Academic Guide
Integrated M.S./B.S. Degrees in ECE
Qualifying undergraduates also have the opportunity to receive an
M.S. Degree in ECE by taking an additional 96 units (nominally
eight 12 unit courses) of course work at Carnegie Mellon. The
degrees may be awarded simultaneously or sequentially depending on
the progress and preference of the student. The primary purpose of
the Integrated Masters/Bachelors (IMB) Degrees Program is to provide
students with superior breadth and depth of technical material,
which will better prepare them for careers in industry. The
IMB Degree Program normally requires an additional year of course
work beyond the B.S. degree requirements. Students interested in
pursuing the IMB degrees are encouraged to begin taking some of the
required graduate courses before their last year. In the face of
the ever increasing technological complexity of the work place, the
additional year of advanced undergraduate and graduate classes
required for the IMB degrees substantially enhances a student's
readiness to contribute in an industrial position.
The IMB Degrees Program is available to all undergraduates who
maintain a cumulative QPA of at least 3.0, including the Freshman
year. Students must also maintain a QPA of 3.0 in courses used to
satisfy the requirements of the M.S. degree.
The following are the requirements for the IMB degrees. These are
in addition to the requirements for the B.S. degree. Note that no
course can be counted as satisfying more than one of the
requirements listed below and no course used to satisfy the B.S.
degree requirements can be used to satisfy the M.S. requirements
listed below.
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A minimum of 96 units must be completed for the M.S., in
addition to the 360 units required for the B.S.
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Of the 96 units, the College of Engineering requires that a
minimum of 60 units must be at the ECE graduate level (600-level
and above), including both course and project units. No more
than 15 units of project/research (18-980) may be counted
toward the 96-unit requirement. Of this 15 units, no more than
12 of them may be used towards the 60 units of 600-level and
above requirement.
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At least 48 units of the 60 required ECE units must be ECE
graduate-level courses (600-level and above). The remaining 12
units may either be an additional ECE graduate course, or it may
be 12 units of project units at the graduate level.
-
36 units of additional units (may be from any academic unit of
the University).
- A minimum of 24 of the 36 units must be at the 500-level and above.
- No more than 12 units of undergraduate (400 level and below) coursework may count toward the 96-unit requirement.
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No course with a grade lower than C will be counted toward the
Masters degree requirements for the IMB degree (those over and
above the requirements for the B.S. degree). Students become
eligible to declare their intention to participate during
the spring semester of the junior year, or the semester
in which they accumulate 270 or more units, whichever
is earlier.
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Up to 15 units of 39-500, CIT Honors Project, can be used
towards item 4; however, no additional research units can then
be used to count towards the 96-unit requirement. You must have
graduate standing in order to conduct graduate research. The
graduate project must contain substantial design and/or research
experience. Graduate projects must be proposed (one-page abstract
describing the project), supported by an ECE Faculty advisor,
submitted to approved by the Undergraduate Office.
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Any student going beyond 8 semesters to complete both the B.S.
and M.S. degree requirements may maintain undergraduate standing.
However, they will be required to take graduate
standing for at least the last semester in which they are
enrolled. This means that all B.S. degree requirements and any
requirements for second majors or minors must be met
prior to this last semester.
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In the event that courses with fewer than 12 units are used to
satisfy some of the M.S. requirements, additional courses from
the same category must be taken to meet or exceed the unit
requirement for that category.
Once a student has taken on graduate standing, he or she will be required to
pay graduate tuition. The student's status with respect to financial aid
also changes. Please check with the Financial Aid Office
for further details. Full-time IMB
students with graduate standing can apply to be IMB Teaching Assistants. IMB
TAs work 10 hours a week and receive partial tuition reimbursement. See the
teaching opportunities site for further information about the IMB TA program.
For housing information please contact Housing Services.