Dual enrollment
MSU allows current undergraduate students to apply for "dual enrollment" in a graduate program. The MSU Academic Programs describes this option as "an opportunity for academically talented undergraduate students to enroll in graduate courses and conduct research toward a graduate degree while completing the last two years of their bachelor's degree(s)". Students from any undergraduate major at MSU may apply for dual enrollment admission to a Master's program in Engineering (or other graduate programs). When you are dually enrolled, up to 9 credits of the required 30 credits for a Masters degree can be waived. In order to waive 9 credits, you must carefully plan your senior-level technical electives IN ADVANCE and in consultation with the graduate program director in your intended M.S. program.
When to apply:
You should apply for dual enrollment 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.
Requirements:
Each Academic Department determines its own graduate admission processes and requirements. Please review their graduate admission website for more information, and talk to the graduate program director in the program to which you plan to apply to learn about requirements for GPA, GRE, etc.
Application procedure:
- Talk to the graduate program director of the program to which you will apply, and identify a faculty advisor for your Master's program.
- Complete the print version Request for Dual Enrollment Status form. Contact Office of Registrar for additional assistance with the form. Save this completed form as a PDF document and submit it with your graduate application (below).
- Apply to the Master's program of your choice using the online application system hosted by the MSU Office of Admissions.
- As part of the application process, using the Graduate Student Portal, upload the "Request for Dual Enrollment Status Form" you previously completed. 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.
- Follow up with the graduate secretary in the department to which you have applied to ensure that your application has been received and is complete.
Important notes:
- Students must be admitted to the M.S. program before they take any credits that will be used towards their M.S. programs. For example, if you have agreed with your graduate program director that you will use course 4xx in Fall 2021 towards your M.S. program, then you must be admitted to the M.S. program and request dual enrollment status before Fall 2021 begins. Dual enrollment is NOT RETROACTIVE.
- There are specific timelines and credit limitations for dual enrollment programs, and dual enrollment can have significant implications for students' financial aid and tuition costs; students are strongly encouraged to consult the MSU Office of Financial Aid prior to application. Most critically, you will be billed at graduate level tuition rates once you have completed 120 credits at MSU, regardless of whether you have actually completed the courses required to earn your bachelor's degree. In practice, this may not happen right at the moment when you have completed 120 credits, but it might. On the positive side, you will also be eligible for graduate assistantships and fellowships once you have completed 120 credits.
Academic departments