Students who are not in the Mechanical Engineering major at UW Seattle who wish to register into ME major only coursework should review the information below.
ME 300-level coursework
ME 300-level coursework is designated as ME major only for all registration periods regardless of space or capacity. Only students in other engineering majors who have demonstrated need (such as a course fulfilling an equivalent degree requirement not taught by the students home department), will be permitted to register on a space-available basis.
To request your registration into 300-level Major only coursework, students can email meadvise@uw.edu on the first day of the quarter on the conditions that:
- Space is available in the section(s) requested
- The course satisfies a degree requirement not met otherwise
- You satisfy the prerequisite requirement (if you plan to use an equivalent course not listed in the catalog, permission must be obtained from the instructor and a copy of the correspondence included with your registration request).
Your email must include your STUDENT NUMBER and the SLN(s) for the sections in which you are requesting registration.
ME 400-level coursework
ME 400-level coursework is available for registration to any non-major student or graduate student during Period 3 (beginning on the first day of the quarter). Registration restrictions are built into the system, so please self register without the need for add codes. If you are missing prerequisites, please follow the instructions listed above for 300-level courses.
Pre-major, pre-science, ENGRUDs or similar major codes are not permitted to enroll into ME 300-level or higher coursework (with exception for ME 398).
Registration into courses is the purview of the departmental advising office – instructors are unable to grant exceptions or provide add codes to students that breaches these policies.
Summer quarter course offerings might have different enrollment restrictions than when the courses are offered during the academic year. Please see the notes on the summer quarter time schedule for information on enrollment restrictions.
ME Advising does not maintain waitlists, so if a course is full, you should sign up for Notify.UW to be notified if a seat becomes available. In many cases, if the course is taught in a subsequent quarter, our advice would be to adjust your plan accordingly. For example, ME 323 often fills in Autumn so you are free to sign up for notifications in hopes that someone drops, but we recommend moving forward with an alternative plan that anticipated ME 323 be taken in the Winter quarter. On the ME Undergraduate Canvas page, students in the major can access the Quarters Courses Taught document that will be helpful in guiding through alternative plans.
How to register for ME 123: Visualization and Computer-Aided Design (4) A&H/NSc
If you are receiving a registration error indicating the course is full – it is. It might be hard to understand why you are getting this message when it appears a particular section has space, but the registration system is very accurate. ME 123 has two combined sections – A and B. One particular section may indicate enrollment is at 161 of 154, while the other is at 4 of 14. The important part is when combined, the total is reaching the true limit of 165 and sending you the error for a full course. MyPlan does not provide you live data, so please continue clicking the SLN number until you reach a screen like this to verify the true enrollment. You will see the status indicated as closed signaling to you, the course is full.
No add codes or waitlist are offered for ME 123. It’s taught every quarter including Summer, so please listen to the registration errors and sign onto notifications to register on space-available basis. You can only register when space is available in both the lecture (A or B) and the lab component of a course (AA-AG or BA-BG). They cannot be taken separately.
Changing from A section to B section (or vice versa)
If you wish to change between the A section and B sections, you need to do that through your registration page. Changes can be made through the 14th calendar day of the quarter. If you are switching while the course is full, your swap needs to be done in two separate transactions. First, drop the undesired lecture and lab and click submit. Then, within seconds, be sure to add the desired SLNs for the lecture and lab and click submit to be registered. Other students will be racing to get that now opened spot, so don’t hesitate to register as space is first-come.
Grading method: Decimally graded (A section) or CR/NC (B section)
Mechanical Engineering students or students intended on majoring in ME must register into the A section. The A section provides a decimal grade, allowing you to count the course towards a major requirement. For ME students, ME 123 will double count as A&H credit plus serve as your general engineering requirement.
Students from other departments taking the course for A&H credit or as a general elective, may choose either section.
A 0.7 or higher is considered passing and awards you credit if registered into section A. For students in section B, the grading cut off to earn Credit is determined by your instructor but historically at a 2.6 or higher.
How to register for Engineering Internship Credit (ENGR 321)
Have you secured an internship that is at least 50% engineering related? Read below for information on how to register for engineering internship credit.
ENGR 321: Engineering Internship Education
The CC@E (Career Center @ Engineering) offers internship credit (ENGR 321). Review the CC@E’s Internship Credit website for more information on the course, how to register, fee structure and deadlines to register.
Up to 4 credits of ENGR 321 can be applied to the Mechanical Engineering 19-credits of senior electives. For students in degree options (Biomechanics or Mechatronics), you may petition for credits to apply only if internship was related to a specific degree option pathway.
Students can still register for more than 4 credits of internship credits, but any credits of ENGR 321 taken in excess will count as a general elective.
How to register for research (ME 299 / ME 499)
Have you found a research position? If your research is overseen by a tenure-track faculty member, and your project is Mechanical Engineering in nature, you are eligible to earn ME 299 or ME 499 credit. Read below for information on how to register for research credit.
Course options
We offer two courses for undergraduate research credit – one for freshmen or sophomores and another for juniors or seniors.
- ME 299 - Independent Project (1-3, max. 10)
ME 299 is intended for freshmen and sophomores conducting research in Mechanical Engineering under the guidance of a tenure-track faculty member affiliated with the department of Mechanical Engineering. Students with faculty mentors outside of Mechanical Engineering, such as those at UW Medicine or another engineering department, are still eligible to register but a second step is required. - ME 499 Special Projects (1-5, max. 6)
ME 499 is intended for students who have started ME 300-level coursework and are ready to apply higher level concepts to advanced topics in research. Students in the major should select the option to earn a decimal grade if you wish to apply the credits towards your 19-credits of senior electives.
Registration process
Special project registration form- After securing a research position and discussing the specifics of what will be carried out for the research with their faculty sponsor, the student initiates the process by sending the Special Project Registration Form to the faculty mentor via Docusign.
- Faculty mentors should discuss with the student the expectations and deliverables for the project that align with the credits requested on the form. The faculty member will then sign digitally and take note of the agreed upon expectations.
- Docusign will then route the signed copy to ME Advising to initiate the registration process. Signed forms must be completed within the first week of a quarter to allow for registration in alignment with the academic calendar.
FAQs
- We strongly encourage students to register for research in advance of the start of the quarter to avoid late registration fees and to ensure they are set up for productive research in the quarter.
- To allow time for processing, we recommend getting the completed form to advising no later than the first week of the quarter.
- Refer to the academic calendar for deadlines to add a class.
Students can take 1 to 3 credits of ME 299 each quarter and 1 to 5 credits of ME 499 each quarter. Duplicate registration is allowable if you are involved in multiple research projects.
- Students can earn a total of 10 credits of ME 299
- Students can earn a total of 6 credits of ME 499
- Students who earn ME 299 are able to count those credits towards general electives, but they do not count towards departmental continuation policies for full-time or serve as a degree requirement. It’s nice to have on a transcript, but generally not a "usable credit”.
- Students can earn 6 credits of ME 499, for a decimal grade, and have those apply towards the 19-credits of senior electives. Students in the degree options (Mechatronics and Biomechanics) may have differing rules for research credits, so see your advisor in those cases.
- Students may be mentored by faculty members outside of Mechanical Engineering, but the content of your project MUST be mechanical engineering related. Mentors outside of Mechanical Engineering faculty will need to report to the Associate Chair for Academics, Professor Junlan Wang, at the end of the quarter to discuss your project, share any deliverables and communicate your end of quarter grading.
- Mentors outside of the UW Seattle faculty network are not eligible
No, credit earned in other departments as AA 299, ECE 299, etc., do not meet the criteria for an ME degree requirement. Students conducting research should do so under the 400-level course number for a decimal grade. No project credits of any kind taken as CR/NC can be petitioned for senior electives.
For Registration with a time conflict, please visit ME Undergraduate Canvas page for details or consult the required Registration Transaction Form.