Carnegie Mellon University

MS in SE, AP (Master of Science, Applied program)

*The Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering will no longer be admitting and enrolling new students to the ECE Applied or SE Applied programs, including the ECE Applied Advanced and SE Applied Advanced programs, in both Pittsburgh and Silicon Valley, after the Spring 2023 semester.  Students already admitted and enrolled in these programs during or before the Spring 2023 semester will remain eligible to complete their degree requirements at both the Pittsburgh and Silicon Valley campuses through the Spring 2024 semester for the Applied programs and the Fall semester 2024 for the Applied Advanced programs. 

All students who matriculated into the ECE MS program up to and including the Spring 2020 semester, please see the program requirements here.

The MS in SE is a three-semester program comprised of 97 units of graduate coursework (600-level and above). Within the Standard program, you can choose between the following options:

Course option requirements

  • 60 units of SE core courses
  • 36 units of elective courses
  1. 24 units of these must be CIT courses
  2. 12 units of your overall electives may be a general technical elective course
  • 1 unit of Introduction to Graduate Studies 
  • 1 summer internship (18-993)
  • *Preparatory Exception: 12 units of undergraduate coursework (300-level and above) may be substituted as part of the 96 core and elective units.

  • *You may not end your program on the summer internship. The required internship must be taken before you meet the program’s course unit requirements. For example, if you will complete all 97 units by Spring 2021, you cannot conduct your required internship during Summer 2021. Please note: International students who begin their studies full-time in the spring semester WILL qualify for CPT in the summer, as the internship is a program requirement.

The SE applied program requires 60 units (for the course option) and 48 units (for the project option) of core coursework that may not be waived or substituted. Students are required to take 18-652 Foundations of Software Engineering in their first semester. To complete the remaining required units of core coursework, please choose from the core offerings below:

  • Required: 18-652 Foundations of Software Engineering (12 units)
  • 18-653 Software Architecture & Design (12 units)
  • 18-654 Software Verification & Testing (12 units)
  • 18-657 Decision Analysis and Engineering Economics for Software Engineers (12 units)
  • 18-658 Software Requirements & Interaction Design (12 units)
  • 18-659 Software Engineering Methods (12 units)
  • 18-664 Software Refactoring (12 units)
  • 18-668 Data Science for Software Engineering (12 units)
  • 18-671 Foundations of Database Design (12 units)

24 units (for the course option only) must be graduate coursework (600-level or above) within CIT from the following departments:

  • ECE (18)
  • Carnegie Institute of Technology (CIT) (39)
  • Biomedical Engineering (42)
  • Chemical Engineering (06)
  • Civil & Environmental Engineering (12)
  • Engineering & Public Policy (19)
  • Information Network Institute (14)
  • Integrated Innovation Institute (49)
  • Materials Science & Engineering (27)
  • Mechanical Engineering (24)
  • CMU–Africa (04)

EXCEPTIONS – The following CIT courses may not be counted toward CIT Elective Coursework. They may be counted toward General Technical Elective Coursework.

  • Engineering & Public Policy (19) - 19-602, 19-655
  • Integrated Innovation Institute (49) – 49-750, 49-751, 49-761, 49-762, 49-763, 49-764, 49-765, 49-766, 49-767, 49-770, 49-771, 49-772, 49-773, 49-774, 49-775, 49-780, 49-781, 49-782, 49-788, 49-790, 49-791, 49-792, 49-793
  • Mechanical Engineering (24) – 24-792

CMU Africa (04) – 04-601, 04-602, 04-605, 04-900, 04-980

This is entirely optional. It is not required to take a general technical elective to graduate. However, if you would like to, please note that only 12 units of coursework (600 level or above) from the following programs (shown under their parent college) or individually approved courses will be counted towards your degree:

Dietrich College of Humanities and Social Sciences

  • Statistics (36)
  • Center for the Neural Basis of Cognition (86)
  • Heinz School of Information Systems (95)
  • Heinz College-Wide Courses (94)

Mellon College of Science (MCS)

  • Biological Sciences (03)
  • Chemistry (09)
  • Mathematical Sciences (21)
  • Physics (33)

School of Computer Science (SCS)

  • Computational Biology (02)
  • Computer Science (15)
  • Entertainment Technology Center (53)
  • Institute for Software Research (08)
  • Robotics Institute (16)
  • Human–Computer Interaction Institute (05)
  • Language Technologies Institute (11)
  • Machine Learning (10)
  • Software Engineering (17)

Tepper School of Business (TEP)

  • Tepper School of Business (45)

Additional courses outside of these programs that are approved to be counted toward General Technical Elective Coursework:

  • 46-926, 46-929
  • 47-830, 47-834
  • 51-882
  • 57-947
  • 80-713
  • 84-688
  • 90-756, 90-808
  • 93-711

Students in the course option may take up to 27 project units (18980). 12 project units can count towards their core requirements and up to 15 project units can count toward their CIT elective requirements.

ECE master’s students in the standard program will take 97 units for their degree, 85 units of which must be from within the College of Engineering (61 from within ECE, 24 from within CIT; see above). This rule applies to all students matriculating fall 2020 or later and to all IMB students who sign their intent form after the start of the Fall 2020 semester. IMB students will be beholden to the program requirements in place when they sign their intent form and officially agree to enter the program.

*Please note: Additional units can be taken beyond the required 97 units described above in order to diversify your course schedule, however, they will not be counted towards the program requirements. Students who wish to take more than the recommended 36 units per semester (after their first semester) should make an appointment with their academic advisor to review your planned schedule.

Students who are pursuing the MS Standard degree cannot register for their final semester if they have already completed 120 units of coursework. These units include courses taken for audit, pass/no pass, and withdrawal. Please refer to CIT's policy on MS degree units for additional information.