The M.S. in Engineering is available to students who wish to follow an interdisciplinary program of study that does not conform to a normal graduate program in a department.

Each student's program is administered by the particular department in which it is lodged and must meet the standard of quality of that department. Transfer into this program is possible from any graduate program by application through the appropriate department; the department then recommends approval to the Office of Student Affairs in the School of Engineering. The application should be submitted before completing 18 units of the proposed program; it should include a statement describing the objectives of the program, the coherence of the proposed course work, and why this course of study cannot conform to existing graduate programs. Normally, it would include the approval of at least one faculty member willing to serve as adviser. (A co-advising team may be appropriate for interdisciplinary programs.) Each student's program is administered by the particular department in which it is lodged and must meet the standard of quality of that department. The actual transfer is accomplished through the Graduate Authorization Petition process.

There are three school requirements for the M.S. degree in Engineering:

The student's program must be a coherent one with a well-defined objective and must be approved by a department within the school which has experience with graduate-level teaching and advising in the program area.
The student's program must include at least 21 units of courses within the School of Engineering with catalog numbers of 200 or above in which the student receives letter grades.
The program must include a total of at least 45 units.

Departments may have additional requirements or expectations for programs of study which they would recommend for this degree; further information may be found in departmental listings or handbooks.

The M.S. in Engineering is rarely pursued as a coterminal program, and potential coterms are encouraged to explore the range of master's options in the departments and interdisciplinary programs. In the unusual circumstance of a coterminal application to the M.S. in Engineering, the application process should be the same as described above, using the Graduate Authorization Petition in Axess (for coterminal students who want to transfer between MS programs). The policy for transferring courses taken as an undergraduate prior to coterm admission to the M.S. in Engineering corresponds to the policy of the particular department in which the student's program is lodged and administered. A clear statement of the department's coterminal policy, and how it applies to the applicant within the Master of Science in Engineering program, should be added to the application materials.

Department: School of Engineering