Bachelor of Mechanical Engineering at University of California, Berkeley

Bachelor of Science (BS)

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.

Minor Program

The department offers two minor programs, one in Mechanical Engineering and one in Aerospace Engineering. For admission to either minor program, students must have a minimum overall grade point average (GPA) of 3.00 as well as a minimum 3.00 GPA in the prerequisite courses. For information regarding the prerequisites for each of the minors, please see the Minor Requirements tab on this page.

After completion of the prerequisite courses, students will need to complete and submit to the Mechanical Engineering Student Services Office (Room 6189/6193 Etcheverry) a Petition for Admission form which can be found here. The department will verify the completion of the minor and send the paperwork to the appropriate parties after final grades are available.

Joint Majors

The Department of Mechanical Engineering also offers two joint majors with other departments in the College of Engineering. For further information on these programs, please click the links below:
Materials Science and Engineering/Mechanical Engineering (Department of Materials Science and Engineering)
Mechanical Engineering/Nuclear Engineering (Department of Nuclear Engineering)

Visit Department Website

The objectives of the Mechanical Engineering undergraduate program are to produce graduates who do the following:

1. Vigorously engage in post-baccalaureate endeavors, whether in engineering graduate study, in engineering practice, or in the pursuit of other fields such as science, law, medicine, business or public policy.
2. Apply their mechanical engineering education to address the full range of technical and societal problems with creativity, imagination, confidence and responsibility.
3. Actively seek out positions of leadership within their profession and their community.
4. Serve as ambassadors for engineering by exhibiting the highest ethical and professional standards, and by communicating the importance and excitement of this dynamic field.
5. Retain the intellectual curiosity that motivates lifelong learning and allows for a flexible response to the rapidly evolving challenges of the 21st century.

Skills

The Department of Mechanical Engineering has adopted the ABET Outcomes as its Program Outcomes. Mechanical Engineering graduates have the following:

1. An ability to apply knowledge of mathematics, science, and engineering.
2. An ability to design and conduct experiments as well as to analyze and interpret data.
3. An ability to design a system, component, or process to meet desired needs within realistic constraints such as economic, environmental, social, political, ethical, health and safety, manufacturability, and sustainability.
4. An ability to function on multi-disciplinary teams.
5. An ability to identify, formulate, and solve engineering problems.
6. An understanding of professional and ethical responsibility.
7. An ability to communicate effectively.
8. The broad education necessary to understand the impact of engineering solutions in a global, economic, environmental, and societal context.
9. A recognition of the need for and an ability to engage in life-long learning.
10. A knowledge of contemporary issues.
11. An ability to use the techniques, skills, and modern engineering tools necessary for engineering practice.