Advising Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
The current curriculum requirements as well as a “Check Sheet” that students can use to verify they’ve met requirements can be found online at: Student Resources
In addition to the first-year requirements, there are:
- 16 required IE courses
- 3 additional MATH courses
- 2 (of 3 approved) ENGR courses
- 6 Humanities/Social Science (H/SS) electives
- 5 technical electives.
- A 1-credit science lab (if did not take CHEM 970).
Students must meet a minimum cumulative GPA of 2.0 and obtain a total of 126 credits (124 beginning Fall 2026) as well as meet the international requirement.
As of the start of the 26-27 academic year (subject to change):
Fall only: IE 1051, IE 1070
Spring only: IE 15, IE 1071, IE 1082
Offered both fall and spring terms: IE 1035, IE 1040, IE 1052, IE 1054, IE 1055, IE 1061, IE 1072, IE 1080, IE 1081, IE 1083, IE 1090
All courses used to satisfy degree requirements must be taken as a letter grade (LG) option except for seminar (ENGR 81/ 82 and IE 1085).
Note that all 6 IE seminars (IE 1085) are not required for graduation (transfer students and co-op students will not have 6 of them) but students must register for seminar each fall and spring term they are a full time student unless they are given a one-time exception. Rules for seminar exceptions can be found here.
The IE+ program was designed to encourage our undergraduate IE students to earn a minor, certificate, or certification while completing their undergraduate IE degree. It is not a “required” part of the curriculum. However, IE+ allows a student to:
- Pursue a passion they might have in another engineering area, music, art, math, politics, sociology, sustainability, economics, philosophy, or any of the many areas in which Pitt offers courses.
- Elevate their Pitt IE Experience.
- Build their resume and leverage their degree for a particular industry or organization.
Students can typically “double count” courses taken for a minor or certificate as either H/SS or tech electives. Details can be found here.
Students must select courses from at least three different DSAS humanities (e.g., English literature, fine arts, Spanish, etc.) and social science (e.g., economics, sociology, psychology, etc.) departments. Students must select courses from both the humanities and social sciences (so at least 1 of each).
Yes.
Students must complete two or more courses from one of the approved departments or programs in DSAS. A student may also satisfy the Depth requirement by completing two or more courses with a related theme, e.g. courses that focus on a geographic region, historic period, or ideological perspective. Only one course below the 0200 level may be used to satisfy the depth requirement, except in the departments of Psychology, Linguistics, and languages.
All students must have at least one writing course (W). Note that a student may satisfy the “W” requirement in a course outside of H/SS such as in math. These are identified by the "Writing Requirement Course" or “Writing Intensive” designation in the enrollment information in PeopleSoft.
Yes.
Yes.
Yes.
If a student has not selected International Requirement Option A (meaning they will travel/study abroad) and is instead choosing Option B (globally focused courses only) they will need 2 of their humanities or social sciences to come from the categories, “Cross-Cultural Awareness”, “Global Issues”, “Second Language” (Excluding ASL courses), or “Specific Geographic Region” in the DSAS General Education Catalog and be complementary to each other.
If a course is not on one of the approved lists, permission must be obtained from Associate Dean for Academic Affairs.
Yes, however, no more than two of the required six H/SS elective courses can be satisfied via high school Advanced Placement (AP) or International Baccalaureate (IB) credits.
Language classes may not be taken in the student’s native language, unless placement is deemed appropriate by the language department in question.
Students need at least 15 credits of technical electives (5 courses). A non-exhaustive list of approved technical electives is found on our web site. In general, some guidelines must be followed when choosing courses outside of IE and not on the approved list. First, the course must not be a course that is offered at a very basic or introductory level. Second, it must not significantly duplicate material in required IE courses or that are offered as electives in IE.
Unless a student is earning a minor or certificate in another technical area, at least 2 of the 5 courses should be IE tech electives (IE catalogued). If a student double majors, minors or earns a certificate in another technical area, it is acceptable for all five of their technical electives to come from that area with the approval of their advisor.
If a student co-ops with at least 3 credits of ENGR 1090 and completes the co-op report, they will get credit for one 3 credit non-IE technical elective.
Yes, most of the 3 credit Pitt SSOE short term study abroad programs can be used as a tech electives. The study abroad office has a list of what requirements are satisfied in IE for all of their programs. Note that SSOE policy is that some of the international/study abroad courses that contain strong humanities/social science components can be counted either as an H/SS elective or technical elective.
Your faculty advisor or the Undergraduate Program Director can approve courses as technical electives for you.
Students are required to take two (3 credits each, 6 credits total) ENGR courses from the following:
- ENGR 0022 (Materials)
- ENGR 0135 (Statics & Dynamics)
- Any Introductory Circuits Course (MEMS 0031, ECE 0101, ECE 0201, BIOENG 1310)
- ENGR 15 = ENGR 11
- ENGR 16 = ENGR 12
- CHEM 110 AND 120 or 410 and 420 = CHEM 960 AND 970
- MEMS 0024 = IE 1051
- ECE 401 = MATH 290
- IE 0000 = An IE technical elective
- ENGR 0000 – A non IE technical elective
- Most sophomore level engineering courses from the other engineering programs at SSOE can be used as technical electives IF a student earns a C or better in the course.
- ENGR 0021 cannot be used to satisfy IE requirements but it can be used to satisfy the pre-req for IE 1071 so a student may take it without having taken IE 1070
Students can use AP Test Credit (which shows as Transfer Credit on the transcript) to satisfy up to two H/SS electives.
The first-year program takes care of approving transfer credit for courses taken at other institutions and if it shows as transferred to SSOE on the transcript for a particular elective or required course then it can be used to satisfy that requirement. Courses can’t be transferred unless the student earns an equivalent “C” or better at the other institution. Students should get a course approved before enrolling at another institution.
For students wishing to use technical courses taken while they were a student in another engineering program at Pitt (so the course already appears on their transcript) they must have earned a C or better in that course. So, for example, a student transferring from Bioengineering can use any bioengineering course as a technical elective as long as they earned a C or better in that course. The Chemical Engineering Foundations courses that are six credits can be used to satisfy 2 technical electives as long as the student earned a C or better.
Descriptions for current concentrations areas can be found here. Students are not required to select an area of concentration and those wishing to gain a breadth of experience may choose to take a series of courses from any of these areas.
Students may choose to pursue any certificate offered throughout the University. Certificates currently offered by our department are described here.
Students that choose to co-op must complete a schedule (typically during their sophomore year) that is approved by the IE co-op advisor. The student is responsible for providing the co-op office and their faculty advisor with a copy of the approved schedule. Standard co-op schedules can be found on our website here.
All IE students must complete the international requirement unless exempt (born and raised in a country other than the United States).
The undergraduate program director can approve courses taken abroad to satisfy requirements for your IE degree. You must provide the program director with complete course descriptions and contact hours so a determination can be made. You should do this before having your study abroad forms sent to the program director. It’s usually best to meet the program director in person to discuss the courses you are considering. You should also keep your own faculty advisor in the loop about the requirements you intend to satisfy while abroad.
SSOE offers a 4+1 program to obtain the bachelors and masters degree in five years to any student that maintains a 3.5 or better GPA. Both the undergraduate and graduate coordinators can assist a student seeking to apply for this program.
Send the details of what’s not showing as satisfied to both your advisor and the undergraduate program director. The undergraduate program director can verify the requirement has been met and ask our undergraduate admin to create an exception and ensure that the exception is reflected on the academic advisement report (AAR).