BSME students need to be aware of some changes set to take effect in Fall 2025. There are some slight ME-specific curriculum changes and the implementation of the new Essential Education program by the university.
It is really important that you stop in to see an MAE advisor to review how these changes do/might affect you and determine if you want to move up to the new BSME and/or Essential Ed requirements or not. Fall 2025 registration begins on March 9th.
First, let’s lay out the BSME changes that will apply to all current students not graduating in Spring/Summer 2025:
- All MEEM courses will become ME courses. By and large the course numbers will remain the same and the same number for MEEM and ME will be equivalent courses.
- MEEM 2901 will increase from 2 to 3 credits. If you took the 2-cr version of MEEM 2901 already or are in it right now (or take it in the summer), that is fine. If you take the 3-cr version of the course and stay on the older BSME requirements (prior to Fall 2025), the surplus credit will count towards your total technical elective credits required.
- MEEM 3901 will increase from 2 to 3 credits. If you took the 2-cr version of MEEM 3901 already or are in it right now, that is fine. If you take the 3-cr version of the course and stay on the older BSME requirements (prior to Fall 2025), the surplus credit will count towards your total technical elective credits required.
- MEEM 3600 (3 cr) will become ME 3601 (4 cr). And the pre-req for ME 3601 will only be ME 2901. ME 3601 will remain a concurrent pre-req for ME 4901/ENT 4950. If you took MEEM 3600 already or are in it right now, that is fine. If you take ME 3601 and stay on the older BSME requirements (prior to Fall 2025), the surplus credit will count towards your total technical elective credits required.
- ME 3400 will have some content updates from MEEM 3400 and MSE 2100 has been added as a non-concurrent pre-req to ME 3400.
- For students that move up to the Fall 2025 Essential Education set of requirements, EC 3400 will no longer be a required course. It can still be taken/counted towards Essential Education as a SHAPE course if that requirement isn’t already satisfied for you. If you stay on the older BSME requirements (prior to Fall 2025), then EC 3400 will still be a required course for you.
Example: for a student that stays on the current BSME flowcharts (gold/blue), takes EC 3400, and has the newer versions of all 3 of the other courses above, their technical electives requirement will be adjusted from 15 credits to 12 (12 to 9 for enterprise).
Also, students that do move up to the newer BSME/Essential Ed requirements, but already have a lower-credit version of a course, that credit can be made up with free electives (virtually any credits). Example: for a student that moves up to Fall 2025 BSME flowcharts (beige/salmon) and has the older 2-cr MEEM 2901 but takes the 3-cr ME 3901 and 4-cr ME 3601, their free electives requirement will be adjusted from 3 credits to 4.
Regarding Essential Education, the structure is similar to the current general education (Core/HASS) requirements, but the names of the lists and the courses on each list are changing and there will be some minors that can be used to help fulfill Essential Ed if desired by the student. No current students must move onto the Essential Ed requirements, but anyone that wants to can choose to. Again, it is really important that you stop in to see an MAE advisor. We can mark both an older (gold or blue) flow chart for you and a newer ME flow chart with Essential Ed also (beige or salmon) to map out how each pathway could work for you and determine how many credits remain for either option, etc.
- General Education Core requirements (UN 1015, UN 1025, Critical and Creative Thinking, Social Responsibility & Ethical Reasoning) are replaced by what Essential Education calls First-Year Experience (Michigan Tech Seminar, Composition, Foundations of the Human World).
- The seminar is covered by ENG 1101.
- Composition is still UN 1015.
- Foundations of the Human World is a list of 3-cr courses to choose from.
- There are also math, natural/physical science, and STEM requirements, but those are covered by required major courses for ME students.
- HASS requirements will be replaced by a Distribution Pathway. One 3-cr course to be chosen from each of these lists instead of the HASS lists.
- Communication Intensive
- Intercultural Competency (this list only has 3000+ level courses)
- Arts and Culture
- SHAPE (Social Sciences, Humanities, and the Arts for People and the Economy) – a second course taken from these other lists will count towards the SHAPE requirement plus some more choices beyond that.
- Essential Education Experience (this list only has 3000+ level courses)
- There is also a second STEM requirement that is covered by required major courses for ME students.
- Co-Curricular Activities (mostly PE) become Activities for Well-being and Success. Instead of 3 units of activities outside of the required credits for the degree, these activities become 3 required credit hours and do count towards the 128 total required credits to graduate. However, for these courses, grades are not counted toward a student’s overall GPA. Activities courses will become freely repeatable also.
- An Essential Education minor, if so designated, can replace the Distribution Pathway above. Interested students should consult with a minor advisor on the those requirements.
Full Essential Education information is here:
https://www.mtu.edu/registrar/essential-education/program-requirements/
Transfer students: if you have satisfied the MTA, then that wipes out all Essential Ed requirements, although free electives may have to be increased to maintain the required 128 total credits to graduate.
Aerospace Engineering majors must complete Essential Education requirements. The BSAE degree program does not exist before Fall 2025, so the older gen ed is not an option for that degree. Double major ME/AE students should consult with an MAE advisor to determine if the older gen ed or Essential Ed makes sense for their BSME requirements.
Again, see an MAE advisor to discuss.