Frequently Asked Questions

Transfer is often possible, subject to limitations on our enrolment capacity. If you transfer into our program you may have to backtrack quite a bit to meet your new program requirements. For advice on a transfer contact the Undergraduate Chair (cc mme.advisor) outlining your current academic discipline and standing, your future academic objectives, and why you want to transfer. In order for us to review your transfer request, we require you to complete an Academic Plan Change Request form which allows us to access your latest transcript. Acceptance is typically based on academics and the availability of space in the program. The last day you can request transfer is two weeks into the beginning of term.

We believe that industrial experience is a very valuable part of an engineering education; therefore, we will support an internship application from any student in good standing providing you meet the criteria on the application form. Note that a review of your academic transcript is required. Forms and more information can be found on my.Engineering and Career Services.

Drop off your completed forms to the MME main office in McLaughlin Hall, Room 319 for review and signature of the Undergraduate Chair. You will be notified when the forms are ready for pick-up and delivery to the Internship Office, 3rd floor of Gordon Hall.

Academic Exchanges are a great way for you to travel and see the world at the same time as you complete some of your program requirements for your Queen’s degree. See the Engineering Exchange page for details.

If you go on an exchange, make sure to plan your courses carefully to best cover the core requirements for the time you will be away and plan your catch-up for your return. If you go in third year, many universities will have courses that can be readily substituted for MECH 321, 328, 346, 350, and MTHE 367, as these are fairly common standard subject courses worldwide. It will be more difficult to find satisfactory substitutions for the MECH 396/397 or398/399 lab courses, MECH 323 and APSC 221. The MECH program has a lot of flexibility in electives normally taken in fourth year. Many exchange courses can be substituted for technical or complementary studies elective credit.

Alternately, you may choose to take a lighter exchange course load, then on your return take approved summer courses (typically complementary study courses) or take extra time to complete your degree. If you plan on an additional fall term, you need to make sure all your winter core course requirements are met. Consult with the Undergraduate assistant or the Undergraduate Chair for advice on your chosen plan.

In either case, you must apply for these substitutions well in advance of your departure so that you have your LOP (Letter of Permission) in place before you register for courses at your exchange school. Experience shows you should get substitutions approved for more courses than you plan to take. You may find, after arriving, that curriculum and timetables change making it difficult, or impossible, for you to take all the courses in your original plan. Please see the Course Substitution Request form.

It is your responsibility to identify and apply for possible substitutions from your host university using the substitution application form complete with detailed course descriptions from your host university. For help in identifying courses, Jacquie Brown has a list of recently approved substitutions from many of our exchange partner universities, but even if a substitution has been previously approved, you must submit an application for each course.

Application procedure:

Select potential courses for your exchange, complete the substitution form for each course and gather the supporting documents. For specific courses (usually core courses) the formal course substitution process requires you to get the course instructor’s signature on the substitution form, indicating that the course at your exchange university is equivalent to the Queen’s course. You must provide as much full information about the course as possible such as the detailed course syllabus, the total number of lecture/lab/tutorial hours, and grading scheme before contacting the instructor.

Once complete, bring the whole package to the MME main office in McLaughlin Hall. It will be reviewed for accuracy and completeness before going to the Undergraduate Chair for initial approval. We will forward the entire package for final approval by the Academic Progress Chair in the Faculty Office.

Note that your completed package should clearly identify direct substitutions (e.g., ME387X for MECH 350) for core courses and elective substitutions (e.g., ME413Y for 3.5 credits of list 2 technical electives). In some cases, it is possible to combine more than one course (e.g., ME325Z and ME357R for MECH 341 and 3.5 credits of list 1 technical elective.)

Important Note: On your return, there is no guarantee the core courses you still require do not conflict with other courses you want or need, especially if you still need to complete some third-year courses during your fourth year.

Check the Engineering Calendar and your Queen’s email for the latest information on the program, then follow the Help link to complete your registration on SOLUS. The most common reasons are SOLUS thinks that you do not have the prerequisite course(s), or the course is in conflict with another on your schedule. Note that the Student Academic Advising system on SOLUS contains glitches related to course renaming (i.e., CIVL 220 to MECH 221 or MATH to MTHE), changes in course weights, and/or not recognizing approved course substitutions or transfers. If you have errors that you are worried about, send a message to mme.advisor@queensu.ca with the subject "Academic Advising Error".

If you think you should be allowed to register in a course, complete a Course Registration Request Form and drop it with the MME Advisor in McLaughlin Hall, Room 319, for Undergraduate Chair approval. If you are missing the prerequisite and have the equivalent background from exchange or another department, you will need to complete the prerequisite waiver section of the form, with the instructor’s signature.

If you still have problems with your course registration, contact us by email for assistance, or to book an appointment. You can also drop into the MME Main Office, McLaughlin Hall, Room 319. Some courses require manual registration and you will need to complete a Course Registration Request Form.

Please print and complete any required forms before you come into the office. All forms requiring the signature of the Undergraduate Chair should be dropped off in the MME Main Office, McLaughlin Hall, Room 319.

Important Note: Periodically check SOLUS to ensure your registration and schedule is correct and complete. This action will ensure a smoother academic term.

Email the specific course instructor to ask permission to take their course regardless of whether or not you can register for the course yourself. Be sure to keep all the email correspondence between you and the instructor as you may need this to attach to a Course Registration Request Form (CRRF) as administration may need to see this proof to register you into the course. If you don’t have permission by the start of term, register for another course as a backup. You can drop it later if you need to.

SOLUS will not allow you to put yourself in conflict. We discourage course conflicts and may refuse them if you have previously been required to withdraw or are on probation. For a conflict to be permitted, you need written permission from both of the instructors involved and the approval of the Undergraduate Chair on an SCCRF (Schedule Conflict Course Registration forms), delivered to the MME Main Office.

Important Note: Students requesting conflicts are second in line to students that are able to add the course themselves conflict-free, especially in the case of technical elective courses or complementary study courses and this can be problematic with locked, limited, or max enrolled courses. If the conflict is minor and you are in your final year, make this clear on the request form.

Prerequisites will be waived only if it is in your best interest and the interest of the program. To request a waiver, complete a Course Registration Request Form, complete with the instructor’s signature approving the waiver, and drop it off with the MME Advisor in McLaughlin Hall, Room 319. Cases where a waiver may be granted include:

• Successful completion of a similar course to the prerequisite
• Strong students taking a prerequisite at the same time as the follow-on course
• Unavoidable timetable conflicts if you are in your final year

Exception: It is quite common for waivers to be granted for technical electives that are outside the department. Normally students who have completed all the core requirements and are in their upper years of study will be allowed to enroll in the electives from other departments that are on the electives lists. The completion of a CRRF is required along with the instructor's approval, submitted to the attention of Jacquie Brown.

Only courses that appeared on the approved Lists A, B, C or D, in the year that the course was taken, will count.

On occasion, you may submit a Course Substitution Request for new Queen’s courses, or courses from another institution that are similar to courses on the approved lists. Contact us for assistance via email with the subject: Course Substitution. 

There are complementary studies units in many core courses. In addition to the core, you need 9 more credits of complementary studies from separate courses; 6 credits must be from List A, and 3 credits can be from List A, B, C or D.

Yes, provided the prerequisites are met to take the courses, or a waiver is granted. If you switch options, then the core courses from your previous option will count as technical elective courses in your new option.

No, students taking APSC 480 FW do not remain/enrol in MECH 460 and MECH 464 therefore it will likely be necessary to drop MECH 460 and MECH 464 from the fall term registration, and MECH 462 (if an ME3 option student) from the winter term registration.

APSC 100, APSC 111, APSC 112, APSC 171, APSC 172, APSC 174 and APSC 182 are all prerequisites to the Mechanical Engineering Program. If you failed one or more of these courses, you will most likely be on probation in your second year and must complete the course(s) in second year. You will be denied access to core courses in the Mechanical Engineering Program that have the failed course as a prerequisite, and you may choose to add alternate courses, often Complementary Studies Courses, up to the maximum permitted by your probation letter. You must complete all requirements of your probation letter.

If the course is not a prerequisite course, you may not need to take it immediately, although it must be re-taken and passed at some point in order to satisfy your program requirements. Sometimes course scheduling can be a challenge when students register in core courses from different years, and as a result, it may be better to leave a course to your fourth year where there is typically more flexibility in the schedule. You are encouraged to make-up courses from previous years as soon as possible, even when they are not prerequisites. The core and technical elective courses require a good foundation of the first, second, and third year courses.

As an upper-year student, you cannot complete first-year course registration on SOLUS. At the start of term, take your completed upper-year course schedule to the Faculty Office, Beamish Munro Hall, Room 300, with your Course Registration Request Form (CRRF) for the first-year courses. The administrative staff there will help you find time slots for the first-year courses that do not conflict with your upper-year courses. Add these slots to the CCRF and drop off the forms to Jacquie Brown in McLaughlin Hall, Room 319. Check SOLUS to ensure the course(s) requested have been added correctly to your schedule.

As soon as you see that you have failed a course, consider the possibility of a supplemental exam to replace your final exam mark.

All required courses for your program and option, and the English Proficiency Test (EPT), must be completed before you can graduate. When taking a non-typical course load, plan carefully to complete your degree without too much delay by paying close attention to chains of prerequisites. Failed courses often mean you will need an additional term or complete academic year, and you may still be taking third-year courses in your fourth year.

Avoid overloading yourself when trying to get back on track. Overload often leads to more failed courses. You can take complementary studies or technical elective courses in your third year to make room for the core courses you will be taking in fourth year. You can take some of these courses in the summer, in person or by distance learning to catch up. Be sure to get approval in advance.

If you failed a course that is a prerequisite to a required course, or an elective, you will need to pass that course before moving on. This can be especially problematic in courses with a long prerequisite chain. As indicated above, it is important to carefully plan your remaining time in your program to sort out how you will fit in all the requirements and find the opportunity to take the electives you want. If you run into core course conflicts, you may be able to take a different course as an approved substitution allowing you to meet your core requirements more effectively. You may be granted a prerequisite waiver under unusual circumstances.

If you failed a technical elective course or a complementary studies course, you may take a different course to replace the credits required by the program. However, if you repeat the same course and pass, the failed mark will not be included in your GPA.

There are the obvious things like missing or failing a required course, but less obvious possibilities include:

• Counting the number of courses rather than the number of credits for technical electives. Although we sometimes talk about the typical number of courses in your program, the actual requirements to graduate are in academic credits.
• Being short on credits because a substitution was allowed for a course with fewer credits than the required course. For these circumstances, you are required to make up the credits elsewhere in your program.
• Taking the wrong complementary studies courses. Be sure to check the approved lists in the current academic calendar to ensure the courses you have registered in are on the allowable lists.

SOLUS will show your academic standing on your transcript, but the class ranking is not available. If you have completed all the degree requirements, the Faculty Office can provide a confirmation letter for employers or graduate schools pending Faculty and Senate approval- email engineering reception with your request. You must clear any liens on your account before information will be released.

We do not release any information about your academic standing or program without your explicit authorization.

It may take you longer to graduate. It will limit your access to some scholarships and awards that require you to carry a full load. A full load for third and fourth year is one that meets the minimum unit requirements stated in the calendar for the particular year of study.

• Complete the approval procedure and receive approval before taking the substitute course.
• If the course substituted is from another academic institution, obtain the complete up-to-date course description. To permit evaluation of CEAB accreditation unit equivalency you should provide details including the total number of lecture hours, lab hours, tutorial hours, and the course marking scheme, including whether or not the course has a final supervised examination.
• Download a substitution or designation of substitution form from the my.Engineering site and complete it.
• Obtain an approval signature (or email) for the substituted course from the instructor of the course you want to substitute (note this is sometimes not required if the substitution is a commonly requested course at Queen's).
• Take the completed signed form(s), including full course descriptions, to the MME Main Office where it will be presented to the Undergraduate Chair for approval. The application(s) is then forwarded to the Faculty Office for the attention of the Academic Progress Chair (APC) for final approval.
• You will receive an email decision letter from the APC's assistant in the Faculty Office.

Similar courses from another institution can be substituted for courses required as part of your program. This is done on a case-by-case basis. Among commonly approved substitutions are:

• Genuine HSS courses from other universities approved as generalized List A, B, C or D courses. These can often be taken online during the summer to free up space in your schedule and when the complementary study requirements have been met, can be taken as free electives towards the total technical elective requirement count. 
• "Standard" courses like Thermodynamics I or Solid Mechanics I at other accredited engineering schools are often very similar to Queen's courses and can be substituted (if approved) by students with good academic standing. These can also sometimes be taken during the summer in the larger universities which allow students to catch up, thus avoiding possible scheduling problems in the following academic year.
• Required Queen's core courses may also be approved as substitutions when a student is going away on an approved academic exchange in their third year. Every effort should be made to organize the whole substitution package at once prior to submission. Sometimes plans change while on exchange with the curriculum of the exchange school, so getting approval for more courses is encouraged even if all are not taken. If you are away on exchange and additional courses need approval, please contact J. Brown.
• As university programs differ, the course content and work required may not directly correlate with the number of lecture hours etc. at Queen's. This is particularly true for some universities outside North America where more individual effort is required and fewer lectures are given. In those cases, you may be able to make the case in a substitution where four exchange courses may be equivalent to five Queen's courses.
• All course substitution applications (except student exchange requests) and Queen's courses for Queen's courses require an application fee. This fee can be made online through the Faculty Office.

Below are lists of some of the common substitutions that have been approved by the Academic Progress Chair in the past. There is though no guarantee that they will be approved from year to year as course content and instructors change. Reasons for why a substitution may be refused are:

• You have not yet attempted the required course and the Queen's course is recommended.
• The required Queen's course is a condition of your admission or re-admission.

If a substitution is granted, you must still meet the totals of all the credit requirements for your core MECH program in each of the approved courses. For example, when students have taken ELEC 221 in their previous program instead of ELEC 210 and received substitution approval, the additional (.5) credits will have to be made up elsewhere in the student's program to meet their program requirements.

Meeting the CEAB accreditation units requirement is seldom a problem for technical elective courses, but may require some careful course selection with core courses.

Previously Granted Submissions
Note that not all of these courses may still be offered

You should first make a reasonable effort to discuss the problem directly with the instructor and find a solution. If that doesn’t resolve the problem, the next step is a discussion with the Undergraduate Chair or the Head of the Department. Complaints about an instructor are not dealt with by the office staff or year advisors.

First of all, try not to stress. Just about everything can wait until September when everybody is back on campus. There is a two-week period at the start of term to complete your course registrations without academic or financial penalties. While you are getting your registration sorted out, be sure to attend classes so you don’t miss valuable course content.

One thing that is time dependent is your registration priority in classes with limited enrolment. Be sure to email the course instructor as early as possible for permission.

The fastest way to get forms approved is to collect signatures from your course instructors (if required) then drop them with Jacquie Brown in McLaughlin Hall, Room 319. She will expedite signatures from the Undergraduate Chair as quickly as possible.

For advice, or more complex issues, students should contact mme.advisor@queensu.ca with full details. It will then be decided if contacting the Undergraduate Chair is necessary. Only in rare cases is the Head of Department involved.