Taking Graduate courses from a different department

[moogull]

I'm headed off to graduate school soon, and I was wondering if it is common or even allowed that a student in Department A take a course on a topic in Department B. In my situation, I will be in the mechanical engineering department, but say I wanted to take a class on rocket propulsion offered by the aerospace engineering department, does this happen?

 

[George Jones]

It can happen, but I think it depends strongly on the particular school and the particular department.

For example, when I did my Ph.D. in Physics, I was required to take certain specific physics courses, and a minimum number of courses. The Physics Department let me count three graduate courses in pure mathematics towards the minimum number.

When you get to grad school, talk to the department. If this might influence your decision about which school to attend for grad school, contact the departments now.

 

[moogull]

Thanks for the feedback George, another question came to mind, how much do different engineering departments at a school collaborate on research projects?

 

[jasonRF]

I'm headed off to graduate school soon, and I was wondering if it is common or even allowed that a student in Department A take a course on a topic in Department B. In my situation, I will be in the mechanical engineering department, but say I wanted to take a class on rocket propulsion offered by the aerospace engineering department, does this happen?

It seems common to me - everyone I knew in grad school took grad classes from at least 2 departments. Likewise, many of the newly minted PhDs I interview take grad classes from multiple deps.