Online Engineering Bachelor's vs. Degree Completion

Online engineering bachelor's programs look similar in search results, but they are built for very different students. Some take you from your first college course to graduation. Others assume you have already finished calculus, physics and the first two years of engineering somewhere else and offer only the junior and senior years online. Knowing which kind you are looking at, and which kind you need, saves months of wasted applications and credits that do not fit.

Three ways into an online engineering bachelor's

Schools generally describe three entry routes, sometimes all for the same degree:

• First-year entry. You apply with a high school diploma or equivalent and complete the full curriculum, including math, science and general education.
• Transfer entry. You bring college credit, often from a community college, and finish the remaining requirements. You may still take some lower-division courses at the new school.
• Degree completion (upper-division only). The program offers only the upper-division courses. You must complete the lower-division math, science and introductory engineering courses before you start, usually at a community college or another institution.

A degree-completion program is not a shorter version of a four-year degree. It leads to the same kind of bachelor's degree, but it is designed to start halfway through.

In our directory (October 2026), the 35 online engineering bachelor's programs list 17 first-year routes, 18 transfer routes, 5 degree-completion routes and 1 second-bachelor's route; one program can list several (methodology). On how much of the degree is online, 11 programs are offered as a full degree online, 10 only partly online, 4 online for the upper division only, and for 10 the school's pages do not settle the question.

First-year programs

These are the closest equivalent to starting as a freshman on campus.

• Old Dominion University says its online BS in Computer Engineering "is available completely online, which means you can apply to ODU as a freshman." The same program also accepts transfer students, with up to 90 transfer credits, and requires at least 30 credit hours at ODU.
• Penn State World Campus admits high school graduates or GED holders to its online BS in Software Engineering. Students then meet entrance-to-major requirements, including CHEM 110, MATH 140, MATH 141 and PHYS 211, completed with a minimum grade of C.

First-year routes suit students with little or no college credit. Expect a longer program and more general education courses.

Transfer programs with partial online coverage

Many programs accept both new and transfer students but do not offer every required course online. You fill the gaps elsewhere.

• Mississippi State University lets students in its online BS in Electrical Engineering transfer up to 64 credit hours from an accredited community college, and notes that "some of the required courses are not available online through Mississippi State University," so "a transferrable equivalent course will need to be taken through another institution."
• The University of Alabama marks several courses in its primarily online BS in Mechanical Engineering, including General Chemistry I and General Physics with Calculus I, as "Not offered by UA Distance. An equivalent must be completed at another institution and transferred to UA."

In the Alabama example, they include introductory chemistry and physics. Before you apply, list every course marked this way and confirm that a college near you, or an online provider whose credit the school accepts, offers it.

Degree-completion and 2+2 programs

These programs start at the junior year.

• Stony Brook University says its online BS in Electrical Engineering "is an upper-division program." Admission requires a minimum 3.0 cumulative GPA in College Calculus I, II and III and Introduction to Differential Equations, with no grade below C, plus a C or better in an English composition course equivalent to its WRT 102. You apply as a transfer student. Stony Brook adds that non-EE prerequisites and general education courses are available online through SUNY Online partner institutions.
• Lamar University offers an online 2+2 option for its BS in Industrial Engineering. Its catalog says "a maximum of 66 hours can be transferred from 2-year community colleges" and that most freshman and sophomore courses are also available online from Lamar or at a local community college.
• The University of North Dakota runs a 2+2 petroleum engineering program for students who have earned an associate in science degree from Williston State College, leading to a UND bachelor's degree "in approximately two years."

Degree completion can be efficient if your first two years are already done and match the program's prerequisites. If your math sequence is incomplete, you are not ready to start.

Second bachelor's degrees

If you already hold a bachelor's degree, check the second-degree policy. Stony Brook, for example, says it only considers students for a second bachelor's degree "if their first degree was in a significantly different field of study," and that it does not consider students with bachelor's degrees in electrical engineering technology. Policies like this vary by school.

Prerequisites you may need to take elsewhere

ABET describes engineering programs as typically requiring "multiple semesters of calculus and calculus-based theoretical science courses." The examples above show what that means in practice: Stony Brook's calculus sequence through differential equations, Penn State's chemistry, calculus and physics courses. Whatever route you choose, map each prerequisite against the courses you have or plan to take.

Two cautions:

1. An associate degree is not always enough. ODU notes that its computer engineering program "requires lower division courses in math, science, or computer engineering, which some associate degrees may not cover."
2. Transfer is the receiving school's decision. NC-SARA quotes the U.S. Department of Education: "Acceptance of credit or graduates is always the prerogative of the receiving institution or employer." Get a transfer credit evaluation in writing before you count on any course.

How to choose your route

• No college credit, or only a few courses: look for programs that state a first-year route and a full degree online, such as the ODU and Penn State examples.
• Community college credit but an incomplete math or science sequence: look for transfer-friendly programs, and plan where you will take the missing courses.
• An associate degree in engineering science or a pre-engineering transfer track: degree-completion and 2+2 programs may get you to graduation fastest, if your courses match their prerequisites.
• An engineering technology associate degree: check carefully. ABET says engineering technology programs typically focus on algebra, trigonometry and applied calculus, so the courses may not satisfy an engineering program's prerequisites; see Engineering vs. Engineering Technology.

Whichever route you take, check the ABET status of the specific program and its online pathway, any required campus labs, and the total tuition for the credits you still need. Browse online engineering bachelor's programs or go straight to degree-completion programs.