An Overview of the Vanderbilt Engineering Program

My name is Kaijia Chen and I am a rising sophomore at Vanderbilt University studying Mechanical Engineering with a minor in Computer Science. I enjoy playing basketball and going to the gym during my spare time. 

I took IB (International Baccalaureate) classes in high school and got a 43/45 on my final exams. I also took several AP courses and got a 5 in Microeconomics, and Physics C: Mechanics. My High school GPA is 4.20/4.50 and I am in the top 5 among the whole class. I took SAT II Math and got an 800 score. Due to the pandemic, I was unable to take SAT or ACT. 

My College Application List

I chose mechanical engineering as my major for all the schools I applied to. For those schools that I got waitlisted for, I declined my offer to most of them after receiving admission at Vanderbilt. I was rejected by UCB and UCLA after being waitlisted. 

I chose to attend Vanderbilt because Vanderbilt Engineering offers a unique program called Rehabilitation Engineering, which matches my interests in helping my disabled brother. Vanderbilt also has the best ranking among all the Universities I have been accepted to. I was also influenced by the Youtuber Elliot Choy who just graduated from Vanderbilt last year. 

Below is an overview of my college application list and status:

Introduction to Vanderbilt and Vanderbilt’s Engineering

Vanderbilt University is a private research University in Nashville,  Tennessee. It was Founded in 1873, and was named in honor of shipping and rail magnate Cornelius Vanderbilt, who provided the school its initial $1-million endowment; Vanderbilt hoped that his gift and the greater work of the university would help to heal the sectional wounds inflicted by the Civil War.

Vanderbilt enrolls approximately 13,800 students from the US and over 100 foreign countries. It is classified among "R1: Doctoral Universities – Very high research activity". Vanderbilt University Board of Trust voted to create the Engineering Department in 1886. Bachelor of Engineering degree programs in biomedical engineering, chemical engineering, civil engineering, computer engineering, electrical engineering, and mechanical engineering are accredited by the Engineering Accreditation Commission of ABET. 

Vanderbilt is classified as a "Research University (very high research activity)," and is engaged in some of the most important engineering research and cross-disciplinary research conducted in the nation. Research activity can be grouped in nine intellectual neighborhoods that characterize our distinctive culture of collaboration within and beyond the traditional walls of departments, schools, institutions and disciplines. 

Mechanical Engineering has earned a national reputation in several research areas, including: Biomechanics, Boundary integral equation methods, Combustion and propulsion, Computational mechanics, Laser diagnostics of combustion, Microfluidics, Materials science, Microrobotics, Microscale heat transfer, Smart structures, Telerobotics and Theoretical and applied mechanics.

The Vanderbilt School of Engineering is No. 37 in the U.S. News & World Report’s  2021 Best Colleges rankings. The school is tied with Brown University, University of California-Irvine, University of California-Santa Barbara, and the University of Virginia. In specialty engineering areas, Vanderbilt’s biomedical engineering program ranked No. 24, in a three-way tie with Harvard and the University of Virginia. The rankings of the best engineering programs in a specialty are based solely on the results from the spring and early summer 2020 peer survey. 

Major Requirements 

The B.E. in Mechanical Engineering requires a minimum of 126 hours: 

1. Mathematics (17 hours). Required courses: MATH 1300, 1301, 2300, 2420. Required elective: one from courses numbered 2410 and above, except 3000. 
2. Basic Science (16 hours). Required courses: CHEM 1601, 1601L; MSE 1500, 1500L (or CHEM 1602, 1602L); PHYS 1601, 1601L, 1602, 1602L. 
3. Engineering Science (25 hours). Required courses: ES 1401, 1402, 1403; CE 2200, 2205; CS 1101 or 1103 or 1104; EECE 2112; ME 2190, 2220, 3224; MSE 2205. 
4. Liberal Arts Core (18 hours). To be selected to fulfill the Liberal Arts Core requirements listed in the Degree Programs in Engineering. 
5. Open electives (6 hours). 
6. ME core (26 hours). ME 2160, 2171, 3202, 3204, 3234, 3248, 4213, 4950, 4951, and 4959 
7. Technical electives (9 hours). To be selected from the following approved courses. Courses selected from the College of Arts and Science must be designated a Mathematics and Natural Sciences (MNS) course in the AXLE curriculum. 

• a) Engineering courses except BME 2201, 2860; CS 1000, 1151; ENGM 2440, 3350, 4800; ES 2700, 2900, 3884. 
• b) Mathematics courses numbered 2420 or higher except MATH 3000 
• c) Chemistry courses numbered 2000 or higher 
• d) Physics courses numbered 2000 or higher 
• e) Astronomy courses 
• f) Biological Science courses 
• g) Earth and Environmental Science courses 
• h) Neuroscience courses 
• At least 3 hours must be numbered 2000 or above.

8. Professional (ME) depth (a minimum of 9 hours). Each student must choose at least 9 hours of ME elective courses. No more than 6 hours of 3850 and 3860 combined can be credited toward ME depth electives.

What do Engineering Courses Look Like? 

Since I just finished my first year of college, I haven’t experienced a very in-depth engineering class. Most first-year engineering students will be taking general science classes such as Chemistry 1601, Physics 1601, and Maths 1300. If you ever take AP or IB in high school, you might have already learned some of the contents of college, and you may even use your AP scores to transfer credits to college (it has very specific requirements depending on your majors). I transferred 19 credit hours from high school to college so that I was able to take some sophomore engineering courses in advance. 

One of the engineering courses I took during my second semester was Civil Engineering CE 2200: Statics. It was quite a challenging course focusing on the Vector analysis of two- and three-dimensional equilibrium of particles, rigid bodies, trusses, frames, and machines. Internal forces, shear and moment diagrams, cables, centroids, moments of inertia, and friction. There were also two group projects during the courses requiring students to analyze real-life situations using the knowledge learned in the course. There were three midterms exams and a final exam. Although the pace of learning is fast, the professor and the teaching assistant are always supportive and they’re always willing to offer extra help during their office hours. I have learned a lot throughout this course from analyzing a structure using force analysis to writing a formal engineering report. I believe that Vanderbilt's engineering courses are all challenging but rewarding at the same time.

Learning Outside the Classroom

Students have many opportunities to engage in research activities outside the classroom. During the semester, different research opportunities will be available for students to participate in. In addition, during the summer, the University also offers summer research programs with stipends to encourage students to join in. During my first year of school, I focus more attention on courses instead of finding actual research but I joined a research seminar focusing on Cybersecurity. Professor Sztipanovits and Professor Hess were the hosts and they invited professors from other universities to give us speeches about different topics related to cybersecurity. Students who are interested in those topics have the opportunity to talk to those professors to learn about further research opportunities. At the end of the seminar, we were asked to give out a presentation about one of the cybersecurity topics related to drones. The seminar was very educational and we had the opportunity to meet those leading researchers on Cybersecurity.

Mechanical Engineering Prospects

Interested in seeing what life can look like after graduating from Vanderbilt? Check out these stats below!