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Frequently Asked Questions

Below is a list of common questions about the M.S.M.E. Online program and their answers:

The MSME Online program offers the entire FAMU-FSU Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering degree over the internet. This allows anyone with a B.S. in mechanical engineering to pursue the master's degree without the need to move to Tallahassee, Florida.

The M.S. Online program leads to a recognized M.S. degree at an established, accredited state university. Online students satisfy identical requirements as the students that are on-campus. While a number of other established, recognized universities are starting similar programs, the College of Engineering is pioneering the unique approach of fully integrating the online students into the existing classes.

Admittedly, the need to meet the same deadlines as the local students reduces the freedom of the online students to set their own schedules compared to traditional correspondence classes. However, this does provide strong motivation to take no more classes than one can reasonably handle and to remain current with the class material. It also implies that there are fellow students thinking about the same material at the same time, having similar questions and difficulties. Further, when taking the class at the time that it is actually offered, the instructor is focussed on the class he/she is teaching, rather than being distracted by other classes and/or research. As far as the instructor is concerned, the online student is no different from any other student in the class.

The online student may find that it is significantly less expensive to pursue the M.S. degree at the FAMU-FSU College of Engineering than at comparable institutions elsewhere, particularly for students who are Florida residents. It may be noted that some companies have programs to assist employees in continuing education.

Through the "FEEDS" program, the FAMU-FSU College of Engineering has been involved in distance education since 1988. The distance classes have been taught through a video link to the FSU branch campus in Panama City, Florida, as well as to other locations in Florida using video tapes.

As of this writing, 1/11/2001, the department is in the Spring semester of the second year that the MS Program is on the web. Four classes are currently being taught over the web, making a total of 16 classes taught over the two year period. These classes have been taken by distance students on the Panama City campus and elsewhere, as well as by local students (in the fall 1999 semester, as many as half the local students took the two fall core classes over the web because of classroom size restrictions). We have worked to eliminate major technical difficulties and provide quality delivery. Our web classes are open to anyone who wants to have a look. Visitors should have the correct software properly configured before dropping in.

Based on 1999 rates, in-state tuition is $5,000 total for the 33 credit hours of the M.S. program. Out-of-state tuition is $17,000. (This is total tuition cost, not yearly or semester cost.) Note that fees are established by the Florida Board of Regents and the Florida State Legislature and are subject to change without notice. Also note that a number of other fees are required; see our planning info pagefor links to relevant info.

An online student will encounter the usual additional expenses for books and supplies plus the computer equipment required to take classes remotely and to submit assignments. There may also be travel costs in the event a suitable examination proctoring arrangement cannot be found.

It may be noted that some companies have programs to assist employees in continuing education.

Based on our personal experiences and the feedback of our students, truly live lectures (in which the student is physically in the classroom with the instructor) are more preferrable than simulated live lectures over the web. However, attendance over the web can provide an acceptable substitute for most students. Further discussion can be found in a paper to the 2000 ASEE conference which is available on the M.S. Online web page, http://www.eng.fsu.edu/me/courses/web/msol/.

The greatest limitation to online delivery is bandwidth. The lectures are encoded so that they can be received through ordinary phone lines. However, if your Internet Service Provider (ISP) does not give you enough bandwidth for a long enough time (in the order of 20 seconds) or if the phone connection is bad, the player may run out of data to display and pause to create a new supply. This problem may depend on the class time, your ISP, or other techinical limitations beyond our control. Trial and error are necessary to determine whether this is a serious consideration at your location. Computer crashes are another possible concern, especially on Windows machines with limited memory (32Mb RAM or less).

If the quality of your connection is a serious problem, you can download the entire videos before viewing them. The procedure is in the handbook under help on "audio and video". But obviously, this precludes attending lectures live. Each video is about 30 Mb.

A limitation of another nature is that the live lectures are not strictly "live." There is a delay in the order of about 10 seconds between the time something is said in the classroom and when you hear it on your computer. This can slow down communication between you and the instructor compared to a back-and-forth discussion in the actual classroom. It might also be noted that a number of students, who alternated between attending classes in the classroom and over the web, reported that it is easier to be distracted when viewing a computer screen.

At the time of this writing, you need a B.S. degree in Mechanical Engineering from an accredited college or university. You also need a 3.00 GPA (3.5 for non U.S. students) in your upper division undergraduate education, and a minimum combined verbal and quantitative GRE score of 1150 (1350 for non U.S. students). Non U.S. students also need to obtain a minimum TOEFL score of 550. Authorative requirements can be found here.

If you do not have a B.S. degree in Mechanical Engineering or equivalent, but have completed a degree in a related field, you will need to make up the deficiencies by taking undergraduate courses in Mechanical Engineering. This may pose a problem: our undergraduate courses are currently not being offered over the web.

You also need to have a good working knowledge of computers, E-mail, and web browsers. You need to be able to install software and change options, install and operate a scanner, and perform other tasks. We do not provide instruction in computer use. However, you may be able to find a helpful friend who can assist you in configuring the system and can demonstrate how it works.

Equipment needs change with emerging technology. Currently, you need at least a 133 MHz Pentium class machine with 32 Mb RAM, sound, and Windows 95. (This is the minimum computer configuration you need now, not the computer you should get if you have to buy one.) You need a microphone, amplified speakers (speakers built into a portable are often unacceptable in quality), (avoid subwoofers), or a headset, a video camera, a printer, and a flatbed scanner. Some people have been successful attending lectures with Macs. You will need a 56k modem and an ISP or some other way of connecting to the Internet. Your ISP needs to provide full Internet access. You cannot be behind a firewall. (Unless you restrict yourself to archived videos.)

At the time of this writing, 1/11/2001, we are actively changing the program to slightly reduce the credit requirements and increase its flexibility. The latest version of the credit requirements is here.

The latest version of the admission requirements is here.

The time you spend in a particular course will be affected by the amount of time you have available for your study and how long ago you completed your undergraduate education. If you remember little from your undergraduate mathematics you may want to take it slowly initially. The program is designed to take two years for a full-time student. Since the required 33 credit hours corresponds to 9 classes plus 6 hours of thesis, if you could manage two classes each semester (probably a heavy load), it would take you 3 years. Note that the standard graduate classes are not usually offered during summer. If you finish one class each semester and work on your thesis during summers, you would take 5 years to complete the M.S. degree.

Depending on your research direction and your advisor, your advisor may judge that a DIS course or supervised research is more helpful than a standard class as preparation towards your thesis research. DIS courses and research could be taken during the summer semesters.

No. Real time attendance of classes may prove to be difficult for students in other time zones. Also, high Internet traffic at the time a class is broadcast may cause net congestion resulting in difficulty receiving uninterrupted audio and video. However, we strongly recommend attending lectures live whenever possible. This provides a strong motivation to stay current with the class, and the appearance of your picture in the chat window ensures the instructor that you are an active member of the class.

Our preliminary experiences indicate that students who are restricted to viewing the archived lectures tend to fall behind and perform more poorly than those who attend the lectures live.

Procedures can be found on the Mechanical Engineering web site; http://www.eng.fsu.edu/me/gradprog/admiss/.