Accelerated Graduate Program (AGP)

CMU ME undergraduates may complete a Masters degree at a rapid pace after obtaining their B.S. degree by taking graduate courses while enrolled as an undergraduate student. These courses can then be applied towards either a coursework or research option Master's degree. The requirements and policies regarding these degrees are described in ME Graduate Student handbook. This document describes how these rules allow undergraduate students to rapidly complete an MS degree. Carnegie Mellon students are allowed to complete up to 48 units of graduate course work while not enrolled as a graduate student in the Department of Mechanical Engineering. These courses must be at the graduate level (600 or above) and cannot be used for any other degree (e.g. B.S.). Students are allowed to transfer courses taken from the Department of Mechanical Engineering that meets these requirements. The transfer of all courses for the AGP program is subject to approval of the graduate committee; therefore, students are advised to seek prior approval from the graduate committee before taking any courses towards this degree. No research or Supervised Reading units taken during the undergraduate degree will be counted towards the AGP requirements. The complete policy regarding transfer of courses completed while not enrolled as a graduate student in the Department of Mechanical Engineering is described in the ME Graduate Student Handbook. Students able to transfer the maximum number of 48 units towards his or her graduate degree will be able to complete a MS course option degree in one additional semester after the BS. Students who transfer at least 24 units will still be able to rapidly complete a course option MS degree by completing 24 units during the summer following the completion of the B.S. degree (up to 18 units of project and up to 12 units of supervised reading) and one additional semester after the BS. Project and supervised reading requires a faculty advisor. Students can receive both a BS and MS degree in four years if they have enough advanced credit to complete their undergraduate early (i.e. complete their BS in December versus May of their senior year). The time required to complete a project based MS degree can similarly be reduced by one semester. This policy requires that students complete a minimum of 48 units while enrolled as a graduate student in the Department of Mechanical Engineering to receive a graduate degree from the department. All students wishing to pursue an MS degree must apply and be accepted to the graduate program. All of the necessary forms are available online through the Department website: http://gradserv.me.cmu.edu/. Completed applications must be submitted by January 15 for students who want to enroll in the fall semester as a graduate student or October 15 for students who want to enroll in the winter semester as a graduate student. Students interested in enrolling in the graduate program are strongly encouraged to contact the Department Graduate Coordinator before enrolling in any graduate courses in order to obtain advice on his or her degree options.