Integrated M.S.-B.S. Program

Enrollment Requirements

Undergraduates who excel academically have the unique opportunity to receive simultaneously or sequentially both B.S. and M.S. degrees in MSE by taking an additional 96 units (nominally eight 12 unit courses) of coursework. The primary purpose of the Integrated Masters/Bachelor Degree Program is to provide students with superior breadth and depth in technical material, which will better prepare them for careers in industry. The Integrated Masters/Bachelor Degree Program normally requires an additional academic year of coursework beyond the B.S. Degree Requirements. However, students interested in pursuing the Integrated M.S./B.S. Degrees are encouraged to begin taking some of the required graduate courses before their last year.

The IMB Program is available to all undergraduates who maintain a cumulative QPA of 3.0 or better, including the freshman year.  Students become eligible to apply to the program during the spring semester of their junior year, or the semester in which they accumulate 280 or more units, whichever is earlier. Interested students should apply to the Department Head of Materials Science and Engineering prior to April 1 of their junior year.  Students interested in the IMB program are not required to formally apply to the MSE graduate program separately which means no application fee, and no need to take the GRE (Graduate Record Exam).

Financial Aid

Once a student in the IMB program has completed all of the requirements for the BS degree, he or she may become a graduate (Masters) student. To do this, the student's undergraduate degree is certified, and that student officially graduates with the BS degree. Once a student's undergraduate degree has been certified, no additional courses can be applied toward the BS degree. This includes courses toward minors and additional majors, although students pursuing an undergraduate dual degree with another department may still continue to apply additional coursework toward that second degree.

If a student takes more than 8 semesters to complete both the BS and MS degrees, then he or she must be a graduate student for at least one semester before graduating.

To determine the most appropriate time for an undergraduate student to become a graduate student, he or she should consult with Enrollment Services to understand how becoming a graduate student will affect financial aid, and with his or her academic advisor to determine a course schedule.

When a student is a graduate student through the IMB program, the department is able to provide some tuition assistance through required Teaching Assistantships.

Degree Requirements

The following are the additional requirements for the Integrated M.S./B.S. Degrees over and above the requirements for the B.S. Degree. Note that no course can be counted as satisfying more than one of the requirements listed below and no course used to satisfy the B.S. Degree requirements can be used to satisfy one of the requirements listed below. The requirements total 96 units (nominally eight 12 unit courses.) The 96 additional units needed to satisfy the M.S. degree component of the Integrated Program can not be used to satisfy any other requirements such as a double major or minor.

Students must take the following required courses:

         27-788 Defects in Materials (6 units)

         27-766 Diffusion in Materials (6 units)

         27-796 Structure of Materials (6 units)

         27-797 Bonding of Materials (6 units)

         27-798 Thermodynamics I (6 units)

         27-799 Thermodynamics II (6 units)

         and 60 units of MSE 500 and 700 level courses

         or,

         An additional 30 units of 500 and 700 level MSE courses and 30 units of 27-756 Masters Project

Although some specific graduate courses are required above, substitutions are permitted within the freedom of the normal requirements for the M.S. degree. Admitted full-time students are also required to attend MSE Graduate Seminar (27-774) each semester.

Students must maintain a QPA of 3.0 in courses used to satisfy the requirements of the M.S. degree. No course with a grade lower than C will be counted toward the Master's Degree requirements (those over and above the requirements for the B.S. Degree).