6 - Integrated Master's Program
6.1 - Purpose
Undergraduate students who have completed the first semester of the professional program (junior year) and have 32 or more credit hours remaining toward their B.S. degree may elect to pursue an M.S. degree concurrently with the B.S. degree in the integrated Master's program. The student begins working with a research advisor and completing graduate-level courses at the same time as completing undergraduate coursework, as long as no class is counted towards both degrees. The parallel nature provides greater flexibility in scheduling and therefore can shorten the time required to obtain the M.S. degree over the serial approach.
Any student can count up to 10 credit hours taken while an undergraduate toward a subsequent graduate degree, as long as those credits were not counted toward the B.S. degree. Thus if a student anticipates taking three or fewer graduate classes before being eligible to earn the B.S., it is probably preferable to not enter the integrated Master’s program formally. Students formally part of the integrated Master’s program may only receive their B.S. degree at the same time as their M.S. degree at the conclusion of the program.
There is no integrated Ph.D. program.
6.2 - Prerequisites
A cumulative GPA of 3.2 in chemical engineering courses and a 3.3 GPA in all courses is required at the time of entry. The candidate must be in the top 25% of his/her class based upon grades in ChEn, Chemistry, Math, and Physics courses. The student must be enrolled at BYU in junior-level chemical engineering courses. Admission must be by full review of the graduate committee. The candidate must have an advisor to sponsor him/her. Also, the admission process will require an evaluation from all ChE professors who have taught the candidate in a class, and each of those professors will indicate a vote for or against the admission of the candidate.
6.3 - Procedures
- Visit with at least three chemical engineering faculty members and identify an M.S. research program in which you would like to pursue your studies. Secure verbal agreement with the chosen faculty member to sponsor your M.S. research.
- Fill out the Integrated Master's application form available from secretaries.
- Fill out the outline of the study program which is part of the application mentioned in item 2. This outline indicates which courses will apply toward the B.S. degree and which will satisfy the M.S. requirements. It also specifies the semester in which you plan to take each of the courses. Your undergraduate advisor should help you fill out the undergraduate courses and your research mentor (graduate advisor) will help you choose and organize appropriate graduate courses. This mentor will later become your advisory committee chairman.
- Prior to completing the last 30 hours of the combined program, apply to the Graduate School for formal admission into the regular M.S. program. The timing on this is crucial since the Advisement Center must certify that no more than 30 hours remain in the combined program, yet you will not want to apply too early since it is important to have as much course work completed as possible. However, you must be admitted to graduate school at least two semesters prior to receiving the M.S. degree.
- All M.S. rules covered in Section 4 apply to the student upon regular admission to the M.S. program. After regular admission to the graduate program, IM students must also have a yearly committee evaluation (see Section 2.12).
- A comprehensive exam must be taken at the first available offering following completion of the graduate core courses whether or not the student has been officially admitted to the M.S. program. The student must plan his/her schedule such that the core courses are taken within the first year of admission to the regular M.S. program.