Master of Science in Engineering, Computer Engineering

Co-op Option in Graduate Engineering

The Electrical & Computer Engineering Department participates in the Graduate Master's Co-op Option in Engineering. For detailed information about the Co-op Program and Curriculum requirements, please see the Graduate Catalog Engineering Co-op page.

Admissions and Academic Requirements

Graduate Admissions Requirements

1. General requirement for all applications:

All applicants must submit the application materials supplied by the Graduate Admissions Office as well as the official score report for the Graduate Record Examination (GRE) Aptitude Test. Applicants must meet all Graduate Admissions standards for this program, which includes two letters of recommendation.

2. With a BS in Engineering and related areas:

  • Applicants to the MS Engineering in EE or CP programs should hold a BS degree in EE, CP, areas related to EE or CP, Computer Science, Mathematics, Physics, or other Engineering disciplines, with acceptable quality of undergraduate work from an accredited college or university.
  • Applicants to the MS Engineering in EE or CP should possess the following backgrounds and their pre-requisites.

Computer Engineering

Applicants who lack any of the above backgrounds and their pre-requisites are required to make up their deficiencies as conditions for acceptance.

3. With a BS in Technology

Students who lack the BS Engineering in EE or CP but hold a bachelor’s degree in Electrical or Computer Engineering Technology, or Electronics Technology may be admitted under special circumstances. These circumstances include an academic record of high achievement in their undergraduate studies in Technology as evaluated at the discretion of the Graduate Coordinator.

In addition, such students must complete a series of analytically oriented courses in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Massachusetts Lowell.

4. Applicants applying for the Accelerated Bachelor's to Master's program

The Bachelor's to Master's program is an accelerated program offered by the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering to encourage its outstanding undergraduate students to continue study at graduate level. Undergraduate students who have a GPA of 3.000 or better at the end of their junior year and are interested in this program must apply for this program before they complete the undergraduate graduation requirements. Students who apply for the BS/MS program are not required to submit the Graduate Record Examination (GRE) scores and are exempted from the application fee. With the approval of the Graduate Coordinator, students in the BS/MS program may use up to six credits of graduate courses with an earned grade of B or better for both graduate and undergraduate degrees.

Academic Requirements

For full academic requirements, please see the degree pathways for both programs.

Graduate students can choose to complete a thesis or a non-thesis option. Students are required to take 9 credits of core courses as well as elective courses to complete their program of study. Students may choose their technical electives in their area of concentration and across other areas to establish a broad knowledge base. Graduate courses in Computer Science, Mathematics, Physics, and other engineering disciplines may be taken as technical electives only if they are pre-approved by the Graduate Coordinator for non-thesis option, or concurrently by the Graduate Coordinator and the student’s thesis advisor for thesis option.

The credits for Advanced Graduate Project (EECE.7330) cannot be counted toward the requirement for the thesis-option. It can be replaced with a 3-credit technical elective for the non-thesis option.

In addition to the required three core courses (9 credits), three additional courses from a concentration are recommended depending upon whether a thesis is selected or not.

A concentration is generally defined by a coordinated and approved sequence of at least four graduate courses. Each student can choose to work out a concentration either with the graduate coordinator or with his/her academic advisor. Completion of a specific concentration is not required for graduation. The course sequences in the concentrations serve as a starting point for establishing a program of study in consultation with the Graduate Coordinator or the student’s academic/thesis advisor to meet his/her educational objectives. It is expected that the courses comprising the concentration will complement the work the student will undertake in fulfillment of the research requirement. 

4.Research for Thesis Option

The research requirement may be fulfilled by completion of an MS Thesis, including registration for six credits of EECE.7430/EECE.7460 - MS Thesis Research, oral defense of the thesis and submission of the written document. 


Updated 7/19/24

Learn More & Apply