Grad School Admission Dilemma: Mechanical Engineering vs. Mathematics Background

[member 428835]

Hi pf!

I was wondering if any of you can lend your opinion on my situation: I've been conditionally accepted into a graduate school for mechanical engineering although my undergrad was in mathematics. Evidently to gain full admission I am required to take a 300 level course, namely fluid mechanics. However, I have taken, from this university, the advanced fluid mechanics at the 500 level (yes, I received graduate credit for this).

My question is, do you agree with the schools decision? If so can you explain why? If not, please let me know.

Thanks a ton! For the record, yes, I am going to contact the university to make sure they are aware of the situation, but I wanted to seek advice before talking with them.

Thanks!

 

[ggb123]

I would argue that it is really irrelevant whether or not people on pf agree with the school's decision. All that can be done is you can explain to the school that you've taken advanced fluid mechanics and think that the requirement you take fluid mechanics there is unnecessary.

They will ultimately decide what they decide and then you can choose whether or not to attend.

 

[member 428835]

Thanks for the reply, and while you're being logical, this is something I'm aware of. I'm trying to think of reasons why they would enforce this...again, thanks for the reply

 

[ggb123]

Without knowing more about the course that you took and the course they want you to take, this is a very unclear situation. You did your undergraduate degree in math, so would I be wrong to assume that the fluid mechanics course you took had a greater emphasis on the theory behind fluid mechanics (i.e. it was a physics course)? If so, maybe they want you to take the course they offer because it offers a greater emphasis on the engineering aspects of fluid mechanics.

If this is in fact the case, the degree to which I would accept taking the course would depend on how comfortable you are with 'an engineer's perspective'. Specifically, I mean knowing the techniques in engineering classes for project planning, making approximations, etc... that sometimes aren't taught in theory oriented classes.

That's my two cents, good luck!

 

[member 428835]

That's an interesting thought (your entire post). And thinking about it, yes, I was taking a physics course with an engineering title...thanks, you've given me some thought here.