Advance Your Professional Career with a Master’s in Mechanical Engineering

Purdue University’s online MS in Mechanical Engineering provides the skills and knowledge to take the next step in your career.

School:  Purdue School of Mechanical Engineering

Program:  Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering

Description: The mechanical engineering graduate program at Purdue University is consistently ranked in the top ten online programs by US News and World Report.  The online mechanical engineering master’s program is conveniently designed for professional engineers looking to advance their skills without disrupting their careers.

Where is it: West Lafayette, Indiana

Format: Online

Degree you get:  Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering (MSME)

Prerequisites:    Undergraduate degree in the area of Mechanical Engineering from an ABET-accredited program.

Size of the Program: 70 (plus additional 29 MSE students with declared concentration in ME)

Credit hours: 30 credit hours

Thesis:  No

How long will the program take?  2.5-3 years approx.

When to apply: December 15 (Fall), September 1 (Spring)

Tuition: $3,416 per course for residents of Indiana; $3,774 per course for non-residents

Minimum Admission Requirements:

  • BS in engineering or a related discipline
  • Transcripts
    • Yes
    • Minimum GPA 3.2
  • TOEFL
    • Yes
    • Minimum Paper-Based Test (PBT) Score Required: 575
    • Minimum Internet-Based Test (IBT) Overall Score Required: 77, with minimum section requirements Reading 19, Listening 14, Speaking 18, Writing 18
  •   Essay (statement of purpose)
    • Yes
  • Resume
    • Yes
    • Minimum years of experience varies
  • Letters of Reference
    • Yes, 3 letters required
  • GRE
    • Yes
    • No minimum score is required.  Recent admitted students have a typical GRE Quantitative score of above 162

Who should take this course?

  • Professional engineers looking to advance their skills without disrupting their careers.

Claim to fame:

  • The MS ME program features Purdue Faculty and one of the largest and most diverse 100% online course offerings available, with more than 30 different ME courses scheduled through 2021.

What do Formula 1 racing, planetary rovers, nanotechnology, 3d printing, roller coasters and factories all have in common? They’re all fields that offer exciting career opportunities for mechanical engineers.

As one of the oldest and broadest engineering disciplines, mechanical engineers can work in almost any industry and in many different roles.  To advance your career, however, a Master’s degree in Mechanical Engineering is often necessary.

Purdue’s online Master’s of Science in Mechanical Engineering (MSME) program gives students the opportunity to get involved in world-class mechanical engineering research, and build the skills they need to excel and innovate in any industry.

Why Purdue MS ME Online?

Purdue’s online MS ME program is designed specifically for working professional engineers who want to pursue the education they need to advance their career, while still being able to balance full-time employment.

The online degree covers all the same essential mechanical engineering knowledge areas as the on-campus degree, including:

  • Acoustics and noise control
  • Automotive systems
  • Biomechanics
  • Design and computer-aided design (CAD)
  • Energy utilization and environmental control
  • Fluid mechanics
  • Heat transfer
  • Manufacturing and materials processing
  • Mechanics and vibration
  • Systems, measurements and controls

The degree requires 30-credit hours (10 courses) that can be taken on whatever schedule best suits the student’s needs.  Many students take one course per semester, especially those who have been out of school for several years. As students become accustomed to balancing work and school, they can choose to increase the number of courses they taker. The degree can be completed in approximately three years taking one course per semester, or students can take a heavier course load and finish sooner.

This flexibility is what makes an online course so valuable to working engineers.  But the flexibility of Purdue’s online MS ME isn’t limited to course load; the program is designed for remote learning, with all lectures recorded and available for students to download and view whenever they wish.  Other course content is also made available online, including readings and lecture notes.  Purdue administers its online MS ME program through its Purdue Engineering Online department, with course content accessible over the Blackboard online learning platform.

Tuition payments also offer some flexibility, as students pay a flat rate per course, which depends on whether the student is a resident of the state of Indiana.  Tuition amounts to about $34,160 for residents of Indiana, and $37,740 for non-residents for the full degree.

Tuition Rate

Fall 2017 – Summer 2018
Nonresident of Indiana

Fall 2017 – Summer 2018
Resident of Indiana

3-credit course

$3,774.00

$3,416.00

1-credit course

$1,352.00

$1,232.00

*3-credit Project course (by special arrangement only)

$5,033.00

$4,675.00

Highlights of MS ME at Purdue

Whatever your academic and career goals, the MS ME at Purdue offers a specialization or area of study that will serve you best, and a support system that ensures student success.

All enrolled graduate students, both online and on-campus, are required to arrange for a graduate advisor and two other faculty members to act as part of their advising committee.  Students work with these faculty advisors to prepare their Plan of Study (PoS) for their degree, as well as receiving guidance on course selection and other academic matters.

Purdue’s online MSME also offers a wide range of mechanical engineering course topics, which enables students to customize their degree for their own personal goals.

Mechanical Engineering Course Options

  • ME50000  Advanced Thermodynamics
  • ME50100  Statistical Thermodynamics
  • ME50300  Micro- and Nano-scale Energy Transfer Processes
  • ME50500  Intermediate Heat Transfer
  • ME50900  Intermediate Fluid Mechanics
  • ME51000  Gas Dynamics
  • ME51300  Engineering Acoustics
  • ME51800  Analysis of Thermal Systems
  • ME52500  Combustion
  • ME53800  Air Breathing Propulsion
  • ME54000  Internal Combustion Engines
  • ME55300  Product and Process Design
  • ME55600  Lubrication, Friction and Wear
  • ME55700  Design for Manufacturability
  • ME55900  Micromechanics of Materials
  • ME56200  Advanced Dynamics
  • ME56300  Mechanical Vibrations
  • ME57000  Machine Design Fall
  • ME57100  Reliability-Based Design
  • ME57500  Theory and Design of Control Systems
  • ME57700  Human Motion Kinetics
  • ME57800  Digital Control
  • ME57900  Fourier Methods in Digital Signal Processing
  • ME58100  Numerical Methods in Mechanical Engineering
  • ME59700  Decision Making for Engineering Systems Design              
  • ME59700  Innovation and Problem Solving with an emphasis on TRIZ Tools
  • ME59700  Mechanics of MEMS and NEMS
  • ME60800  Numerical Methods in Heat, Mass, and Momentum Transfer
  • ME61100  Principles of Turbulence              
  • ME61400  Computational Fluid Dynamics
  • ME65000  Computational Fracture Mechanics
  • ME67500  Multivariable Control System Design
  • ME69100  ME Graduate Seminar



Purdue University has sponsored this post.  All opinions are mine.  –Meghan Brown