An Overview
The Combined Bachelor's/Master's Program is a unitary program leading a student to a bachelor of science degree and to a
master of business administration, master of engineering, or master of science degree. The purpose of the Combined
Bachelor's/Master's Program is to give WPI undergraduates an opportunity to earn a bachelor's and a master's degree from WPI concurrently in less time than would be required if the student were to complete work on the bachelor's degree before To gain the full benefit of this program, a student should apply for the Combined Program well before the bachelor's degree is completed. Application at the beginning of the junior year is recommended.
For the master of science and master of engineering degrees, the Combined Program typically allows a student to
complete requirements for both degrees in about one more year of full-time study than would be required to earn the bachelor's degree. With careful planning, a student can obtain a similar reduction in the amount of time required to earn an M.B.A. Undergraduate students may apply up to four courses to the master's degree (varies by department), with prior written approval from professors and the academic department. See department descriptions for more information.
Only registered WPI undergraduates may enter the Combined Bachelor's/Master's Program. To enter, a student must submit an application and required support materials to the WPI Graduate Studies and Enrollment Office, preferably in the junior year. Admission to the Combined Program is made by the faculty of the program that awards the graduate degree. A student in the Combined Program continues to be registered as an undergraduate until the bachelor's degree is awarded.
While in the Combined Program, a student may continue to enroll in courses or projects toward the undergraduate degree; the student may also register for graduate courses, projects, directed research or thesis credits toward the master's degree.
To obtain a master's degree via the Combined Program, the student must satisfy all requirements for that master's degree. To obtain a bachelor's degree via the Combined Program, the student must satisfy all requirements for that bachelor's degree. A student in the Combined Program may, within the program limit and with prior approval, use a limited number of the same courses toward the bachelor's and master's degrees. The limitation is computed from the graduate credit hours for each course. Courses whose credit hours total no more than 40% of the credit hours required for the master's degree, and which meet all other requirements for each degree, may be used to satisfy requirements for both degrees. Such courses are recorded on the transcript using the credit hours/ units and grades appropriate at the graduate or undergraduate levels. For students in the Combined Program, approved undergraduate courses are assigned graduate credit with a conversion rate of 1/3 WPI undergraduate unit = 3 credit hours. Graduate courses applied toward the undergraduate degree are awarded undergraduate credit with a conversion rate of 1 credit hour = 1/9 undergraduate unit. Students in the Combined Program may use advanced undergraduate courses to satisfy graduate degree requirements. The department decides which courses may be used in this way. Faculty members teaching these advanced undergraduate courses may impose special requirements, appropriate
to an undergraduate course being used for graduate credit, on Combined Program students. If the programs awarding the bachelor's and master's degrees are not the same, the program awarding the graduate degree may require that the student's major qualifying project relate in some way to the graduate program's discipline. The graduate program may also make other requirements as it deems appropriate in any individual case. Additional requirements appear within each department's section in this catalog.
If you have questions about the Combined Bachelor's/Master's Program please contact the Office of Graduate Studies & Enrollment at 508-831-5301 or grad@wpi.edu or your academic department.
Maintained by webmaster@wpi.eduLast modified: December 04, 2007 11:37:11