Undergraduate Student Petitions

Types of Petitions

 

1. Course Substitution

  • Substituting one UC San Diego course with another course at UC San Diego
  • Substituting one UC San Diego course with a course already completed at another institution. 
  • Receiving Technical Elective (TE) credit for an upper-division course that is not listed in the pre-approved TE lists
  • MAE 30A - Statics and Introduction to Dynamics. Any course petition must cover these two topics.
  • MAE 30B - Dynamics and Vibrations. Any course petition must cover these two topics.
  • MAE 170 - Any course petition must have a technical writing component.
  • Please see the specific requirements for petitions for MAE 3 below.

2. Prerequisite Waiver 

  • Enrollment in a course without completing the required prerequisite
  • Enrollment in a course concurrently with a prerequisite course

3. Pre-approval

  • Substituting a UC San Diego course with a course to be taken at another institution (follow-up documentation will be required for final approval)

Note:

  • For courses restricted to majors, non-majors may submit an EASy request to enroll beginning Friday of Week 9.
  • Petitions for non-MAE courses should be submitted to the relevant department.

 

How to Submit a Petition

  1. Log in via the online petition portal.
  2. Input PID #.
  3. Select the MAE department.
  4. Select the type of petition to be submitted.
  5. Complete petition request with course information and reason for petition.
  6. For course substitution and pre-approval petitions, MUST attach a course syllabus. (PDF files only)

2-Step Petition Process

  1. Initial review by faculty and decision made after group consensus
  2. Final review by Undergraduate Affairs Committee (UAC) Chair
  3. Decision may take 1-3 weeks.
  4. Notification of decision via the Virtual Advising Center (VAC)

 

Note:

  • Faculty may request more information than what was originally submitted.  
  • MAE 150 - Students must take ALL prerequisites. No petition to take MAE 150 without the prerequisites will be approved. 

 

Guidelines for Students Submitting Petitions Out of MAE 3 

MAE 3 covers both Engineering Graphics and Design. We believe that to learn design one must build hardware, evaluate the hardware performance, and redesign as needed. Accordingly, to petition out of MAE 3, we need to see both Engineering Graphics and a significant hands-on design process. To better understand the level of complexity we are looking for, please see prior MAE 3 Robot contests at: https://sites.google.com/a/eng.ucsd.edu/mae3-robots/home. The reasons we are insistent on seeing this level of design experience is so that you are not at a disadvantage when you reach your senior level design courses.

When submitting a petition, please show evidence that you have taken courses that cover the following MAE3 learning topics and objectives:

1. Engineering graphics (including copies of some of your CAD assignments)

2. Hands-on prototyping (including a report that demonstrated performance of your prototype)

3. Teamwork/Project Management

4. Mechanical design and analysis

5. Technical communication (verbal and written)

6. Design Project that combines the above skills – to see the level of complexity expected in MAE3 robots, please see: https://sites.google.com/a/eng.ucsd.edu/mae3-robots/home

Please upload a SINGLE PDF that is organized and clearly labels each of the six areas listed above. Evidence can include items such as the relevant course syllabus, project report, etc., as long as it demonstrates your proficiency in the above topics. Please do not upload any extraneous documents.