Accelerated Program (B.S./M.S. Dual Degree)

Highly qualified undergraduates in the Mechanical Engineering Department are encouraged to consider applying to the Accelerated Program. This program permits students to earn up to 9 hours of graduate-level coursework during their final year of undergraduate studies. Students in the Accelerated Program take graduate-level courses and earn both undergraduate credit and graduate credit simultaneously. Students need to consult with the potential graduate advisor to ensure grade credit could be applied to a program of study for the graduate degree. Application to this program may be made as early as the junior year (i.e. after completion of 60 or more hours of graded undergraduate courses) and with a minimum GPA of 3.5. Student interested in applying to this program should fill the Application to Accelerated BS/MS Combined Degree Program Form and contact the department’s Graduate Office to see Ms. Delia Nuckolls.

For students enrolled in an Accelerated Program, the MSU Graduate Council has established the following guidelines in cooperation with the Registrar’s Office. Once the student is accepted into the Accelerated Program, the student and the advisor may select up to 9 hours that will satisfy both undergraduate and graduate requirements. These courses may be split-level (i.e. split 4000-6000 level) or 8000-level classes. The student should take the courses for graduate credit (i.e., 6000-level or higher).

The student should use the Undergraduate Enrollment in Accelerated Degree Program form to (i) receive from the Office of the Graduate School a level override that enables the student to enroll in the graduate course(s) and (ii) activate a process with the Registrar’s Office to obtain both undergraduate and graduate credit for the course. After successfully completing the graduate-level class(es), the Registrar will grant credit for the undergraduate course and give the same grade as received for the graduate course. For the case of a split-level class, the transcript will show credit for both 4000- and 6000-level on the transcript. In the case of an 8000-level class, a special topics undergraduate course of the same title will be entered on the transcript to allow dual credit.

Students are permitted to opt out of the accelerated program at any time, at which point they could complete only the undergraduate portion of the program. No additional dual counting of courses would occur after the students opted out of the accelerated degree program.

Students are expected to apply to the graduate degree program during the last semester in which they are enrolled in the Bachelor’s program. Application to the graduate degree program would be made through the standard application process via the Office of the Graduate School. Students will receive the Bachelor’s degree once the requirements for the Bachelor’s degree are met. Students will be required to complete all of the requirements for both the bachelor’s and graduate degrees in order to receive both degrees and those requirements will be identical to the requirements for students enrolled in traditional bachelor’s and graduate degree programs. Students will be classified as undergraduates until they fulfill all the requirements for the undergraduate degree. At that time, upon admission to graduate school, they will be classified as graduate students and will be subject to all the guidelines pertaining to the graduate degree.