The 16-20 month MS ECE Advanced Studies program is for students admitted into the MS ECE standard program. The program allows students to take additional courses and go into greater depth and specialization than the standard MS ECE program. All students are first admitted into the standard MS ECE program and can choose to transfer at the end of their first year into the MS ECE Advanced Studies program. Students who choose the advanced degree have two options:

  • Course option: Students are required to complete 133 units through coursework.
  • Project option: Students are required to complete 97 units through coursework and an additional 36 units of project work.

For more details, see the Electrical and Computer Engineering website.

What are units?

Carnegie Mellon University uses units instead of credits to indicate the average number of hours required per week for a full-semester course. A nine unit class requires nine hours of work a week on the course.

Requirements for the MS ECE Advanced degree

To complete the MS-AD in ECE degree, students must complete at least 133 units with a cumulative quality point average of at least 3.0 (i.e., a B grade in each course). Below is the breakdown of the required completion units.

Course option requirements

  • 60 units of ECE core courses
  • 36 units of College of Engineering elective courses
  • 36 units of general technical elective courses
  • 1 unit of Introduction to Graduate Studies

Project option requirements

  • 48 units of ECE core courses
  • 24 units of College of Engineering elective courses
  • 24 units of general technical elective courses
  • 36 units of MS graduate project coursework
  • 1 unit of Introduction to Graduate Studies

For more details, see the Electrical and Computer Engineering website.

Other degree programs

Master of Science in Electrical and Computer Engineering (MS ECE)

Master of Science in Information Technology (MSIT)

Master of Science in Engineering Artificial Intelligence (MS EAI)