ECE B.S. Students Admitted to the M.S. Program

Items to Know Once M.S. Admission Offer Has Been Accepted 

Maintaining B.S. Academic Requirements

Once admitted to the B.S./M.S. program, ECE undergraduate students must:

  • Maintain a 3.0 cumulative GPA in all courses (undergraduate and graduate)
  • Admitted B.S./M.S. students are expected to begin their M.S. program in the academic term immediately following the completion of their undergraduate degree.
  • Under no circumstances can students take a "gap quarter" between the end of the B.S. program and the start M.S. program.
  • If you would like to take a gap quarter between both programs, please apply through the general M.S. admissions cycle.
B.S./M.S. Admitted Students Checklist

 

Helpful Information to Start Planning the M.S. Program

Earning the M.S. Degree - What to Expect

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 M.S. Comprehensive Examination (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. 
    • ONLY 100+ courses will count towards your overall GPA
    • Minimum of 12 units (Plan 1) or 14 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. 
  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, 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.

For more details on the M.S. Program requirements 

M.S. Program Degree Requirements

Once B.S./M.S. students start their M.S. program, they must complete the same requirements as those in the regular M.S. program.

For more details on the M.S. Program requirements 

M.S. Program Degree Timeline

UCSD Academic Senate Residency Requirement

  • The minimum residency requirement is three quarters. 
  • Academic Residency is established by satisfactory completion of 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, MATS, MATH, PHYS, COGS and SIO). 
  • If you would like to waive the residency requirement, please contact your B.S./M.S. Advisor once you have started your M.S. program.

ECE Department M.S. Program Time Limit

  • Maximum of six academic quarters to take courses and the capstone to graduate (in good academic standing - overall 3.0 GPA).
Enrolling in ECE 200+ (Graduate-Level) Courses

Enrolling in Graduate-Level Courses (EASy Request)

During their senior year, B.S./M.S. admitted students may enroll in graduate courses before starting their M.S. program.  Since you are not officially a graduate student,  you will need to submit an EASy request on TritonLink and receive departmental approval. Please denote that you are a B.S./M.S. admitted student in the comments section when submitting your EASy request. Be sure not to exceed your quarterly enrollment limitations. Your EASy request will not be processed if you are going to exceed your enrollment limit.

Once your EASy request is approved and completed by the Registrar's Office, you will be automatically enrolled in the graduate-level course(s) that you requested for. You may check your enrollment information via WebReg.

Drop Deadlines (for both undergraduate and graduate-level courses): Friday of Week 4 is the deadline to drop without a "W"; Friday of Week 6 is the deadline to drop with a "W". 

IMPORTANT: If you are graduating from your B.S. program and will begin your M.S. program the following quarter, please do NOT enroll or waitlist in classes, and do NOT submit EASy requests during the enrollment period until your graduate record is created. Please wait until your graduate record is created before enrolling or waitlisting for any classes on WebReg otherwise your undergraduate degree will not be conferred by the Registrar's Office.

If your graduate record has been successfully created, it will appear on your Academic History:

Please visit ECE's Course Enrollment Policy & Procedures page for more information about enrolling in graduate-level courses. 

Updated Course Pre-requisites and Recommended Preparation

Making an EASy request does not guarantee that you will be cleared of a pre-requisite in order to enroll in a course (e.g., ECE 264A-D). See the chart below.

  • Please note that listed pre-requisites earned with a B- or higher are requirements needed to enroll in a course.
  • B.S./M.S. admitted students who would like to take ECE 264 series as undergraduate students are required to earn a B- or higher for their recommended preparation classes. B.S./M.S. admitted students may also wait until they have graduate standing before enrolling in the ECE 264 series. 
  • Recommended preparation and instructors' notes are not required to be enrolled in the course for graduate students, but they are required skills to be successful in the course. Therefore we highly recommend you take pre-requisites, recommended preparation, and instructors' notes into consideration when selecting courses.

 

Transferring Coursework From B.S. to M.S. (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.

In any given quarter, please email your primary 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.

Steps That Student Needs to Take:

  • Run a 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. 
  • Highlight the courses you are looking to transfer in the “Units In Excess” box on the bottom of your degree audit and email this to your primary M.S. Advisor. 
  • 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 primary M.S. Advisor will inform you when the Registrar's Office has processed the forms. 

 

 

Take the Course-Hosted Comprehensive Exam

Incoming B.S./M.S. students who enroll in eligible Course-Hosted Comprehensive Exam courses may register those courses to count towards their capstone requirement upon passing the course finals, prior to starting the M.S. program. If you are interested in this option, please follow the instructions below.

  • Please read the guidelines found on the ECE M.S. Program Requirements page, under the "Capstone Requirement: Plan II - Comprehensive Examination" tab.
  • Students will have 5 attempts in this format however; you are only required to pass 3 comprehensive exams total. 
  • You must be enrolled in the course that you are selecting and need to be taking that course for a letter grade.
  • At the beginning of each quarter, our Comprehensive Exam Advisors will send out announcements for students to sign up for the exam. You MUST sign up by the department deadline.  
Questions?

Need assistance with the ECE M.S. degree requirements? 

 

Bachelor's vs Master's: What's the Difference?

 

Useful ECE Dept. M.S. Student Website Links:

M.S. Frequently Asked Questions Page

ECE Enrollment Policies & Procedures

Submitting ECE M.S. Graduation Paperwork

International Student iPortal Request Info