The large, rural state of North Dakota has several educational opportunities for you if you want to be a mechanical engineer. In total, there are two schools in the state. Both schools offer Bachelor’s, Master’s, and doctoral degrees.
The average cost of tuition in North Dakota is $8900, which is much lower than the average in other parts of the country.
If you want to earn your Bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering, you can expect to spend four to five years in school if you are a full-time student. You may be expected to complete between 120 and 130 credits in mechanical engineering and general education courses.
Some of the classes that you may have to take at this level include Mechanics of Materials, Thermodynamics, Fluid Mechanics, and Applied Mechanics. Engineering requires you to complete traditional classroom courses and lab classes. During lab classes, you can experiment with different engineering materials to learn about how they work and how they interact.
If you are ready to earn a Master’s degree or Ph.D. in mechanical engineering, you must first have a Bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering or a very similar field. If you attend graduate school full-time, you may be able to earn your Master’s degree in two years. If you decided to pursue your PhD, you can generally plan on spending five to seven years in school.
The average cost of tuition in North Dakota is $8900, which is much lower than many states in the country. However, you may be able to lower your educational costs even further by applying for grants and scholarships.
The North Dakota Petroleum Council awards the Al Golden Memorial Scholarship to five selected North Dakota students every year.
You can also look at scholarships offered by the Rocky Mountain Coal Mining Institute. There are several scholarships that they award every year to students in Western states.
After you have successfully graduated from your mechanical engineering program, the next step is contacting the North Dakota State Board of Registration for Professional Engineers and Land Surveyors.
You can apply to take the required Fundamentals of Engineering exam, which is given twice per year. After successfully passing the exam, you can fill out your license application and send it to the board.