College of Engineering

Prerequisite Requirements

Engineering is a discipline that requires mastery of prerequisite coursework prior to moving forward in the curriculum. Students should plan to repeat any engineering requirement in which a grade of C- or better is not earned. Students are encouraged to carefully adhere to all prerequisite requirements. The instructor is authorized to drop students from a course for which stated prerequisites have not been completed.

Current Curriculum Requirement

Because Engineering is a rapidly developing profession, the things an engineer needs to know change on an almost daily basis. To respond to this, the faculty make changes to the curriculum on a regular basis. In order to ensure that students graduate with the most current engineering knowledge, College of Engineering students must complete the degree requirements in effect in the academic year of graduation or in the immediately preceding academic year. Students in the class of 2014 will need to complete the degree requirements for the 2012-2013 or 2013-2014 academic year. The College of Engineering Bulletin is published every year with current degree requirements. The Bulletin is available at http://engineering.ucdavis.edu/pages/current_students/advising/index.html.

When degree requirements change, a transition plan is developed to ensure that students who are getting regular advising and following recommended course sequences will be able to graduate within four years. Contact your departmental adviser or the Undergraduate Advising Office for more specific information or questions. The list of advisers can be found at http://engineering.ucdavis.edu/undergraduate/advising/index.html.

Unit Requirements

Each candidate for the degree of Bachelor of Science in Engineering must satisfactorily complete an approved curriculum in engineering. No unit of coursework you complete may be used to satisfy two different degree requirements, except under the following conditions:

• College of Engineering students may use course units to satisfy both Revised General Education requirements and course requirements for their major.
• In cases where the catalog specifically states that course units may be used to satisfy two different degree requirements.

Detailed requirements for the approved curricula are given in the Programs and Courses section; to see the courses required in your major, consult this section. The minimum number of required units varies with the curriculum, from 180 to 198. You are responsible for planning your program and satisfactorily completing all degree requirements.

You may, for good cause, request a modification of particular degree requirements by submitting a student petition. These petitions, which are available from your departmental adviser or in the Undergraduate Advising Office, can be a valuable aid in resolving individual program conflicts or other special problems. Such petitions are subject to approval by the Undergraduate Educational Policy Committee, composed of one faculty representative from each department and non voting staff advisers and student representatives. The Associate Dean for Undergraduate Studies serves as ex-officio member of this committee. A negative decision by the committee may be appealed to the College Executive Committee.

Transfer students. To be eligible for transfer into the College of Engineering you must have at least ninety transferable quarter units (sixty semester units) from another institution. To be a competitive applicant, you must have a minimum overall GPA of 3.100.

Highest priority for transfer admission is given to California community college transfer applicants who have completed two transferable English composition courses and all of the required lower division engineering coursework offered at the community college they attended.

We give lower priority for admission to community college applicants who are missing one or two of the required lower division courses. Community college applicants will be denied admission if they are missing three or more of the required lower-division courses.

Priority is next given to junior-level transfers from other UC campuses and other four-year institutions in and out of state. These students must also have completed all of the required lower-division coursework.
Successful applicants are admitted to a specific major. You may be limited in your ability to change majors within the college after you are admitted.

Transfer advising and information. For more specific advice on lower-division requirements for community college students, meet with the transfer counselor at your institution or see the Assist website at http://www.assist.org. Transfer credit agreements are available on the College of Engineering website at http://engineering.ucdavis.edu/undergraduate/transfers/agreements.html. You may also contact the College of Engineering Undergraduate Advising Office (530) 752-1979.

California Community college students should consider a Transfer Admission Guarantee (TAG), which is a formal written agreement specifying the courses you need to complete and the grade point average you need to earn to be admitted. A signed agreement guarantees that you will be admitted to UC Davis in the major you want and for the term you have chosen-provided that you complete the agreement and apply for admission during the open filing period. If you would like more information on the TAG program, see your community college counselor or see http://engineering.ucdavis.edu/undergraduate/transfers/tag.html.

We also participate in the Transfer Opportunity Program, which encourages community college students to transfer to UC Davis and provides them with services to ease the transition. You can use the Transfer Opportunity Program to get information about admission and transfer requirements, academic programs, financial aid, housing, tutoring, campus life and other services.

Upon admission, transfer students are classified as having upper division status, but are obligated to complete all lower division course requirements for the major before your lower division requirements are considered complete. You may, however, start your upper division coursework while completing your lower division requirements provided you meet all prerequisites for the upper division courses.

Credit for Open Campus (Concurrent) Courses. Students may apply a maximum of 16 units of credit for courses taken in the Open Campus (Concurrent) Program through UC Davis Extension towards the 180-unit undergraduate degree requirement. The grade points earned when enrolled in Open Campus courses will count toward the calculation of a student's UC GPA upon his/her admission or readmission to regular student status at UC Davis. Students registered at UC Davis may not enroll in Open Campus courses. Open Campus is not available to students that have been enrolled at UC Davis within the last 12 months and have not graduated, unless an exception letter is provided to Extension by the Associate Dean for Undergraduate Studies of the College of Engineering.

Residence Requirement

Meet university residence requirement. No additional college residence requirements.

Scholarship Requirement

In addition to meeting the university scholarship requirement, you are required to maintain a 2.000 grade point average for all course work within Engineering.

English Composition Requirement; Upper Division

The ability to write well and communicate effectively is cited as one of the most desirable traits sought by prospective engineering employers. Because engineers must be able to explain complex ideas, it is critical that students pay close attention to the development of writing and communication skills. All students admitted to the University must complete the Entry Level Writing Requirement before credit for any composition course or general education writing experience course will be granted.

Once the Entry Level Writing Requirement has been satisfied, there are two distinct composition requirements for engineering students:

• Lower-division composition. Can be satisfied by completion of an Advanced Placement English exam with a score of 4 or 5; International Baccalaureate credit for English 3; or completion of one of the following courses with a grade of C- or better: University Writing Program 1, English 3, Comparative Literature 1-4, or Native American Studies 5.
• Upper division composition. Requirements vary by major. Please see your departmental adviser to determine the coursework that has been approved for your major.

Please note that when coursework is used to satisfy either of the composition requirements, a grade of C- or better must be earned.

Engineering Design Requirement

Engineering design is the process of devising a system, component, or process to meet certain needs. Design involves a decision-making process (often iterative), in which the basic sciences, mathematics and engineering sciences are applied to convert resources optimally to meet a stated objective. Among the fundamental elements of the design process are the establishment of objectives and criteria, synthesis, analysis, construction, testing and evaluation. You must take an appropriate amount of design course work through a combination of required and restricted elective courses. Specific comments about design are included in individual curricula descriptions. You should also review the design content of your individual program with your adviser in the course of completing the upper division advising worksheet.

Electives

In general, there are three kinds of elective courses in the engineering curricula; General Education, Technical and Unrestricted.

General Education Electives. Because, as an engineer, you will be a significant participant in the human setting, you will need to have a breadth of education that will allow you to deal with contemporary social issues and to understand the impact of engineering solutions in the global and societal context. To these ends, you must complete the UC Davis General Education requirement details.

Since all engineering programs are in the Science and Engineering GE topical breadth area, you will fulfill the campus GE requirements by taking courses in the Arts and Humanities and Social Sciences areas.
In satisfying the GE requirement note that (a) you must take GE courses for a letter grade, and (b) you must satisfy the Entry-Level Writing requirement before you can receive writing experience credit for any course.

In consultation with your academic adviser, you should attempt to design a coherent approach to contemporary issues by using your GE electives.

Unrestricted electives. If your curriculum allows for unrestricted electives, you may count any course for which university credit is allowed as an unrestricted elective in the engineering curricula.

Degree Check

Use a Degree Requirement Check sheet for your major to monitor your progress toward completing degree requirements. These check sheets are available in the Undergraduate Advising Office in 1050 Kemper Hall and from your major adviser. The University holds students responsible for knowing and completing all degree requirements. Degree checks are performed as a courtesy to help students make accurate progress toward fulfilling all major, college, and university requirements. Students should request a preliminary degree check three quarters prior to graduation and a follow-up degree check prior to the beginning of a student's final quarter. Requests can be submitted to the Undergraduate Advising Office in 1050 Kemper Hall.