Majors, degrees and programs

There are two separate mechanisms for undergraduate computer science students and computer engineering students to apply credits from their B.S. degree towards an M.S. degree in computer science at MSU: the Linked B.S./M.S. program and dual enrollment. In reality, they are essentially the same program with very minor difference. In particular, all Linked B.S./M.S. students automatically also use the dual enrollment mechanism. The dual enrollment option can be used by any student with any GPA whereas the Linked B.S./M.S. program requires a student to complete their B.S. program with a 3.5 GPA. Moving forwards, we will not make a distinction between these two mechanisms and will just use the dual enrollment mechanism.

Dual enrollment offers high achieving undergraduate students a chance to complete both a Bachelors degree and a Masters degree in five years. More specifically, up to 9 credits of the required 30 credits for a Masters degree can be waived. In order to waive 9 credits, you must include at least one graduate level course in your Bachelors program plan.

Key element: students must be admitted to the M.S. program before they take any credits that will be used towards their M.S. programs. That is, if you plan to use a 4xx course in Fall 2018 that will count towards your M.S. degree, you must request dual enrollment and be admitted to the M.S. program before Fall 2018 begins.

Tuition: Technically, your tuition may change to graduate level tuition once you have completed 120 credits. In practice, this has not happened right at the moment when you have completed 120 credits. Rather, it has happened after you have completed your B.S. requirements.

1. When to apply: You should apply in your junior or senior year. You would be admitted to the M.S. program in the same semester as the first course you take that includes credits that will be applied towards your M.S. degree. You must apply for admission to the M.S. program prior to that semester. For example, if you take CSE 410 in Fall Semester 2018 and use that course to waive 3 credits from the 30 required M.S. credits, then your M.S. program will begin no later than Fall 2018 and you should apply for admission to the M.S. program no later than Spring 2018.
2. Requirements: There no longer is an explicit GPA requirement, but you should have a GPA of at least 3.5 to have a good chance of being admitted. Exceptions can be made if there is a strong faculty advocate who supports your request for dual enrollment despite having a lower GPA.
3. Application Procedure:

a. Fill out this google form indicating that you intend to apply for dual enrollment: form. This will send an email to you, the graduate director, and the graduate secretary indicating your intent to apply for dual enrollment.

b. Find an initial Masters advisor (the Graduate Director can often serve in this role).

c. Apply to the M.S. program in computer science completing the official graduate school application. See here for more information about this application process. We typically do not require GRE test scores, but you should still consider taking the GRE, particularly if you are considering applying to other graduate programs.

d. As part of the above application process, using the Graduate Student Portal, upload the print version of the Request for Dual Enrollment Status Form.Contact Office of Registrar for additional assistance with the form. When you upload the form, it will ask for a type of document; use type certificate. These shared credits will officially only be in your B.S. program, and the credits will be waived from the required 30 credits for your M.S. program. This can include at most 6 credits from 4xx level courses, so at least one course must be 8xx or 9xx if you use all 9 credits. The waived credits do count towards satisfying the M.S. breadth requirement when applicable.

If your request for dual enrollment is granted, you are under no obligation to complete the M.S. degree. You can complete your B.S. degree as if you had never requested dual enrollment.