Admissions & Financial Aid

Admission Requirements

The Dual Degree liaison officer at your current institution must certify aptitude for engineering study and confirm you are expected to complete a bachelor's level, non-engineering degree at your current institution no later than receipt of the engineering degree from WashU.

A GPA of B-plus (3.25 out of 4.0) or better, both overall and in science and mathematics courses, is required for admission to the Dual Degree Program at the McKelvey School of Engineering. Applicants with lower GPAs are considered on a case-by-case basis; please have your liaison officer write a letter of support.

Students seeking to enroll in the Dual Degree program must meet all of the following requirements for undergraduate professional engineering study before entry into WashU:

• Chemistry: One semester of general chemistry with lab.
• Computer programming: One course or certified proficiency in a high-level language
• English composition: One course or acceptable examination scores 
• Humanities and social sciences: No fewer than 15 semester hours in approved areas; this sequence must include at least six semester hours in humanities and three semester hours in social sciences.
• Mathematics: A calculus sequence that includes exposure to multivariable calculus and a separate course in differential equations (linear algebra or matrix algebra strongly recommended).
• Physics: One-year calculus-based sequence with lab.
• Total credits: A minimum of 90 semester hours of transferable college credit (courses with grades below C-minus do not transfer).

Major-specific requirements

• Biomedical Engineering: one semester of biology that covers cellular, molecular and developmental biology and a second semester of general chemistry with lab.
• Chemical Engineering: one semester of biology that covers cellular, molecular and developmental biology; a second semester of general chemistry with lab; and one semester of organic chemistry with lab. A second semester of organic chemistry and/or physical chemistry are strongly recommended.
• Data Science, Computer Science & Engineering: A second computer programming course that covers JAVA if not already covered in first course. Note that Computer Science and Data Science majors are not required to complete chemistry or differential equations.
• Environmental Engineering: one semester of biology that covers cellular, molecular and developmental biology; a second semester of general chemistry with lab; and one semester of organic chemistry with lab. An environmental science course (ex: soil science, hydrology, geochemistry, ecology) and a humanities/social science course that focuses on environmental issues (ex: environmental justice, environmental policy) are strongly recommended.
• Mechanical Engineering: one semester of upper-division physics course beyond the required one-year calculus-based physics sequence with lab.

Review of Transfer Courses

Our Undergraduate Transfer Course Credit policy and the Undergraduate Transfer Course Equivalency Database linked on that page includes all applicable courses that have been currently reviewed from each of our affiliated Dual Degree schools.

Not all courses taught from each affiliated school will be in included in the database – only those courses that our incoming Dual Degree students had posted on their affiliated school transcripts that are relevant to our engineering degree program requirements tend to be included in the database.  The core math and science courses taken by students from any given affiliated school are typically the same courses that are completed by all pre-engineering students from that school.  There will always be some variability of math, science and technical elective courses completed at the liberal arts schools, which will then require our faculty to review as described our Undergraduate Transfer Course Credit policy page.

All transfer courses that have been reviewed and approved are posted in the Undergraduate Transfer Course Equivalency Database. Some core math and science courses that were reviewed and determined not to be eligible for transfer credit at WashU might also be listed in that database.

English Language Proficiency Requirement

Proficiency in English is required of all applicants. International applicants who will not have a minimum of three years of documented study at an English-speaking institution in a country where English is the primary language of daily living are required to submit official TOEFL IBT scores to WashU. TOEFL scores must be less than two years old to be valid. Please request ETS to send official scores to Institution Code 6929 at the time of application.

We are unable to offer admission without official scores, therefore you should plan to complete the test before the Dual Degree Program application deadline. If a TOEFL is required as a part of your application and is not submitted, your application will be considered incomplete and will not be reviewed for admission.

All students who enter the Engineering Dual Degree undergraduate and graduate degrees (Graduate 3-year Option) are awarded the Graduate Affiliation Scholarship, which guarantees a 50 percent tuition discount for the first year, a 55 percent discount the second year and a 60 percent discount the third year. International and domestic students are eligible.

Domestic students who enter the Engineering Dual Degree undergraduate degree (Undergraduate 2-year Option) may also be eligible for federal grants, student loans and part-time employment. Participants in the Undergraduate 2-year Option are classified as an undergraduate student and therefore may qualify for undergraduate financial support. If you are currently a senior, you may be eligible for more undergraduate support if you wait and graduate with both undergraduate degrees from both institutions at the same time.

Merit-Based Scholarships

Merit awards are available for both students in the undergraduate two-year option and the graduate three-year option who have excelled academically and in extracurricular activities. The deadline to apply is March 10.

Students can complete one application to be eligible for all possible merit scholarships.

• The Harold P. Brown Engineering Fellowships are merit scholarships for dual degree students enrolled in the undergraduate two-year option who excel both academically and in co-curricular achievements.
• At least one full-tuition Brown Fellowship is awarded and up to 10 partial scholarships.
• The Lee Hunter Scholarship provides graduate three-year option students $3,000 off tuition for their first and second years of study, and an additional $4,000 off tuition for the third year. Note that the Hunter Scholarship is in addition to the Graduate Affiliation Scholarship.

Apply for merit scholarships

Submit Letter of Recommendation