M.S. Degree Requirements

ECE & Academic Senate M.S. Requirements 

M.S. Degree Requirements 

To earn your ECE M.S. Degree, you must successfully complete the following:

  1. Pass 52 units (Plan I) or 48 units (Plan II) as indicated by your degree planner and capstone requirement route.
  2. Pass the UCSD capstone requirement:
    • M.S. students must either pass a written thesis and oral defense (Plan I)
    • OR a course-hosted Comprehensive Exam (Plan II) 
  3. Be in good academic standing which means that students will need to have a GPA that is a 3.0 or higher within 6 quarters of starting the M.S. Program
    • Students CANNOT repeat a course unless they earned a D, F, U, or W grade. If you would like to repeat a course, please submit the online form. More information about how to repeat a course can be found here. 
    • Minimum of 12 units (Plan 1) or 16 units (Plan II) must be 201+ ECE courses that must count towards your degree. 
    • All courses counted towards the degree must be taken for a letter grade with exception of research units. 
      • Grades that are a C- or higher, can be used towards the degree requirements. 
    • In order to meet the pre-req for a class, a B- grade or higher needs to be earned in order to move onto the next course.
      • If a B- grade is not achieved, please submit an EASy request so that it can be routed to the professor. 
  4. Meet the UCSD Academic Senate Residency Requirement
    • The minimum residency requirement is three quarters. Academic Residency is established by satisfactorily completing six units per quarter, some of which must be at the graduate level.  In each of the three-quarters of residency, the student must be enrolled in at least one unit of any 200-level course, including research. 
      • Note: the one unit of 200-level does not necessarily need to count towards the degree. But it should at least be related to the program (ECE, CSE, MAE, BENG, CENG, NANO, SE, DSC, MATS, MATH, PHYS, COGS, and SIO). 
      • If you would like to waive the residency requirement, please contact your M.S. Advisor once you have started your M.S. program.

Still have questions?

Please contact your M.S. Advisor.

 Capstone Requirement

Plan I - Thesis

Speak with your M.S. Advisor in the Graduate Student Affairs office for assistance if you are interested in selecting the thesis option as your capstone. You must declare your intent to do Plan I - Thesis no later than the end of the Fall quarter of your second year of study.

Plan II - Comprehensive Exam

Students planning to complete the M.S. degree in ECE via the Plan II - Comprehensive Exam are required to successfully pass three course-hosted comprehensive exams.

Course-hosted comprehensive exams are practical exams designed to evaluate students’ abilities to apply what they have learned in the course. In order to ensure that the exam is relevant and presented in context, it will be the course's final exam or overall course grade. In most cases, the associated work serves dual purposes, contributing independently to students’ course grades as well as to their comprehensive exam scores.

Comprehensive Exam Policies:

  • Students are required to successfully pass comprehensive exams in three (3)  courses (see the list of eligible courses below).  The results are based on the course’s final examination or the percentage earned in the course will be evaluated.
  • Students are permitted a maximum of five (5) attempts. This means that a student can fail at most two attempts and still be eligible for their M.S. degree under the Plan II comprehensive exam option. 
  • Students who do not pass the comprehensive exam in a course may not retake the comprehensive exam for that course. They will have to take a different course in another quarter. 
  • Students must be currently enrolled and select the “Letter” grade option for a course in which they register to attempt the comprehensive exam.
  • The ECE Student Affairs team will notify students of their comprehensive exam result(s) via their UCSD email. 

Please carefully read the 2024-2025 ECE M.S. Comprehensive Exam Guidelines for a detailed outline of the departmental / university rules, acceptable class list and helpful FAQs. 

ECE will announce the course-hosted comp exam registration, via email, at the beginning of Week 3 each quarter, during the academic year. The registration period closes on Friday at 4:30 PM (PT) of Week 4.

In FA24, registration will open on Monday, October 14. The deadline to sign up is Friday, October 25 at 4:30 PM (PT). There are no exceptions to requesting a late sign-up.

  • Students can register for the FA24 course-hosted exams HERE

Academic Standing & Grading Information

Good Academic Standing

Academic standing is determined by meeting ECE Department and GEPA's policy; an overall GPA of 3.0 or above, in upper-division, graduate and professional course work; and having no more than a total of eight units of "F" and/or "U" grades. 

Good Academic Standing is a requirement for:

  • Obtaining a graduate degree from UC San Diego
  • Holding academic and employment appointments
  • Receiving fellowship, scholarship, or traineeship appointments.
  • Advancing to candidacy for a graduate degree
  • Going on a leave of absence
  • Participating in UC Intercampus Exchange or SDSU exchange programs. 

Graduate students who are not in good academic standing for any reason are subject to probation and/or disqualification from further graduate study.

Academic Probation

 According to GEPA's website, if it is a student's first instance of academic difficulty and the GPA is between 2.0-2.9, the letter from the Dean serves as a warning and advises the student of the academic situation, its consequences, and the next steps.

Any student with more than 8 units of "U" and/or "F" grades or a GPA less than a 2.0 will have a hold placed on his/her registration for the next available quarter. In order to attempt to remove the hold, further action will be required. 

In subsequent quarters if the student:

  • Raises the cumulative GPA above a 3.0, no further action is taken
  • Raises the quarterly GPA but not to a 3.0, student may have probation extended either by GEPA decision or by request of the ECE Vice Chair and Curriculum Advisor with a plan for improvement
  • Shows no change, then student may have probation extended either by GEPA decision or by request of the program ECE Vice Chair and Curriculum Advisor with a plan for improvement; however, this is dependent on the cumulative GPA
  • Lowers the cumulative GPA further, a hold is placed on the student's registration

Depending on the student's academic progress during the quarter following an academic probation notice, the Dean of the GEPA will advise the student of any further academic action via letter posted to the GEPA’s Student Portal.  

UCSD Grading Information 
  • Please read the UCSD Grading System information to learn more about the Grade Point Average (GPA) and the value of each grade.
  • Students should also read how letter grades affect your GPA and degree requirements. 
    • 'A', 'B', 'C', 'D', or 'F' grades reflect performance in a class and result in specific points that count toward the GPA.
    • 'S' / 'U' courses show either earned a satisfactory or unsatisfactory mark for a class. Only research 299 classes with 'S' grades can count towards the technical electives but do not apply to the GPA.
      • Students must opt for S/U grading option by the date listed here at 11:59PM via EASy. Once this deadline is passed, students cannot change their grading option. As long as the request is submitted in time, it will be honored- it does not need to be approved by then. 
      • S/U grades do not count towards the GPA
    • Students can use the UCSD GPA calculator as a resource
  • To drop a class, students must submit an EASy request.
  • If a class is dropped by Friday of Week 4 at 11:59 PM, it will not appear on the transcript.
  • If a class is dropped after the Friday of Week 4 deadline between then and Friday of week 9, it will appear on the transcript with a 'W' grade.
    • A 'W' means withdrawal and goes not impact the GPA.
    • A student may receive a maximum of one 'W' per course.
    • If a student would like to retake the class that they earned a 'W' in, they must take it for a letter grade and cannot drop it again with another 'W'.
  • More UCSD Grade information can be found here.

**It is a student's responsibility to know about the grading system and to maintain good academic standing (3.0 or higher GPA)**

 

 ECE Department EXCEPTION regarding S/U Grades: Spring 2020, Winter 2021, Spring 2021 ONLY

The ECE Department will allow graduate students to take courses with the grading option S/U in Spring 2020, Winter 2021 and Spring 2021. If students earn an 'S' it can be counted towards ECE degree requirements, regardless of which department is offering the course. 

  • Keep in mind that earning an 'S' is the equivalent of a 'B-' or higher. 
  • If a student decides to take courses for a letter grade, a C- or higher can be used towards the degree so long as the overall GPA is a 3.0 or higher at the time of graduation. 
  • There is no limit of S/U courses but keep in mind that you CANNOT graduate if you have more than 8 units of U/F grades.
  • Submit the change of grading option via EASy by the UCSD deadline. 
  • 'D', 'F', 'W' and 'U' grades CANNOT be used towards the degree requirements. 
  • Students can take courses outside of ECE and have the courses count towards the degree. Example, if a student takes CSE 202 or MAE 280A and earns an 'S' grade, it can be used towards the degree. 
  • Spring 2020, Fall 2020, Winter 2021, Spring 2021 ONLY:
    • If a student is in the B.S./M.S. program and takes a course as an undergraduate student for P/NP, they can transfer over the 'P' onto their graduate record. 

Online Request Forms

Half-Time, Change of Major, LOA, Withdrawal, etc.

The online Division of Graduate Education and Postdoctoral Affairs (GEPA) requests take about 2-3 weeks to be completely processed by all parties that require approval. Please be mindful of the deadlines when submitting these applications. 

Please find the instructions for the GEPA's online applications linked. The half-time, LOA and withdrawal forms need to be submitted in order for tuition/fee charges and courses to be modified. 

International students must submit two sets of forms from two different portals: GEPA's and ISEO's iPortal.

IMPORTANT: GEPA forms trigger billing and class modifications while ISEO's iPortal forms trigger modifications to I-20 documents.

If you have any specific questions, please contact your M.S. Advisor.

Transferring / Waiving Course Credit Information
UCSD Undergraduate Degree (Waiving Courses)

To transfer/waive courses/units from your UCSD undergraduate record to reflect on your ECE M.S. graduate record, here are the guidelines:

  • Course(s) must have been used in excess (CANNOT count towards any aspect of your undergraduate major or college requirements, this would be in the electives section at the end of your Degree Audit Report)
    • Taken for a letter grade
    • Must be B- or better
    • Only courses that count towards the ECE M.S. graduate degree can be transferred
    • Up to 24 units (6 courses) can be transferred from your UCSD undergraduate record
    • Please read the UCSD GEPA Transferring Credit policy and procedures for more information.
    • Grades from your transferred undergraduate courses will NOT apply to your graduate GPA. Only the units transfer, not the grades.
    • Spring 2020, Fall 2020, Winter 2021, Spring 2021 ONLY:
      • If a student is in the B.S./M.S. program and takes a course as an undergraduate student for P/NP, they can transfer over the 'P' onto their graduate record. 
  • B.S. degree MUST be conferred and updated on Academic History. If your degree has not been posted yet, please wait until it is visible and then initiate the transfer.

Steps That Student Needs to Take:

  • Run the undergraduate Degree Audit Report
    • Go to TritonLink under the 'Advising & Grades' tab click 'Degree Audit' and run a new audit in PDF format. 
    • If the degree audit is correct, please download/save the PDF format with the following information as the title: 
      • Last Name, First Name_PID_ECE
    • The UCSD Registrar's Office will not accept the HTML version of this document so please save it as a PDF.
    • Students DO NOT need to sign this document just save it as a PDF. There is an example below.
  • Highlight the courses you are looking to transfer in the “Elective Courses” box on the bottom of your degree audit and email the PDF to your M.S. Advisor. There is an example below.
    • Note: Only courses in this specific "Electives Courses" section on the bottom of your degree audit are eligible for transfer.
  • Your M.S. Advisor will submit an UG Waiver/Transfer Credit form on your behalf via DocuSign.
  • You will need to sign off on this form electronically.  
  • The transfer will be completed in a few weeks so please plan accordingly with any graduation paperwork submission deadlines. 
  • Your M.S. Advisor will inform you when the Registrar's Office has processed the forms. 

In any given quarter, please email your M.S. Advisor to transfer your courses/units at the start of the M.S. program so that there are no delays with your graduation paperwork.

Instructions on how to run an audit in PDF format and what the highlighted courses should look like:

 

Another UC Campus / UCSD Extension

To transfer/waive courses/units from another UC Campus or UCSD Extension to reflect on your ECE M.S. graduate record, here are the guidelines:

  • The student must have been in graduate student standing when taking the course(s). No exceptions.
  • The course(s) must have been used in excess and CANNOT count towards any aspect of your degree requirements at another UC campus / UCSD Extension.
    • Taken for a letter grade
    • Must be B- or better
    • Only courses that count towards the ECE M.S. graduate degree can be transferred
    • Up to 24 quarter units (6 courses) can be transferred
      • If transferring courses from UC Berkeley or UC Merced please use the semester to quarter unit conversion table below to assist with calculating the quarter units. 
    • Please read the UCSD GEPA Transferring Credit policy and procedures for more information.
    • Grades from your transferred courses will NOT apply to your graduate GPA. 
    • Only the units transfer, not the grades.  
    • The class name will not be listed on the transcript.

Steps That Student Needs to Take:

  • Compile a list of course(s) that will be requested to be transferred.
  • Gather the syllabus and Course Catalog from the school that you took the courses from. 
  • Compare that with the UCSD ECE Course Catalog and narrow down which courses might be equivalent.
  • Contact your ECE major's Curriculum Advisor, via email, who can assist you with determining the course equivalency to the UCSD courses.
  • Present all of these components to the Curriculum Advisor and have them confirm the equivalency. 
  • Once confirmed, email M.S. Advisor and cc the Curriculum Advisor onto the email. 
    • Include the course names and UCSD equivalency
    • UCSD Course catalog description and the Course Catalog description from another UC Campus
    • Original course syllabus
  • Did you disclose these courses on your GEPA admission application?
    • If not, you will need to provide a justification as to why you did not include them. 
  • Did you submit official transcripts that included these classes with your GEPA admission application?
    • If you did, you do not need to submit these transcripts again because they have them on record.
    • If you did not, you will need to submit the official transcripts to the GEPA so that they have them on record. 
  • Your M.S. Advisor will submit a Transfer Credit form on your behalf via DocuSign and upload all of the attached documents that you provided via email. 
  • You will need to sign off on this form electronically.  
  • The transfer will be completed in a few weeks so please plan accordingly with any graduation paperwork submission deadlines. 
  • Your M.S. Advisor will inform you when the Registrar's Office has processed the forms. 

In any given quarter, please email your M.S. Advisor to transfer your courses/units at the start of the M.S. program so that there are no delays with your graduation paperwork.

Non-UC Institution

To transfer/waive courses/units from a Non-UC Institution to reflect on your ECE M.S. graduate record, here are the guidelines:

  • The student must have been in graduate student standing when taking the course(s). No exceptions.
  • The course(s) must have been used in excess and CANNOT count towards any aspect of your degree requirements at another UC campus / UCSD Extension.
    • Taken for a letter grade
    • Must be B- or better
    • Only courses that count towards the ECE M.S. graduate degree can be transferred
    • A maximum of eight quarter units of work completed while in graduate standing
      • Please use the semester to quarter unit conversion table below to assist with calculating the quarter units
    • Please read the UCSD GEPA Transferring Credit policy and procedures for more information
    • Grades from your transferred courses will NOT apply to your graduate GPA
    • Only the units transfer, not the grades
    • The class name will not be listed on the transcript

Steps That Student Needs to Take:

  • Compile a list of course(s) that will be requested to be transferred.
  • Gather the syllabus and Course Catalog from the school that you took the courses from. 
  • Compare that with the UCSD ECE Course Catalog and narrow down which courses might be equivalent.
  • Contact your ECE major's Curriculum Advisor, via email, who can assist you with determining the course equivalency to the UCSD courses.
  • Present all of these components to the Curriculum Advisor and have them confirm the equivalency. 
  • Once confirmed, email M.S. Advisor and cc the Curriculum Advisor onto the email.
    • Include the course names and UCSD equivalency
    • UCSD Course catalog description and the Course Catalog description from another UC Campus
    • Original course syllabus
  • Did you disclose these courses on your GEPA admission application?
    • If not, you will need to provide a justification as to why you did not include them. 
  • Did you submit official transcripts that included these classes with your GEPA admission application?
    • If you did, you do not need to submit these transcripts again because they have them on record.
    • If you did not, you will need to submit the official transcripts to the GEPA so that they have them on record. 
  • Your M.S. Advisor will submit a Transfer Credit form on your behalf via DocuSign and upload all of the attached documents that you provided via email. 
  • You will need to sign off on this form electronically.  
  • The transfer will be completed in a few weeks so please plan accordingly with any graduation paperwork submission deadlines. 
  • Your M.S. Advisor will inform you when the Registrar's Office has processed the forms. 

In any given quarter, please email your M.S. Advisor to transfer your courses/units at the start of the M.S. program so that there are no delays with your graduation paperwork.

    Submitting M.S. Graduation Paperwork

    Graduation Paperwork
    • If you are almost done with your coursework and capstone requirements, please read this information and submit your Graduation Paperwork by the deadline. 
    • You will need to submit graduation paperwork during week 1 of the quarter that you intend on graduating. 
    • An email with the deadline info will be sent out every quarter as a reminder.

    On behalf of the ECE Student Affairs Unit, congratulations on this HUGE achievement! You should be very proud!!!

    If you have any specific questions, please contact your M.S. Advisor. 

    ECE M.S. to ECE Ph.D. Transfers

    ECE M.S. to ECE Ph.D. Transfers

    ECE M.S. students who are interested in transferring to the ECE Ph.D. program must read and follow the instructions outlined on this page. 

    Helpful ECE M.S. Student Website Links:

    M.S. Frequently Asked Questions Page

    ECE Enrollment Policies & Procedures

    International Student iPortal Request Info