The Master of Science (M.S.) degree in ECE may be earned through one of three programs:
The Professional M.S. and Ph.D./M.S. programs are available to qualified students who have earned an undergraduate degree. Select undergraduate students in ECE at Carnegie Mellon may be admitted into the IMB Program. Typically, three semesters are needed to complete the M.S. degree. However, it is possible to complete an M.S. in ECE in one year. IMB students typically complete these requirements within 5 years of starting their undergraduate degree.
Students in the three programs must satisfy a set of course requirements to earn the degree. Students in the Ph.D./M.S. Program may count a project report and additional graduate project units toward the degree.
A total of 96 units are required to obtain the ECE M.S. degree. Of the 96 required units:
Prior to course enrollment, students must have approval of their advisor or the ECE Graduate Office for all non-ECE courses that are being used to satisfy the 96 units of M.S. course requirements. Courses that have not been pre-approved may not be certified to satisfy ECE M.S. course requirements for the ECE M.S. degree.
Of the 96 required units, you may not count:
Only one graduate-level course, or the equivalent of 12 units, can be transferred from another university as credit toward the M.S. degree. As a guideline, three-credit courses from other universities equate to 9-unit CMU courses; a four-credit course equates to a 12-unit CMU course. The course being transferred can not have been counted towards another degree and a letter grade of "B" or better must have been received. To transfer credit from another university, a formal petition must be submitted to and approved by the Graduate Studies Committee. No credit will be considered or granted prior to admission to the M.S. degree program.
CMU students who received their B.S. degree from ECE may use courses that were not used towards satisfying the B.S. degree to satisfy the M.S. degree course requirement.
Students in the Ph.D./M.S. Program may exercise an optional research project report requirement that allows a larger number of research project units to be counted toward M.S. degree requirements.
The final completion of graduate project units requires a formal report which clearly and succinctly states the objectives, assumptions, and accomplishments of the work.
The M.S. Report must be approved and signed by two ECE faculty or faculty with an ECE courtesy appointment.
To remain as a student in good standing, the student must maintain a 3.0 QPA in course units and a separate 3.0 QPA in project units. The letter grades "A," "B," or "C," represent 4.0, 3.0, and 2.0 points in the QPA calculation, respectively. Transfer credits are not included in the QPA calculations.
For the final degree requirements, the QPA is calculated using the highest, appropriate, scores of 96 units out of the first 120 course and project units attempted. The units used to calculate the QPA must satisfy the M.S. course requirement.
Students in the Professional M.S. and IMB Programs who have identified a research project that they want to pursue in-depth, leading to a Ph.D. degree, may wish to take advantage of the project report. These students must complete one year (two semesters) in the Professional M.S. or IMB programs before they can apply to be admitted to the Ph.D./M.S. Program.
Carnegie Mellon students from outside of ECE and Carnegie Mellon staff may take graduate courses in ECE, including those that can be counted toward an M.S. degree in ECE, subject to the same rules and requirements as currently exist and subject also to the availability of space in those courses.