Electrical and Computer Engineering joint: BS/MS Program
The Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) has created a joint degree program combining the Bachelor of Science (BS) in electrical and computer engineering and the Master of Science (MS) in electrical and computer engineering. This is a coursework-only option.
The program is designed for undergraduates with outstanding academic performance who want to pursue graduate studies in electrical and computer engineering, or who wish to prepare themselves for advanced placement in the workplace.
Students will be able to apply in their third undergraduate year after taking a suitable number of core engineering courses and by demonstrating outstanding academic performance as determined by a minimum institutional GPA. After admission to the program, students in the joint program will begin taking graduate-level courses in their fourth year and will complete graduate coursework during their fifth year.
The Completion of 120 semester hours at the undergraduate level, 8 shared hours counting toward both degrees, and 28 semester hours at the graduate level (for a total of 156 hours) will result in joint BS / MS degrees.
Undergraduate students admitted into the joint program can register for two 400- or 500- level technical-elective ECE courses during their final undergraduate semester, receiving graduate credit for these hours. In taking graduate-level courses, students may take advantage of differential credit to earn 4 credit hours (in each course respectively), instead of the typical 3 credit hours toward an undergraduate degree (or may earn 5 credit hours if the course is already designated as a 4-credit-hour course.
During the fifth year, students will take the remaining 28 semester hours at the graduate level. Upon completion of the program, students will earn both a BS EE, CE, or EP degree, and an MS ECE degree.
Program Requirements Heading link
Students who meet the following criteria are eligible to apply for the joint program:
- Must be a current undergraduate student in the ECE department
- Must have completed 30 credit hours of ECE core courses (courses listed under “Required in the College of Engineering” in the UIC catalog. This excludes: ECE 194, ECE 294, ECE 391, ECE 392, ECE 496, and ECE 497.
- Must have an overall institutional GPA of 3.25 or higher.
- Must be enrolled in ECE 499 during their final undergraduate semester.
- Interested students will need to fill out an Interest Form (by the third week of their first semester of their senior (fourth) year, and meet with a joint program advisor between weeks five and nine of that semester to discuss their progress and plan out the technical electives they will take.
Join the program Heading link
Interested applicants can reach out to ECE Student Affairs at ecestudentaffairs@uic.edu
or can visit the ECE Student Affairs Office in SEO 1020.
Program Requirements Heading link
The two technical-elective courses, which may apply up to 8 credit hours to both degrees, will require pre-approval by an academic advisor and will be recorded in the student’s academic record by the ECE Student Affairs Office. The tech elective courses must be taken during the students final semester.
- The ECE Student Affairs Office will submit the necessary paperwork allowing the undergraduate student to register for the graduate section of these courses that will be used both at the undergraduate level to fulfill 8 credit hours of technical elective requirements, and at the graduate level to fulfill required coursework for a MS degree.
- If a student registers for two graduate level courses that are worth 5 credit hours each, they may only share 8 credits between the BS and MS degree.
- As part of the MS degree, students must complete the regular ECE MS coursework-only option requirements and take the ECE 595 Departmental Seminar in at least one semester.
Meeting these requirements will allow students to apply to the joint program, but final admission will be determined by the ECE Graduate Admission and Recruitment Committee. Being admitted into the Joint Program does not automatically change a student’s class level from undergraduate to graduate. Students will need to create and apply to UIC’s Graduate College for entry into the MS portion of the program.