Undergraduate Advising FAQ

The ME Student Services team will send a list of ME technical electives being provided about two weeks before registration opens via email to the ME student listserve.

At the start of registration, the only open lab section will be Section 999, which will be at the bottom of the list returned by your Browse Classes search. Try searching for open sections only for the lab classes. All students must register for the request section (Section 999) of the ME lab. If Section 999 is closed, the lab is currently at capacity. We cannot exceed the total enrollment capacity, but seats may open, so check back in iRoar periodically.

Student Services is here to help advise in developing your plan. Not passing ME 2010 on your first attempt will impact your GPA, but it is not guaranteed to delay your graduation timeline. Since our courses are designed to build upon one another, you may need to consider summer courses in order to remain on track. You can also academically forgive a course (see the Academic Forgiveness policy), which will remove the course from your GPA Calculations and Credits Earned. If you are concerned about performing below expectations in the course, meet with your professor and be sure to take advantage of the resources in place to assist you. Talk to your advisor if you are doing poorly or are considering dropping the course.

Academic forgiveness requests are submitted via iRoar (iRoar > Student Self-Service > Student Records > Request Academic Forgiveness).

Before submitting an academic forgiveness request: Read the university academic forgiveness policy If you are receiving any financial aid, speak to an advisor in the Financial Aid Office to discuss the potential implications of using academic forgiveness on your financial aid Schedule a meeting with or send an email to your primary academic advisor confirming that you have read the policy in full and spoken with the Financial Aid Office. Your advisor will not approve your academic forgiveness request until they have received email confirmation from you or spoken with you.

Yes, but the course will only count towards your degree requirements if it is approved as transferable to Clemson. Your advisor can help you determine if the class is allowable using the Transfer Course Equivalency database. You will need to get approval using the Credits to be Earned at Other Schools form prior to enrolling in the course.

The first thing you should do is consider your career goals – how would declaring a minor or certificate enable you to achieve your goals? Talk to your advisor to see what a good fit for you might be. Several minors overlap with the ME undergraduate degree requirements: Nuclear Engineering and Radiological Sciences, Mathematical Sciences, Physics, Computer Science, Aerospace, International Engineering and Science, and Business Administration.

As a rising senior in the Mechanical Engineering department, students can consider applying to the bachelor's to graduate program. The program allows students to double-count up to 12 credit hours of technical electives toward both their bachelor's and graduate degree requirements, decreasing the time to a non-thesis master's degree by a full semester. To be considered, undergraduates must have an overall 3.4 GPA or better and have completed their junior year courses. To learn more, students are encouraged to talk to their academic advisor prior to their Senior year.

A co-op is a cooperative educational experience with an industry partner, which allows you to gain a year of relevant experience during your time as a student. Internships typically take place during the summer semester, and you may have multiple internships over the course of your time as a student; if you complete a co-op, you will usually remain with the same industry partner for the duration of that experience.

In addition to the experience you gain, several internships and co-op experiences will compensate you for the work you are doing. Use these opportunities to discover what career path interests you the most!

As a mechanical engineer, you must have completed ME 2010 (Statics and Dynamics) and have above a 2.5 GPA to be considered for a co-op experience. Once you have met the criteria, you will be contacted by the Co-op Office to begin the process of finding a co-op for you. The co-op program is competitive, and having a high GPA and a strong resume will help improve your chances of being hired by an industry partner.

You may find internship offers by visiting the Michelin Career Center; you may also find internship opportunities on company websites or job search platforms. LinkedIn is also a very useful tool to market yourself and look for relevant experiential opportunities.

Completing a year in the co-op program will add semesters to your graduation timeline. A semester internship over the summer will typically not affect your graduation timeline. Talk to your advisor for details regarding your individual graduation timeline.

Yes! There are several different ways you can go abroad, which would enable you to earn academic credit for general education, major, or minor requirements. To determine how this would impact your degree progress, schedule a meeting with your academic advisor. Visit Clemson Abroad to learn more.

Creative Inquiry projects offer students the opportunity to engage in long-term, team-based projects with an emphasis on undergraduate research. CIs also include other academic engagement opportunities (e.g., service-learning, outreach, global engagement, entrepreneurship). Participating in a CI project often leads to citable accomplishments, such as presentations at professional society conferences and publication citations in professional, peer-reviewed publications. There are a variety of topics being studied, and students can view current projects to get a better idea of what opportunities exist.

A Mechanical Engineering student completing 7 credit hours in the same CI has the opportunity to request that the CI project count as a technical elective.