Policies

Basic Program Rule

Students must not take more than one semester of 200-level engineering courses while they are completing the Basic Program. Also, students must earn at least a 2.00 Basic Program GPA AND have an I.S.U. cumulative GPA of 2.00 or higher.

Transfer students are allowed to take 200-level engineering courses while completing the Basic Program for 2 semesters.

If you can answer yes to the following questions, then you have completed the Basic Program:

I have credit in all of the Basic Program courses
The grade point average in all of my basic program courses is a 2.00 or higher
My cumulative GPA at Iowa State is at least a 2.00

If you cannot answer all of these questions with a yes, then you have not completed the Basic Program. This means that if you may take only one semester of 200, or higher, level engineering courses while the Basic Program remains incomplete.

Transfer students are allowed to take 200 level or higher engineering course for two semesters while completing the Basic Program.

Core G.P.A. Rule

The faculty of the Department of Mechanical Engineering require all mechanical engineering students to earn a 2.00 average in the 46 credits of courses making up the core. If a student does not have a 2.00 or higher Core GPA, then the student does not qualify for graduation.

This does not mean that each course must be a 2.00 or higher--the average in the core must be 2.00 or higher. For example if a student earns a B+ in a 4 credit core class and then a D+ in another 4 credit core class, then the average of the two course classes is a 2.00. The student is not required to repeat the course in which he or she earned a D+.

For courses in the core that are transferred into I.S.U., grades for those courses are used to compute the Core GPA, but not the I.S.U. cumulative GPA.

32 Credit Rule

Once a student is within 32 credits of graduation, he or she may not transfer additional credits into Iowa State without prior permission from the Department of Mechanical Engineering. Students wishing to transfer core credits into ISU after reaching the 32 credit threshold may request a waiver only if their core GPA is a 2.00 at the time of the request.

All requests for transfer of core classes within the last 32 credits must be approved by the Department Chair.

Academic Probation

The new policy has two levels – academic warning and academic probation. The semester grade point average (GPA) at the end of every fall and spring semester determines the academic status for all students. A semester GPA of less than a 2.00 will result in academic warning (W), probation (P), or dismissal depending on the status at the beginning of that semester. The new policy also requires students who have attempted or earned 75 credits or more to maintain a cumulative GPA of a 2.00. A cumulative GPA of less than a 2.00 will place the student on probation (P).