Rico A.R. Picone, PhD Advising

Advising

and all that

This advising page is for ME undergraduate and graduate students at SMU.

Academic calendar

One can find the official academic calendar here. I’ve put together an unofficial online shared calendar that I try to maintain and keep accurate:

Final exam schedule

The final exam schedule can be found here.

ME undergraduate students

The Mechanical Engineering curriculum can be considered in four primary divisions: Core (General Education), math and science, general engineering (GE), and major courses (ME).

Undergraduate catalogs

Be sure to familiarize yourself with your catalog (that of the year you began at SMU unless you have succeeded in switching to a newer catalog. Not only are you required to fulfill the catalog requirements, SMU is also required to grant you a degree if you fulfill them.

Here are recent catalogs.

Undergraduate flowcharts

Below are generic flowcharts for undergraduate students by catalog year (the year you started at SMU). Use the following legend.

2024–25 through present catalog flowchart

2021-22 through 2023-24 catalog flowchart

C- policy

The entire SMU Hal and Inge Marcus School of Engineering has adopted a policy of requiring a grade of C- or better for all prerequisite and major courses. There are a few “grandfathering” rules for old grades in certain courses. See this guide for more details.

EE minor

We are offering an Electrical Engineering (EE) minor!

For an ME major, this requires an additional four courses (11 credits). This minor is a nice way to gain experience in electronics and differentiate yourself from other engineers, especially in high-tech fields.

To officially add EE as your minor, so it appears on your transcripts, fill out this form and submit it to the Office of the Registrar.

4+1 Master’s degree

The 4+1 Master’s program provides a path for SMU undergraduate students to finish a Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering (MSME) degree with a single additional year.

The MSME degree is 30 credits, six of which are thesis credits for those choosing to write a thesis. This is a total of 10 courses. As an undergraduate student, up to 12 MSME credits may be taken, all of which can be applied to both the ME (as an ME elective) and MSME degrees. There are multiple ways to finish the graduate degree in the “fifth” year:

  • with 12 MSME credits as an undergraduate, taking 8-10 more each semester of the “fifth” year;
  • with 9 MSME credits as an undergraduate, taking 10–11 more each semester of the “fifth” year or during each summer; and
  • with 6 MSME credits as an undergraduate, taking 12 more each semester of the “fifth” year or during each summer.

To apply for the 4+1 program, click the Apply button on this page.

Once you have been accepted, fill out this form to enroll in specific courses, get the required signatures (the Director is Dr. Picone), and submit the form to the Registrar. Requirements to apply are

  • To have completed at least 90 undergraduate credits (senior status)
  • To have a minimum of a 3.0 GPA
  • To not be enrolled in more than 18 credit hours of combined undergraduate and graduate course work for the semester

For more information about the MSME program, see this page. Current MSME graduate students, see the following section of this page.

MSME graduate students

MSME graduate students should check out the MSME sharepoint website, which includes MSME processes. If you don’t already have access, request it from Dr. Picone.

Graduate catalogs

General information and resources

Finding forms

Some forms are hyperlinked on this page. Others can be found directly from the Registrar’s Forms page.

Adding a course

Typically, if you meet the prerequisites, a course can be added on self-service. However, when you are unable to add a course you believe you are able to take, complete an Add/Drop Form.

Directed and independent study

There is a difference between Directed Study (ME 495 or MME596) and Independent Study courses. Directed Study is for a course not already in the catalog with a professor. Independent Study is for a course already in the catalog, but not currently being offered, so a professor independently teaches the course to the student. Here are the associated forms.

Core or General Education course substitution

In rare cases, courses taken at SMU or another university that were not initially approved as satisfying Core (General Education) requirements can be retroactively approved to satisfy a Core requirement. This process now occurs through Stellic.

Graduation application

During the semester in which you plan to graduate, be sure to apply for graduation here before the deadline (listed on the application site).