PE Applicants
Requirements to Apply
Requirements to become licensed as a Professional Engineer in Delaware can be found in Section 2817 of the Delaware Professional Engineers’ Act.
If you are NOT licensed in another state, you must be qualified in the following three areas:
Education: Applicants must have a bachelor’s degree in engineering, engineering technology, or a science-related to an engineering program. Otherwise, you are required to have 15 years of verifiable, acceptable engineering experience.
Experience: Graduates from an ABET-accredited engineering curriculum are required to have four years of acceptable, verifiable engineering experience. All other graduates (non-ABET accredited engineering, engineering technology, or science-related to engineering programs) are required to have eight (8) years of acceptable, verifiable engineering experience.
The award of a Master’s degree or PhD may each count towards one year’s experience credit as long as it is not achieved concurrently with work experience.
Experience must be verified by supervisors or work colleagues (applicants may not self-verify). Additionally, all applicants must provide 5 professional references, including at least 3 that are active Professional Engineers.
Examination: All applicants are required to pass both the 6-hour Fundamentals of Engineering (FE) examination, and one of the 8-hour Principles & Practice of Engineering (PE) examinations (or both parts of the 16-hour Structural Engineering (SE) examinations), prepared by NCEES (National Council of Examiners for Engineering & Surveying). Specifications for each of these examinations are available at www.ncees.org. Examination fees are paid to NCEES. FE and PE exams are computer-based and offered at Pearson VUE testing centers. The FE exam and most PE exams are offered year-round. Some PE exams are offered on a single day each year. You can find the schedule here.
Exemptions: If you have earned a PhD from an institution that had an ABET-accredited engineering bachelor’s program, and that PhD required a qualifying exam, you may be eligible for a waiver of the Fundamentals of Engineering examination; or
If you have a Council-approved engineering baccalaureate degree and fifteen (15) years of experience you may be eligible for a waiver of the Fundamentals of Engineering examination.
Candidates interested in Decoupling the timing of their experience/examination should contact us for further information before applying.
*Note: If your firm is planning to offer or provide engineering services in Delaware, the firm will need a Certificate of Authorization (COA). To avoid delays, the COA application can be submitted at the same time as your PE application if you are licensed in another jurisdiction already. When your PE application is ready for review, the COA application will also be reviewed.
How to Apply
To receive a license, you must provide the following:
Complete an online application below. If you are reapplying, please contact us before starting a new application.
Application fee of $150 paid via credit card online or in the form of a check payable to DAPE with your application number in the memo field and mailed to 92 Read’s Way, Suite 208 New Castle, DE 19720
Include an affidavit with a passport-like photo taken within the last 90 days that is signed and dated on the front of the photo (this is generated as part of the online application).
Official transcripts to verify your education qualifications must be sent directly from the institution(s) electronically to office@dape.org or via USPS to 92 Read’s Way, Suite 208, New Castle DE 19720. We will not accept transcripts directly from applicants. Applicants with foreign education must submit an NCEES credentials evaluation.
Include a detailed description of the engineering work you completed citing examples from projects that help demonstrate your specific and personal engineering contribution focusing on analysis, design, computations, and engineering evaluations. Please specify exactly what engineering work you did avoiding vague terms such as “I was involved with” or “the team was responsible for.” In order to help formulate your description, please refer to Section 2803, (23) of the Delaware Professional Engineer’s Act.
Provide contact information for supervisors that can verify your engineering experience. Applicants may NOT verify their own experience.
Provide 5 professional references, including 3 with an active PE or IntPE license.
Completed Ethics & Regulations questionnaire referencing Delaware Professional Engineers’ Act and DAPE Code of Ethics
*NCEES record-holders still need to complete the application and include a brief description of at least 4-8 years of engineering experience and have NCEES transmit your record to the Delaware PE board. We will use the information on the record to verify the information you’ve provided in your application so your references will not need to fill out additional forms.
All applicant information requires verification, review, evaluation, and approval prior to being eligible to take the exam or be issued a license. Our Examining Committee will review completed applications on the last Wednesday of each month. The Committee’s recommendations will be forwarded to the DAPE Council that meets on the second Wednesday of each month.
You may check your application status below anytime after it has been submitted and we encourage you to follow up with your professional references and employment verification contacts to ensure they have received and completed forms.