MSE Degree Requirements and Transfer of Coursework
The MSE, Master of Science in Engineering, requires a Program of Work consisting of at least thirty to thirty-two semester hours of coursework (ten courses) primarily or entirely at the graduate level and not counted toward a prior degree, and has three options:
• Thesis, including the two individual instruction 3-hour Thesis courses, ECE 698A (taken before the final semester of the master’s degree), and ECE 698B (taken in the final semester of the master's degree);
• Report, including the individual instruction report course, ECE 398R (taken in the final semester of the master's degree); and
• No Thesis/No Report (Coursework Only).
Additional Information:
Enrollment in course ECE 698A (research project) must precede enrollment in course ECE 698B (writing period); ECE 698A may not be repeated for credit. The student must register for ECE 698B in the semester they intend to graduate, and repeat the course as needed if the thesis is not completed by the Graduate School's submission deadline for the semester. The thesis cannot be accepted before the semester in which the student applies for graduation.
Thesis and Report courses are taken on the credit/no credit (CR/NC) grading basis. Otherwise, all courses that count toward the Program of Work must be regular classroom instruction courses taken for a letter grade.
Program of Work
By policy of the Graduate School of the University of Texas at Austin, at least eighteen hours (six courses) must be in the major work, including any Thesis or Report courses, and at least six hours (two courses) must be in supporting work. Up to two upper-division undergraduate courses (3 or 4 credit hours per course) may be used toward the MSE Program of Work. However, supporting work must including at least one graduate course.
More than 18 hours of major work may be required of individual students based on their academic backgrounds. However, which courses may be counted as major work and which may be counted as supporting work can vary not only with the academic track but the interests of the individual student. Ultimately, all major and supporting coursework must be logically related. Each student must work with their ECE GSC member Supervisor, Co-Supervisor or, in the absence of the former, Academic Track advisor to establish their MSE Program of Work.
For coursework taken at the University of Texas at Austin, a minimum grade point average (GPA) of 3.00 or greater is required on the master's Program of Work overall, combining major coursework grades and supporting coursework grades. Moreover, students may count only one course with a letter grade less than B-minus, and no course with a letter grade less than C, toward the Program of Work.
Transfer of Coursework
Transfer of coursework must be approved by the Graduate School before completion of 12 hours of graduate coursework at UT Austin.
Visit the Graduate School’s course transfer credit website to review important requirements concerning the transfer of up to two external graduate courses (strictly graduate-level courses that did not count toward another degree) to count toward the ECE master’s degree at the link HERE.
University policy forbids transfer of coursework with a grade of less than B toward the Master’s Program of Work.
Quarter-system courses: Coursework earned on the quarter system is normally calculated at two-thirds of the credit for courses offered during a term. Thus, two eligible quarter-long, 3-hour graduate courses could possibly count as one semester-long, 3-hour graduate course. Three or four eligible quarter-long, 3-hour graduate courses could possibly count as two semester-long, 3-hour graduate courses.
Six-year limit: If approved for use on the ECE Master’s Program of Work, the course(s) must not have exceeded the six-year time limit in your final semester at the time you apply for the master’s degree. See the Graduate School’s chart: Master’s Chart of Six-Year Time Limit. Courses older than six years cannot be transferred.
Documentation: A master’s student seeking to use graduate coursework completed at another institution, and not counted toward another degree, must provide an ECE Graduate Coordinator with the following documents attached to an email: (1) the completed “Petition to Transfer a Graduate Course From Another Institution” form, found HERE. Leave the equivalent total semester hours field blank, leave the justification field blank, and do not collect any signatures; (2) an official transcript, or ask the ECE Graduate Coordinator if they can download a copy of the official transcript you provided when you applied for admission; (3) the official explanation of the institution’s course numbering system and grading system on a Word or pdf document with, (3a) your full name and EID at the top of the page, (3b) a link below your name if the information is from a webpage, and (3c) all the required information copied and pasted below the link onto the document; and (4) the course description from the official graduate catalog of the institution on a Word or pdf document with, (4a) your full name and EID at the top of the page, (4b) a link below your name if the information is from a webpage, and (4c) all the required information copied and pasted below the link onto the document.
Additional document (5): If the graduate course was taken as an undergraduate, an additional letter on letterhead from an appropriate administrator of the institution also must be provided to the ECE Graduate Coordinator along with the documents listed above. The letter must state that, (5a) the graduate course was not used or counted toward the student’s bachelor’s degree requirements, (5b) that the graduate course is ordinarily open to graduate students only, and (5c) that special permission was required to enroll in the course as an undergraduate.
Not transferrable: A graduate course taken as an undergraduate cannot be transferred if the course number indicates the course is open to both undergraduate and graduate students according to the institution’s official course numbering system.
Next, the ECE Graduate Coordinator will: (1) ask the track advisor of the student’s track to, (1a) confirm the eligibility of the external course(s) to count toward the ECE Master’s Program of Work-- the list of courses that a student plans to count toward the master’s degree requirements; (1b) provide the equivalent semester course hours of the course(s) to be transferred; and (1c) provide the text for the Justification field on the “Petition to Transfer a Graduate Course From Another Institution” form, if necessary; (2) request a signature from the ECE Graduate Program Advisor (who is not the student’s track advisor or supervising professor) on the “Petition to Transfer a Graduate Course From Another Institution” form; and (3) upload the four or five documents to the Graduate School for review and possible approval by the Dean.
External graduate courses approved for transfer to count toward the ECE master’s degree are not listed on the UT-Austin transcript. The grades of any transferred courses are not part of the calculation of the overall UT GPA. However, the grades of transferred courses and UT-Austin courses that are listed on the ECE Master’s Program of Work form are all included in the calculation of the ECE Master’s Program of Work GPA. The Program of Work GPA be 3.00 or higher.