II.  Admission, Advising, SARI Requirement and Electrical Engineering Minors

A.  Admission to Graduate Programs

Students may be admitted to the M.S. program, to the Ph.D. program after completing an M.S. program, or directly to the Ph.D. program, bypassing the M.S. program. Applicants are expected to have a B.S. degree in electrical engineering. Exceptional candidates from related fields are also welcome to apply. Only well prepared and highly competitive candidates should apply to enter the Ph.D. program directly from the B.S. program because they will be required to take the candidacy examinations within one year of entry into the program.

Applicants are required to complete the University's application form and the Department of Electrical Engineering supplemental application form. They must provide formal transcripts, general GRE scores, letters of reference, a resume, and a personal statement of technical interests, goals, and experience. An international student whose first language is not English must submit a TOEFL score. It should be noted that students admitted to the graduate program who do not demonstrate satisfactory proficiency in English will be required to alleviate this deficiency by taking additional English and/or speech communications courses.

Students who intend to continue from the M.S. to the Ph.D. program should apply to resume study at least three months prior to the transition. An updated personal statement, and a letter from the Department of Electrical Engineering faculty member who will serve as the student’s Ph.D. advisor should accompany that request. Standards for entry to the Ph.D. program are generally more rigorous than for the M.S. program. Satisfactory completion of the M.S. program does not guarantee admission to the Ph.D. program.

B.  Advising

Academic advising usually comes from the faculty member who supervises the student's research. Other members of the student's thesis committee may also serve as advisers. A newly arriving student will be assigned a temporary faculty adviser who will provide initial advising at the beginning of the first semester. The graduate program coordinator is also available to consult and assist with difficult decisions. Students are encouraged to meet with faculty members in their area of interest and strive to complete a Graduate Student/Faculty Adviser Agreement Form by the end of the first semester.

C. Scholarship and Research Integrity (SARI) Requirement

Within the first year all EE graduate students must complete the following activities:

Click here for detailed information on the SARI program.

D.  Electrical Engineering Minors for Students in Other Fields

The general requirements for a minor in electrical engineering shall be consistent with those of The Graduate School as stated in the Graduate Degree Programs Bulletin.

All graduate students desiring minors in electrical engineering shall formally register such minors with the graduate program coordinator as soon as the decision to enter upon such a minor has been made. At the time of registration, a program of study shall be formulated and any departures from these courses must have the approval of the graduate program coordinator and The Graduate School. The electrical engineering M.S. minor requires 6 credits of 500-level electrical engineering courses. The Ph.D. minor requires 15 credits of electrical engineering courses with at least 12 of the 15 credits at the 500 level.

E.  Area Table

1. A student’s primary and secondary specialization areas may not have the same core course for the Ph.D. candidacy exam.

2. The specialization area core courses are intended to establish the fundamentals of the technical area.