Accelerated Bachelor’s/Master’s Program

In our highly technical and globally competitive society, a Master’s degree is frequently viewed as the “working degree” for many engineers and computer science graduates. The School of Engineering and Applied Sciences offers an accelerated path between its Bachelor’s and Master’s degree programs called the Accelerated Bachelor’s/Master’s (ABM) program which affords outstanding undergraduate students the opportunity to complete the requirements for both the bachelor’s and master’s degrees at an accelerated pace, typically within five years. Undergraduate engineering and computer science students admitted to the ABM program may take up to 9 graduate-level technical elective credits for engineering majors prior to admission to the Master’s program. A minimum grade of B is required in these graduate-level courses which will be counted towards both the bachelor’s and master’s degree requirements. The courses must be recommended by the student’s academic advisor and approved by the chair of the department.

Permission to pursue the ABM path does not guarantee admission to the Master’s degree program. Admission is contingent on meeting all eligibility requirements at the time of application to the graduate program. Graduate courses taken prior to admission to the Master’s program will be designated as applicable to the graduate program of study after the student receives the bachelor’s degree and enrolls in the graduate program.

Eligibility for Accelerated Bachelor’s/Master’s Program

Undergraduate students will generally apply for the accelerated program at the beginning of the second semester of their junior year. Students applying for entry into the ABM degree program must meet the following criteria at the time of submitting an application:

Junior standing;
A minimum of 80 semester credit hours (Civil Engineering majors 70 credits) completed (typically at the end of the fifth semester of undergraduate study) including nine credits of 300-level coursework required by the undergraduate program;
A cumulative GPA of 3.2 or higher; and
If a transfer student, must have completed a minimum of two semesters as a full-time student at UDC—a minimum of 30 hours.

Application to the accelerated BS/MS program includes:

Completed application form;
Statement of purpose explaining motivation for graduate study;
Unofficial UDC transcript;
Two letters of recommendation, two of which must be from the department faculty; and
Approved program of study.

The student applying to the ABM program must have a faculty advisor with whom he/she must consult to compose a program of study, including a list of courses to be taken from the senior year through the end of the Master’s program. The program of study must be approved by the faculty advisor and the department chair before being submitted as part of the application.

Nomination

Students may be admitted to the ABM program via a nomination process.

A faculty member may nominate a student, in his/her department, with a cumulative GPA between 3.0 and 3.2.
A memo of nomination, with justification, must be submitted for consideration of the candidate.
The candidate must submit the required application information.

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