Degree Requirements, Engineering

Degree requirements

The B.S.E. degree is awarded to students each May, September, and December. Students who graduate in September or December receive their diplomas by mail, but they are welcome to take part in commencement exercises the following May. In the fall, the Dean's Office asks each senior to complete a form indicating the expected date of graduation. It is the student's responsibility to request that his or her name be included on the graduation list. A copy of each student's final grade report is sent for review to the Director of Undergraduate Studies of the major department immediately before final graduation lists are prepared. Certification for graduation is made by the Associate Dean and the Director of Undergraduate Studies of the department of the student's first major. In order to graduate a student must have passed 34 semester courses (within a period of 10 academic semesters of enrollment), and must have obtained grades of P, C-, or better in 32 semester courses. In addition, all the curriculum requirements of the Engineering School and the major department, as set forth in the University Bulletin, must be met.

General Requirements

Writing (1)
This requirement is met by completing a University Writing Course.

Mathematics (5)
 The sequence for all four departments is: Mathematics 111L (31L)112L (32L), 212 (103), 216 (107), and 353(108). Additional math courses are required per department, for example BME and CEE require Stats 130 (113) and ECE requires either Math 230(135) or Stats 130 (113).

Natural Science (4)
This requirement is met by completing Chemistry 101DL (31L), Physics 151L (61L) and 152L (62L), and an elective course in one of the natural science departments which presents fundamental knowledge about nature and its phenomena, preferably including quantitative expression.

With regard to the Physics requirement, to satisify the PHYSICS 151L(61L) & 152L(62L) requirement, at least one of the following courses must be taken at Duke:  151L(61L), 152L(62L), 153L(63L), or 264(143), (or, with approval, PHYSICS 361(181), 362(182), or 363(176)). In particular, if a student has AP credit for both 25(61) & 26(62) then he/she must take 153L(63L) or 264(143) (or, with approval, 361(181), 362(182), or 363(176)), or waive AP credit for 142L(62) by taking 152L(62L). If AP credit for 25(61) is waived by taking 151L(61L) then AP credit for 26(62), if earned, is also waived.

Note for the Class of 2013:  A partial list of disallowed courses includes all mathematics, computer science, and statistics courses, as well as all BAA courses, BIO 175LA (10), 152 (42),153 (43D), 159(44), 154(46), 155 (47), 89S (49S), 158 (90), 202L (102L), 207 (107), 133L (111L); CHEM 91 (83); EOS 330 (130); and PHY 135 (35), 136 (36), and 89S (49S).  No environmental sciences and policy, psychology or *seminar* courses with NS codes are accepted as a natural science.  Since new courses are offered that may not be on the disallowed list, you should contact the Director of Undergraduate Studies in your department if you have any questions regarding the acceptability of a particular course.

Note for the Class of 2014 and beyond:  Each department maintains a list of allowed courses that will satisfy the Natural Science requirement. Consult those department websites and/or departmental offices.

Humanities and Social Science (5)
This requirement is met by completion of five courses selected from at least three of the following four areas of knowledge: Arts, Literatures and Performance (ALP), Civilizations (CZ), Foreign Languages (FL), and Social Sciences (SS). At least one course must be classified SS. In order to provide depth in the subject matter, at least two of the five courses must be selected from a single department and at least one of those courses must be 200-level or above.  Courses must be chosen from Humanities and Social Science departments.  Science and Engineering courses with SS, CZ, FL, or ALP codes will not count toward this requirement.

Engineering and Sciences (4)
This requirement is met by completion of one course from each of four of the following seven areas: digital systems, electrical science, information and computer science, mechanics (solid and fluid), materials science, systems analysis, and thermal science and transfer processes. Students are expected to have acquired digital-computer programming capability before their sophomore year. The programming capability is generally satisfied by Engineering 103L (53L), COMPSCI 201 (100).

Departmental Requirements (15)
The department administering the major field of study will specify this requirement. In general, it will consist of both required courses and electives to be planned in consultation with the departmental adviser. Including the 4 credits in engineering and applied sciences listed under general requirements, a total of 13.0 credits in engineering work are required.

Total Minimum Requirements: 34

Last updated: January 23, 2013