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Graduate Programs

B.S/M.S. Program

Accelerate Your Master's Degree

The School of Engineering's B.S/M.S. program provides a way for current SCU undergraduate students to begin taking courses required for a master’s degree before completing the requirements for a bachelor’s degree. Students typically complete the requirements for their master's degree within a year of completing their bachelor’s.

The B.S/M.S. program is offered for the following majors: 

Application Process

To apply, you will need to submit the Engineering Graduate Programs' Online Application no later than the end of your junior year. The application fee and the GRE General Test requirement are waived. Conditional admission into the B.S./M.S. program is based on a minimum GPA of 3.0 (this GPA is not cumulative and is based only on math, science, and engineering classes). Upon notification of acceptance into the B.S./M.S. program, students may begin taking graduate-level courses in their senior year and a maximum of 20 units can be transferred into the graduate program.

Registering for Courses

Please note that you will not be able to sign up for courses through eCampus until your B.S. degree is conferred and your student status is officially changed to Graduate Student. In the interim, you must do the following to correctly register for courses in your senior year (upon notification of your acceptance into the Graduate Program):

  1. Complete the Permission to Take Graduate Classes form.
  2. Have it signed by both your faculty advisor and the department chair.
  3. Submit the signed form to the Graduate Programs Office for processing.

Notes:

  1. B.S. degrees (for those who are graduating seniors) must be posted by Sept. 1 to allow the student progression in their graduate career.
  2. Course numbers below 200 indicate undergraduate courses; numbers of 200 and above indicate graduate courses.
  3. Students may take cross-listed-courses assigned both undergraduate and graduate numbers (the same title used for both numbers) only one time, either as an undergraduate or graduate student.

The School of Engineering now offers qualified Santa Clara University undergraduates in the College of Arts and Sciences the opportunity to earn both a B.S. and M.S. Programs. The program is open to students majoring in Biology, Mathematics, Computer Science, and Engineering Physics.

Eligibility

In order to be eligible for the B.S./M.S. program, students must have a GPA of 3.0 or higher in the major. Those who meet this criterion will not be required to take the GRE. Students whose Bachelor's degree is in Mathematics, Computer Science or Engineering Physics will be accepted automatically, with no additional prerequisites. Biology majors will have to take the following three undergraduate courses before they are admitted into the M.S. program in Bioengineering:

  1. ELEN 50
  2. BIOE 120 or AMTH 108
  3. COEN 44 or 45

Note: Biology majors who have applied to the joint B.S./M.S. program will be allowed to take ELEN 50 with PHYS 13 as a prerequisite (instead of PHYS 33). This exception applies only to students in this program.

Admissions Procedures

In order to apply for the B.S./M.S. program, you will need to submit the Engineering Graduate Programs Online Application no later than the winter quarter of your senior year. The application fee and the GRE General Test requirement are waived.

Transferrable Courses

Students who are admitted into the program will be allowed to transfer up to 20 units of eligible coursework taken in the College of Arts and Sciences into the appropriate Engineering Master's program. Only courses that have not been used to fulfill the requirements for the Bachelor's degree qualify, provided that the student received a grade of B or higher. Grades obtained in each such course will be included in all GPA calculations related to the Master's degree.  

A list of courses that can be transferred is provided below (this list will be reevaluated periodically, and can be modified if both departments in question agree to this).

Engineering PhysicsElectrical and Computer Engineering

Transferrable Courses: All eligible senior electives in Electrical and Computer Engineering.

Biology Bioengineering

Transferrable Courses: BIOL 104,110, 122, 124, 174, 175, 176, 177, 178, 189; CHEM 111, 141, 142, 143,151, 152. Also, all eligible senior electives in Bioengineering.

Computer Science Computer Science and Engineering

Transferrable Courses: All eligible senior electives in Computer Science and Engineering.

Mathematics Applied Mathematics

Transferrable Courses: MATH : 103, 105, 112, 113, 123, 125,133, 134, 144, 153, 154, 155, 165, 174, 175, 176, 177, 178; CSCI: 161, 162, 164, 165, 167, 168, 181, 182

Undergraduate Students Who Wish to Take Graduate Courses

Students who have the necessary prerequisites will be allowed to take graduate-level engineering courses in their senior year. These courses are transferrable into the graduate program, as long as they are not applied toward the Bachelor's degree.

In order to register for these courses, you must do the following:

  1. Complete the Permission to Take Graduate Courses as an Undergraduate form.
  2. Have it signed by both your faculty advisor and the department chair.
  3. Submit the signed form to the Graduate Programs Office for processing.
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Contact Us

Graduate Engineering Admissions
gradengineeradmissions@scu.edu

Graduate Engineering Current Students
gradengineer@scu.edu

Santa Clara University
500 El Camino Real
Santa Clara, CA 95053

Heafey-Bergin, Bldg. 202
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408-554-4323 fax