4+1 BS/MS Accelerated Dual Degree Program in ECE

Completing a Bachelor of Science degree program in four years, followed by the Master of Science program in one year, is possible, particularly with the Professional (non-thesis) track. To do so, you can take 12 credits of graduate-level courses in the Fall, another 12 credits in Spring, followed by 6 credits in Summer.

However, if you declare that you want to be in the official 5-year BS/MS Accelerated Dual Degree Program (ADDP), then you get additional advantages as described below.

Advantages of the Accelerated Dual BS/MS Degree in ECE Program

If you are officially in the 4+1 BS/MS Accelared Dual Degree (ADD) program (ADDP), you can take four graduate classes (up to 12 credits) while you are an undergraduate program (say, during your senior year). You will pay undergraduate tuition for all four courses if you are taking them as part of the ADD program (and if you plan properly, some or all of them may be part of your regular full time tuition). Furthermore, two of those courses (6 credits) can be double counted both towards your undergraduate degree program *and* the graduate program.

With 12 credits of graduate courses already under your belt by the end of the 4th year, you will only need 18 credits (6 courses), which can be completed in any combination of credits in the following summer, Fall, and Spring semesters. Note that those 18 credits can be completed in just one summer (2 courses) + Fall (4 courses), allowing you to complete the BS and MS degrees in 4 and 1/2 years.

Note that the ADDP program is different from the Senior Privilege, which only allows you take two gradaute courses while you are a senior. Senior Privilege and ADDP cannot be combined. Please see details for Senior Privilege below.

Admission Process and Requirements of the Accelated Dual BS/MS Degree in ECE Program

In order to declare to be in the 5-year BS/MS program, you need to satisfy admission requirements.

Interested students MUST apply 2 years and 1 semester BEFORE anticipated completion of the combined BS/MS program. For example, students on the BS-ECE standard curriculum path (beginning Fall Semester of a student's first year) seeking to complete the BS/MS program by May of the fifth year would apply during Spring semester of the third year according to the regular graduate admissions schedule for the subsequent Fall semester. 

Successful applicants to the ECE ADDP must meet the following admissions requirements:

• A minimum undergraduate cumulative GPA of 3.3 or better (on a 4.0 scale)
• Completion of 80 total credits - at the time of application - of the standard BS-ECE curriculum, including 74 credits of STEM coursework.
• Successful completion (grade of C+ or better) of the following undergraduate-level foundation courses (or their equivalent) at an accredited institution: Introductory Mechanics (PHYS 00.220); Introductory Electricity & Magnetism (PHYS 00.222); Calculus I, II, and III (MATH 01.130, 131, 230); and either Mathematics for Engineering Analysis I (MATH 01.235) OR {Linear Algebra (MATH 01.210) AND Ordinary Differential Equations (01.231)}.
• Typewritten statement of professional objectives.

No GRE scores are required. The ECE Department Graduate Committee and/or Graduate Coordinator will make admissions decisions on a discretionary, consensus basis after holistic review of an applicant's application package. The committee and/or the coordinator may also exercise discretion on admission of applicants who do not fit the standard BS-ECE curriculum path, but has reasonable experience and overlap with relevant ECE background. Accordingly, prospective applicants are encouraged to seek advice of the ECE Graduate Program Coordinator and/or Department Head BEFORE initiating an application to the ECE BS/MS ADDP.

How to apply:

To apply to the ECE ADDP, please complete the following steps:

1. Review the ECE ADDP admission and graduation requirements on this page. Discuss your plans with your undergraduate advisor.
2. Download the ADDP Student Agreement and Confirmation Form, and fill the student portion of this form.
3. Send your ADDP Student Agreement and Confirmation Form, alonhg with your statement of professional objectives to the ECE graduate program coordinator and ADDP advisor (Dr. Jie Li, lijie@rowan.edu) to review, approve and return to the University Registrar.

Graduation Requirements for the dual BS/MS ECE Degree 

To graduate with the dual BS/MS degrees in Electrical and Computer Engineering, students must satisfy the full degree requirements for the BS in Electrical and Computer Engineering and MS in Electrical and Computer Engineering Programs. The 4+1 BS/MS in ECE program allows eligible students accepted into the programs to take up to 12 graduate credits during their senior year. Six (6) of these credits can be counted to satisfy the degree requirements of both the BS in ECE and the MS in ECE programs. The remaining graduate credits can only be applied to the MS in ECE program.

In summary, these full degree requirements entail the requirements of

• The existing 128 credit BS-ECE curriculum
• The existing 30 credit MS-ECE curriculum
• A minimum of 152 total credits for completion of the Electrical and Computer Engineering ADDP (with 6 credits double counted).

Specific requirements for the graduate level coursework include satisfaction of Category 2 Minimum Satisfactory Academic Progress status as defined by Rowan Global:

• Graduate coursework letter grades must be no lower than “B-“
• Cumulative graduate coursework GPA must remain at 3.0 or higher (on a 4.0) scale

Senior Privilege

If you are in good standing by the time you reach your senior year, with a GPA of 3.0 or higher, you can also take advantage of Senior Privilege. Senior Privilege is a unique opportunity that allows you to take up to 6 credits of graduate-level courses during your senior year, pay the lower undergraduate tuition for them, and have them counted towards your undergraduate BS degree requirements. Then, assuming that those classes are required by the MS degree program, you can transfer those credits to your graduate MS degree program requirements.  As a result, you only need to take 24 credits of graduate programs after you complete your undergraduate degree, saving you time and considerable tuition costs. With only 24 credits left, you can complete those 24 credits by taking 9 credits in each of Fall and Spring, followed by 6 credits in Summer, or even, take 12 credits in Fall and Spring, and be done in less than one year!

To take advantage of Senior Privilege, you need to fill out the Senior Privilege Registration Request Form and obtain the necessary approvals. Senior Privilege is different than the ADD program and the two programs cannot be combined.