Combined Bachelor's/Master's in Mechanical Engineering

The combined BS/MS in Mechanical Engineering program at UC Santa Barbara seeks to prepare our undergraduate Mechanical Engineering students more deeply and broadly than the Bachelor's program alone. It is envisioned that BS/MS graduates will be highly sought-after by industry, and will have improved chances to enter top academic PhD programs.

This is a project-based Masters program. A distinctive feature of the program is the possibility to select graduate courses in several areas of emphasis in our current ME graduate program, as well as the ability to receive an optional initiation into business education through the UCSB Technology Management Program (TMP). 

The combined BS/MS program is structured so that the number of units required to obtain the combined BS/MS degrees will be the same number of units required to obtain the BS and MS degrees separately. Provisions are made to ensure that courses counted toward the BS degree will not be counted toward the MS degree, and vice-versa. The proposed program of study is similar to the other combined BS/MS degrees currently offered by the UCSB College of Engineering, such as those in Computer Engineering, Computer Science, and Electrical Engineering. Students may also be interested in the combined BS/MS in Mechanical Engineering/Materials program, coordinated by the Department of Materials. For more information, please see the Materials department website.

BS/MS In mECHANICAL eNGINEERING Requirements

Applicants must meet all of the following criteria:

1. Minimum cumulative GPA of 3.2 and a minimum major GPA of 3.5 at the end of the spring quarter of the junior year
2. Currently in the BS Mechanical Engineering program

Timeline

Third Year:

• Fall quarter: Notify department of interest by emailing ME Advisor (megrad@engineering.ucsb.edu)
• Spring quarter: Submit departmental application by July 1st
  • ​Application may be emailed to megrad@engineering.ucsb.edu
• ​Summer quarter: Departmental admission decision mid-August 

Fourth Year: 

• Enroll in 1 engineering elective not counted toward the BS degree (3 units)
• Enroll in 1 graduate level ME course per quarter (9 units)
• Submit Study Plan to ME Advisor for review (winter quarter), demonstrating completion of the Masters in the fifth year.
• Submit Advancement request Memo and Curriculum Memo to COE by May 1st.
• By early-May, you will receive an email from the UCSB Graduate Division with instructions for submitting the Graduate Division application. Application is due by May 15th.
• Receive admissions decision and submit your SIR by June 1st. (Once you have submitted your SIR, you will be advanced to graduate standing)

Fifth Year:

• Complete all remaining requirements for MS

RESOURCES

The Department of Mechanical Engineering offers specialization in six areas of research:

1. Bioengineering and Systems Biology
2. Computational Science and Engineering
3. Dynamic Systems, Control and Robotics
4. Micro and Nanoscale Engineering
5. Solid Mechanics, Materials and Structures
6. Thermal Sciences and Fluid Mechanics 

• List of Grad Core and Grad Elective Approved Courses
• Petition to Enroll in a Graduate Course
• BS/MS Blank Study Plan

PROGRAM OF STUDY

Courses in BOLD are graduate course units.