Course & Breadth Requirements

Students in the PhD program without a MS degree and students in the PhD program who have an ECE MS degree from Carnegie Mellon must take a total of eight ECE or related courses (96 units) at Carnegie Mellon. At least six of these eight courses must be graduate courses. Courses taken at Carnegie Mellon to satisfy the MS course requirements may count toward the PhD course requirements.

Students in the PhD program who have earned a MS degree elsewhere (outside of CMU's ECE Department) must take a total of four ECE or related courses (48 units) at Carnegie Mellon. At least three of these four courses must be graduate courses.

For students who do not yet have an ECE MS degree, courses taken at Carnegie Mellon to satisfy the ECE PhD degree course requirements may count toward the ECE MS course requirements.

Graduate courses include any of ECE's graduate courses listed on the ECE Course List page, as well as those listed on the PhD Breadth Area Courses page. To count toward the PhD requirements, a course cannot be a project, seminar, or independent study course. A student can only take up to two undergraduate courses to fulfill the course requirement, and these two courses must be in the ECE Department at a 300-level. Students must receive a B- grade or better in both the graduate and undergraduate courses. 

Please note that several courses outside of ECE have been approved by the Graduate Studies Committee (GSC) for use toward the PhD requirements. However, because these courses need to be periodically reviewed by the GSC, they are not listed on this page. If students are interested in taking a course that is not on the approved course list, please reach out to Greta Ruperto to inquire about the course and the potential need for a petition.

Students who joined the PhD program in Fall 2022 and prior and have taken graduate-level courses in the CMU Computer Science (CS) Department should send an email to Greta Ruperto to discuss. Note that these courses will still count toward your degree requirements. 

Students wishing to count a graduate course at Carnegie Mellon not listed in the approved graduate course list or on the breadth website or an undergraduate course offered by a department outside of ECE or CS at Carnegie Mellon must formally petition the Graduate Studies Committee.

Breadth Requirement

The ECE Department has defined seven technical areas as Breadth Areas for the PhD degree. Each PhD candidate must take at least one graduate class from three of these areas to fulfill the Breadth Requirement. Students must receive a B- grade or better in these courses.

Students can count one course they have taken outside Carnegie Mellon toward the Breadth Course Requirement, but they must submit a formal petition for approval by the Graduate Studies Committee. If the petition is accepted, only two more Breadth Areas must be satisfied. However, students will still be held to the same course requirements. 

Managing the Course & Breadth Requirements

To ensure that each student is on track to meet these requirements, the PhD Course and Breadth Requirement Form (included in the Graduate Progress Review Statement) should be filled out each semester, and academic progress should be discussed with the student's advisor.