Physics-Engineering

A Professional Degree: Back in the '50s and '60s, a Bachelor of Science in Engineering was a 150 credit-hour degree.  This was the professional degree with which an engineer was considered qualified to work in the industry.  Since most degree programs were 120 credit-hours, universities pressured the schools of engineering to reduce their requirements, and they did. However, the Bachelor's has remained the traditional professional degree. Recently, there has begun a push towards making the Master of Engineering the professional degree because, when counted with the bachelors, it is back to the 150 credit-hour degree scale.  

Engineering Physics Programs: Engineers typically try to answer the question "How can I make this work in the real world?" and therefore tend to focus on the application of technology.  Physicists typically try to answer the question "Why does this work at all?" and therefore tend to focus on fundamental science.  Physics is in some sense the "liberal arts" of engineering.  With a degree in physics, one may not know enough (yet) to be able to do the details that the engineers do, but a physicist should be able to talk at a technical level with an engineer from any engineering field with a minimum of catching up.  Engineers and physicists use different notation and focus on different aspects of the various fields, but because physics is more general, covering ideas related to all engineering disciplines, a physicist should be able to transition into an engineering field.  In addition, an engineer who was trained in physics should be able to connect their discipline to other engineering disciplines.

McMurry University has several degree options available for our students. If you are considering engineering, then it may help to read over the Differences Between Physics and Engineering section of the FAQ webpage.  All degree options will start you in the same set of classes. It is not until your sophomore or junior year that the schedules will diverge. 

Engineering Physics

Our Engineering Physics program is designed to provide a deeper understanding of engineering fundamentals through a broad physics and mathematics curriculum in an engineering context. The curriculum is a combination of the physics core, mathematics minor, engineering fundamentals, and upper-division physics and engineering electives. The program is equipped with a variety of hands-on experiences focused on modern computational tools, experiential learning, and technical skills. These experiences provide opportunities for teams and individual students to work on undergraduate design and course-level research projects. Student learning experience culminates in a senior research project. Internships and summer research experiences are strongly encouraged. The program will provide the flexibility that will allow graduates to pursue graduate studies in various areas of engineering (including mechanical, civil, electrical, industrial and others) and physics or to start entry level engineering and technical jobs immediately after graduation. 

Please see our Curriculum Page for more details on this degree. 

Dual-Degrees Offered Through the Partnership with the University Of North Dakota

Through a collaborative agreement with the University of North Dakota (UND), McMurry University students have a unique opportunity to earn an engineering degree in Chemical, Civil, Electrical or Mechanical Engineering accredited by the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET) while completing most of their classes on McMurry University Campus. In the course of the five-year program McMurry delivers foundational courses in physics, chemistry, math and some engineering courses, while UND provides additional engineering courses through distance learning.  After successful completion of that program a student will be awarded two BS degrees: one from McMurry University and another from the UND. 

Other Opportunities:

The Dual 3-2 BS Idea:  This idea is sometimes called a 3-2 program; but this name is a little awkward because it is also used in other contexts to refer to a different idea. This dual Bachelor's degree refers to a student who starts as a physics undergraduate at a school with no engineering program, takes their general education and intro physics courses, and then transfers to an engineering school to take nearly 3-years' worth of engineering courses (and no general education).  McMurry University was offering 3-2 programs in the past, but currently does not offer any formal 3-2 programs.

The 4-1 Idea: The phrase "a 4-1 program" at an engineering school may instead refer to an engineering student who is academically strong and motivated enough to finish a sufficient amount of their undergraduate coursework in a specific engineering discipline to begin their graduate work in the same engineering discipline while technically still an undergraduate. Some engineering schools developed these 4-1 programs for their students because of the situation regarding the professional degree (mentioned above). This would allow a student to finish their masters in 5 years instead of the usual 6. Of course, it is necessary for these students to continue in the same discipline that they studied as undergraduates.

Changing Fields: If an engineer wishes to change fields from undergraduate to graduate school, then they need what are sometimes called "Leveling Courses" to get up to speed in the new field. (These are also called "post-bachelaureate courses.") Typically, after a student takes their bachelors in one field, they can spend their first year of graduate work taking the leveling classes in a new field and then move into the coursework of the new discipline. The number of leveling courses that are needed depends on which discipline one transfers from as well as which discipline one goes to, but these courses generally do exist, and there is a demand for them.

Bachelor-Masters Programs: Because it is not uncommon for students to transition from undergraduate physics or math into engineering graduate programs, there is no formal agreement of acceptance at this time. Depending  on the engineering field, the number of leveling courses may vary. However, our Engineering Physics degree offers a variety of upper-division engineering electives that would allow for a smooth transition into various engineering graduate programs with a minimal amount of leveling.