among others. You can find the recommended four-year academic pathway here, as well as tools to help you create your individualized degree plan.
The Undergraduate Curriculum leads to the BS degree in Mechanical Engineering. For students who are interested and qualify, the same curriculum can lead to an accelerated BS/MS program. Students must earn a total of 127 credits (plus 3 PHED credits) and meet specific course selection criteria for graduation. To provide students with guidance throughout their undergraduate program, the Mechanical Engineering Department has established an academic advising process that matches each student with a faculty member who can provide advice on course selection and career opportunities.
Course Descriptions
A detailed description of the Mechanical Engineering courses can be found at UMBC Undergraduate Catalog (select the most recent undergraduate catalog). Select the course descriptions tab or browse for Mechanical Engineering courses (ENME) under E.
Annual Course Offerings
Core Mechanical Engineering courses will be offered on the schedule below.
| Course | Fall | Spring | Summer |
| ENES101 | X | X | – |
| ENME110 | X | X | X |
| ENME204 | X | X | – |
| ENME217 | X | X | – |
| ENME220 | X | X | X |
| ENME221 | X | X | – |
| ENME301 | X | X | – |
| ENME303 | X | X | – |
| ENME304 | X | X | – |
| ENME320 | X | X | – |
| ENME321 | X | X | – |
| ENME332L | X | X | – |
| ENME360 | X | X | – |
| ENME403 | X | X | – |
| ENME432L | X | X | – |
| ENME444 | X | X | – |
| ENME482L | X | X | – |
Capstone Design Experience
All Mechanical Engineering students take courses in Engineering Design as part of the core curriculum. The ME Design Experience culminates in a capstone design project, completed as part of a team and designed to provide the students with the type of work they will be performing as practicing engineers. The projects require hands-on participation in the design process and students learn the progression from identification of customer needs to concept generation and the entire design-build-test cycle. Course topics include system engineering, project management, engineering economics, team dynamics, and legal and ethical responsibility of today’s engineers. Formal technical documentation and oral presentations are emphasized as critical professional skills.
Laptop Requirements
The Mechanical Engineering Department requires all incoming freshman to have their own laptop computer. Computer-aided-design (CAD) software and Matlab will be critical tools to support your classes and projects. Some classes will require that you bring your laptop to work on assignments during class. Student versions of design and analysis applications are available for free or at highly discounted prices. Word processing, spreadsheet, and presentation applications will also be important. While the latest laptops will be sufficient for most purposes, CAD software can be particularly demanding so we recommend that you consult software manufacturers’ websites for their current computer specification recommendations: Autocad Inventor, PTC Creo, and SolidWorks. The Division of Information Technology website will also provide useful information about campus computing resources.
Recommended Minimum Requirements:
Hard Disk Size 512 GB SSD
CPU Model Core i7
Ram Memory 16 GB
Operating System
Windows 10 with windows 11 upgrade license
Graphics NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060
Wireless Card and rj45 network connection
Software Requirements:
MS Office
Autodesk Inventor (free download of student version)
MATLAB (free student version or use VMware client to run virtually from a campus machine)
Softwares available for student download can be found here.
For student financial aid eligibility, the laptop requirement can be figured into the total Financial Aid need calculations when applying; contact the UMBC Financial Aid Office for details.
Entrepreneurship
Interested students may also pursue a minor in Entrepreneurship through the Alex Brown Center for Entrepreneurship by taking a combination of entrepreneurship courses and Mechanical Engineering courses that include entrepreneurial skills development. If you have questions, please contact the Mechanical Engineering Department.