Graduate Admission Requirements & Deadlines

Admission Criteria

Applicants to any Mechanical and Materials Engineering graduate program must meet the University's admission requirements. The MME Department does not have any additional requirements that applicants need to meet. The MME Department does not provide conditional admission for English language proficiency deficiencies. Information regarding Application Fee Waivers can be found below.

Master of Science (M.S.) in Mechanical Engineering or Materials Science & Engineering

To be considered for admission, all applicants must:

• Meet minimum admission requirements
• Meet the English language proficiency requirements
• Provide a Statement of Purpose
• Provide a resume or curriculum vitae
• Provide copies of transcripts or international documents and certified translation from all institutions attended
• Provide three letters of recommendation

Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) in Mechanical Engineering

Applicants to the Ph.D. program in Mechanical Engineering will normally have completed a master's degree in Mechanical Engineering or a related field. Admission directly to the Ph.D. program from a bachelor's degree program is possible but students are usually encouraged to start with the MS program.

The following application items are required for the MME Department:

• Meet minimum admission requirements
• Meet the English language proficiency requirements
• Provide a Statement of Purpose
• Provide a resume or curriculum vitae
• Provide copies of transcripts or international documents and certified translation from all institutions attended
• Provide three letters of recommendation

Students are normally only admitted to our program if a faculty member has agreed to serve as the adviser. Before applying to our PhD program, you should contact faculty working in an area of research that is of interest to you. Your adviser will stay the same throughout your time in the doctoral program. You can find a list of our faculty here. The department has many ongoing research programs and supporting research laboratories. Funding is not guarantee but an applicant can contact a faculty member in their research area to inquire about potential funding.

Graduate Certificates

To be considered for admission, all applicants* must:

• Have a Bachelor of Science degree in an engineering or science field
• Meet minimum admission requirements
• Meet the English language proficiency requirements

*Students currently enrolled in an MME graduate program do not need to apply. The certificate can be added to a degree program through the GO-19 Request for Change of Program form.

Statement of Purpose

The Statement of Purpose should be 1-2 pages long and contain the following information:

• Your purpose in graduate study
• The area of study in which you wish to specialize
• Your intended future use of your graduate study
• Your unique preparation and fitness for study in the field
• Any problems or inconsistencies in your records or scores, such as a bad term/semester
• Any special conditions that are not revealed elsewhere in the application, such as a significant (35 hour per week) workload outside of school
• Why you wish to attend this school
• Above all, this statement should contain information about you as a person

Back to Top

Application Fees

Students can apply to any graduate program through Graduate Admissions.

Application Fee Waivers:

• MS applicants: the MME department does not offer fee waivers for MS applicants. 
• PhD applicants: the applicant must have an MME faculty member agree to be his/her PhD advisor. If the applicant has reached out to faculty and has an advisor confirmed prior to completing the application, the MME Department will waive the application fee. The advisor must email mmedept@pdx.edu and the fee will be waived.
• All applicants: may check the Graduate Admission website to see if they are eligible. 

Application Deadlines

The MME Department admits graduate students fall, winter, and spring terms.

Master's and PhD

There are two deadlines for each term: the application deadline, and the supplemental materials deadline. Supplemental materials include test scores and letters of recommendation. All applications must be fully completed by the supplemental materials deadline in order to be evaluated.

Graduate Certificate

All applications must be fully completed by the deadline in order to be evaluated.

Back to Top 

Application Process

Application

Students can apply to any graduate program through Graduate Admissions.

Before applying, students should review the PSU transcript policy and the international documents and certified translation policy for graduate applicants. Failing to adhere to these policies will result in the application being listed as missing materials and can delay processing and result in denied admission.

Please note that applicants will receive emails from the Graduate School and the Department if supplemental materials are missing. Applicants should check their email regularly to make sure that supplemental materials, such as letters of recommendation, are submitted by the appropriate deadline.

Applicants can check their admission status by reviewing their application.

Decision Notification

Applicants will receive their admission decision through the application once it has been made. The MME Department does not have a timeline or deadline for when decisions are made.

Back to Top