Advising

ME Program Advisement Policy

The Mechanical Engineering (ME) Program considers student advisement as crucial for student success in the Program, and as an integral component of faculty duties. The following policies have been developed to complement the general advising policies set forth by the College of Engineering.

Student Assignment to Advisors

All entering first year ME students are assigned advisors as outlined on the Henry M. Rowan College of Engineering Advising page.
Upon entering the ME Program, transfer students are assigned to Dr. Smitesh Bakrania.
If a student wishes to change his/her advisor, the request should be made in writing to the ME Department Head, Dr. Ratneshwar Jha, and to the ME faculty member whom the student would prefer to have as advisor. The student, the original advisor, and the new advisor will be notified if the request is granted.
For any other advising related questions, students may contact Professor Melanie Amadoro, ME Undergraduate Program Coordinator.

Advanced Placement and Transfer Credits

If you are interested in applying AP and/or credits from other institutions toward program requirements, please refer to the registrar's web page for information on transferring credits: Credit Transfers If you wish to take credits at community colleges, please refer to the course equivalency page to determine if courses are equivalent to Rowan courses. The web page can be found here: Course Equivalents. Please note that if you are taking classes at other institutions, you must obtain an official transcript from that institution and submit to the Rowan registrar so the credits you earned can be noted on your Rowan transcript.

Students who transfer into the Mechanical Engineering program with 30 credits completed are waived from First Year Engineering Clinic 1. Students who transfer into the Mechanical Engineering program with over 60 credits completed are waived from First Year Engineering Clinic 1 and First Year Engineering Clinic 2.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

I have an advising question, who do I ask?

Your academic advisor is listed in Banner under your student profile, email this advisor with questions regarding your Mechanical Engineering curriculum.

First and second year students (freshmen and sophomores) are advised by Mrs. Perez-Colon (last names A – K) or Mrs. Dashefsky (last names L – Z).

If you are a transfer student, your advisor is Dr. Smitesh Bakrania.

My academic advisor wasn’t able to fully help, or I have an unusual issue that still needs to be resolved, where do I go?

Contact Prof. Melanie Amadoro, Undergraduate Program Coordinator at amadoro@rowan.edu.

All course sections for a Mechanical Engineering class I need are full, who do I contact?

Contact the instructor for the course section and ask for a capacity waiver. If the professor is listed as STAFF, contact Dr. Jha (jhar@rowan.edu). It is always helpful to share your Banner ID number and the course CRN number. Note that if the course has reached room capacity the instructor cannot give you a capacity waiver due to fire code restrictions for that classroom. You can check this in the Section Tally before you make the request.

(Please register for an open section of the course if there are seats available before requesting capacity waivers).

I need a waiver for a course outside of Mechanical Engineering (Freshman Engineering Clinic, Sophomore Engineering Clinic, a Math Department course, etc.), who do I contact?

You will need to contact the instructor for the course, or the department that is teaching the course. For a waiver into FEC and SEC, email engr-reg@rowan.edu and provide your Banner ID and course CRN.

I was given a waiver, what do I do now?

After you are given a waiver, you are still required to register for the class. Do this as soon as possible after receiving your waiver.

When should I register for my classes?

Register as early in the morning as possible on the day that registration opens for you. The Banner registration system opens at 7:00 am on the first day of registration.

What is DegreeWorks and how can it help me?

DegreeWorks is a software program within Banner that you can use to track your progress in your curriculum at Rowan University. It is to be used as a guide that shows you what courses you should be taking each term, as well as what courses you have completed or still need to complete. Students should ensure that all requirements listed will be shown as completed in DegreeWorks by the time they apply for graduation.

How do I know if I am on track with my curriculum?

Students should refer to the curriculum guide that is posted on the Mechanical Engineering website to choose their courses and use DegreeWorks to keep track of their progress. Always go by course number, not the course name as other departments offer courses with similar names. Any questions should be brought to your advisor. Students are responsible to ensure that they are taking the necessary courses each semester. A flowchart that shows prerequisites is also on the website.

How can I check course prerequisites?

Students can check all course prerequisites in the Undergraduate Catalog on the main Rowan website. A flowchart that visually shows prerequisites is also on the Mechanical Engineering website.

I am considering a minor, what minors integrate best with the ME degree?

Mechanical engineering covers a wide breadth of topics. We recommend you review the ME Minors page and the engineering minors page to explore options most commonly pursued by our students.

I am considering studying a semester abroad, where do I start?

You may start by reviewing the study abroad programs currently running on the Education Abroad Department website.