College of Engineering
Department of Mechanical Engineering
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Applying to Mechanical Engineering Graduate Programs

Applicants should have the following materials and qualifications ready to submit:

  • Application + application fee
  • Academic records: Electronic unofficial transcripts are acceptable for the application
  • Minimum 3.0/4.0 GPA or equivalent is required
  • Statement of Purpose
  • Resume
  • Letters of recommendation: A minimum of three (3) letters of recommendation are required for the PhD and MS program. ISU graduates and MEng applicants may submit two letters of recommendation for admission consideration. Submission of complete application before the posted deadline is required for financial support consideration.
  • English language: International students must also meet the English requirement. It can be met by earning a minimum score for an English test (IELTS, TOEFL, etc). It can also be met by earning a four-year degree in a country whose primary language in English. More information can be found here.
  • Prerequisite courses: We welcome applicants from non-ME and non-engineering undergraduate majors. We may require or recommend prerequisite courses based on your academic background. Applicants are advised to consult the Graduate Programs Office to discuss their particular requirements. While it is not a required qualification, we strongly encourage applicants to have an undergraduate degree or background in STEM. Students without this background may experience challenge in courses without the background.
  • Ph.D. and M.S. only: Previous research experience (not required, but recommended)
  • M.Eng. only: U.S. residency is required for the M.Eng. in ME online program
    Find more information for U.S. Students and International Students
  • GRE scores (not required but may be submitted if available; recommended minimum GRE scores are 145 for Verbal, 155 for Quantitative and 3.0 for Writing)

Admissions FAQs (Frequently Asked Questions)

You are welcome to submit official copies of your materials any time after you submit your application. However, official copies are not required until after you have been offered admission.

1. Download the PDF copy of the Letter of Recommendation form, complete Sections 1 and 3, and save the completed form.

2. Send the form to your recommender. You must include the megradapp@iastate.edu e-mail address so your recommender will know where to send the form once completed.

Most offers of admission include an offer of financial assistance. Teaching assistantships are determined by the Graduate Committee. If a faculty member has funding and space in their research group, they may make offers for research assistantships from the group of applicants deemed eligible by the Graduate Committee. (For more information on the review process, please see “Have I been admitted?” below.)

New applicants can denote their interest in being considered for teaching and research assistantship positions on their graduate application. Once in the program, students’ assistantships are arranged by their major professors.

Tuition and fee information for each semester may be found on The Office the Registrar’s website. Students on assistantship will receive a half (M.S.) or full (PhD) tuition scholarship.)

We highly recommend you arrange to have your scores sent before the application deadline. However, it is acceptable for your GRE and TOEFL score reports to arrive after the application deadline as long as it is during the review process, which is one to two weeks after the application deadline. If your reports arrive within the above timeframe after the deadline, your chances of being admitted or receiving financial assistance will not be affected unless final admission decisions have all been made. You can send an inquiry to the Office of Admissions regarding the status of your application.

Note: You can submit scanned copies of your exam scores with your application, but you will need to have official copies sent directly from the testing for validation if offered admission.

In most cases, this means that we have not yet received your official GRE and/or TOEFL score report from ETS. If you have already requested ETS to send your official scores, you need not take any further action.

On the application, you are asked to indicate your GPA at each institution attended. You should provide the GPA attained and the maximum grade attainable in the grading system used at your institution. Please report your GPA as it is reported by your institution. You do not need to convert it.

If you are already committed to a research-oriented career (industry or academia) then you should considering applying directly to the PhD program. For the purposes of flexibility you can let faculty know in your Statement of Purpose that you would be willing to be considered for admission to the master’s program.

Application Timeline and Decision Status

Application Deadlines

Research-based Ph.D. and M.S. degrees (an initial review will occur within two weeks)

  • Fall admission: February 7
  • Spring admission: September 1

Coursework-only M.Eng. degrees (a decision will be made within two weeks)

  • Fall admission: July 15
  • Spring admission: December 1

Application Funnel

  1. Prepare and submit application and all materials before deadline
  2. After deadline, the ME Admissions Committee will review all applications
  3. The Committee will determine the top research degree applications to make teaching assistantships offers
  4. All M.S. and Ph.D. applications are provided to faculty for admission and research assistantship offers
  5. When a faculty member wants to make an admission or research assistantship offer to an applicant, then will contact the ME Graduate Programs Office directly
  6. The Graduate Programs Office will start to process the application. The applicant will be contacted when an offer is ready.

Waiting Period

Once the deadline has passed, our graduate programs staff will make an effort to let you know if your application is complete or missing any materials. If you wish, you may inquire the status of your application within the Admissions Application Portal.

Due to the high volume of applications received in the Office of Admissions and our Graduate Programs Office, you may not receive acknowledgement that we have received your applications or supporting materials.

However, if we do not receive the necessary academic records (and graduate examination scores, if required) within a reasonable time after your application is received, we will send you an e-mail notifying you that your application is incomplete and prompting action. If you receive this e-mail, you must complete this action to be considered for admission into our program.

The Mechanical Engineering department has a Graduate Committee made up of faculty members that make admissions decisions. The committee only reviews completed applications. Once your application package is complete, the contents are cataloged and forwarded to our Graduate Education Committee. All applications are held for review until after the application deadline—there are no early decisions. The application packages of applicants who are deemed qualified for admission by the committee will be forwarded to the faculty for admission and assistantship consideration.

Decisions

Most admission decisions are made before the end of prior semester (December for spring admission and May for fall admission). However, students may still be offered admission later.

Individual faculty cannot comment on an applicant’s chances for admission, so we ask that you do not contact faculty directly regarding your admission status.

If you are not admitted, your completed application may be reconsidered for the following semester after your original application semester (for example, if you applied in fall, you can be reconsidered in spring). Your application is valid only for one year.

Offered Admission?

Now that you have received the admission letter from the department, the Office of Admission will be processing your application for the official admission documents. The Office of Admission may contact you directly if they need additional information to process your admission documents. This may include official TOEFL/IELTS scores, financial documentation, or other required documents needed to issue your official admission.

Ready to accept your admission offer? Please email megradapp@iastate.edu to accept. Orientation & Onboarding A list of orientation items is available and provides a clear list of how to get started at ISU! Transferring Credits With the approval of the Graduate College and the POS Committee, coursework taken at another institution in the pursuit of a graduate degree can be transferred to your program of study for your ME graduate degree.

The Graduate College requires that 36 of the 72 credits for a PhD credits and 22 of the 30 M.S. credits be taken at Iowa State. Please refer to the Graduate College Handbook, Chapter 6, to review Graduate College Policy on transferring credits. You cannot begin the transfer process until you have selected a major professor and committee and are ready to complete your Program of Study and Committee (POSC) form.