Admissions and Financial Assistance

Admissions

Applicants for graduate work in Electrical & Computer Engineering must apply for admission to the Graduate School. All applicants must submit a statement of purpose. Regular admission may be granted to applicants who have an electrical engineering degree from an ABET accredited program and an overall GPA above 3.0 on a 4.0 scale. Electrical engineering graduates from non ABET accredited programs can be awarded regular admission if they have an overall GPA of 3.0 on a 4.0 scale and a Graduate Record Examination general test scores of 1000 or higher. Conditional admission may be granted to applicants who do not meet these requirements, for example those who have degrees in related fields or a GPA below 3.0. International students must have a TOEFL score of 585 or higher for the consideration of admission to the M.S. programs, and 620 for consideration of admission to the Ph.D. program. GRE Verbal and Analytical Writing scores must be consistent with the international applicant's TOEFL score.

Additional Admission Requirements for Graduate Students without an Electrical Engineering or Computer Engineering B.S. Degree

To address additional requirements for graduate students without an electrical engineering or computer engineering BS degrees, the ECE Department has adopted the following policy:

Applicants without an electrical engineering or computer engineering BS degree may be admitted conditionally and they will be required to complete successfully three 400-level electrical engineering courses, each in a different sequence area. Successful completion requires a "B" or better in the course.  Slash-listed (400/500) courses taken to satisfy this policy cannot be counted toward the graduate degree.

In interpreting this policy, the sequence areas are:communications, controls, computers, electromagnetics, electronics, materials, and power systems. Equivalent undergraduate or graduate courses in related fields (for example, electromagnetics in physics, computer architecture in computer science, or control in mechanical engineering) may be counted as a course in the corresponding electrical engineering area upon approval by the ECE Graduate Program Director.

Financial Assistance

The Department offers financial assistance to outstanding applicants in the form of teaching and research assistantships. A half-time teaching or research assistantship provides a competitive stipend and a full-tuition scholarship for the academic year.. A student applying for graduate studies in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering is automatically considered for a departmental assistantship during the review of the application materials. Continuing students must complete the departmental assistantship application and submit the form to the ECE Administrative Secretary. Notices of continuing assistantship applications and deadlines are made by the Department during Fall and Spring semesters. The Department awards teaching assistantships (GTA) on the basis of expected teaching ability. An individual faculty member, who has sponsored research funds at the professor's disposal, awards research assistantships (GRA). A GRA appointment is made on the basis of mutual interests between student and professor. Only students who maintain an acceptable performance level are eligible for assistantships.