Advising Non-CE Students in Graduate Programs

To determine advising patterns in civil engineering programs for non-civil engineering graduate students, data from 21 schools geographically distributed in the United States were assembled. Specific requests were made regarding advising patterns used for six cases. The first two dealt with students wanting to major in structural engineering, and holding Bachelor's degrees from either mechanical engineering, architectural engineering, or architecture. The third case was for students desiring to major in transportation planning, but having Bachelor's degrees in mathematics. The fourth case dealt with students desiring to major in materials, but having Bachelor's degrees in chemistry. The final two were for students desiring to major in environmental engineering, and holding degrees in either chemical engineering or biology. Results indicated that most schools require pertinent undergraduate courses for the specialty area prior to graduate work. Some schools require completion of the BS degree in civil engineering or equivalent.