Chemical Engineering Undergraduate Advising

Tag: senior rule

What is graduate school?

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After your Bachelors degree you can continue going to school to get an advanced degree. In engineering this would be a Masters or PhD.

In our program you can get a coursework Masters, thesis Masters, or PhD. The coursework Masters is just like it sounds. It’s where you take additional advanced engineering classes. You can complete a coursework Masters in a year.

The thesis Masters and PhD are both research degrees. There is a coursework component to them, but you will also work on a research project with a faculty member. A thesis Masters usually takes 1.5-2 years to complete. A PhD takes several years to complete.

If you’d like to work at a university, national lab, or in research and development for a company then you will likely need a PhD.

You can change disciplines. Your graduate degree can be in a different or more specialized discipline than your undergraduate degree.

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Can I take graduate courses while still an undergrad?

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Yes, but you will need special permission to enroll. You can either:

  • use the courses as technical electives. Many of our graduate courses are approved for this.
  • or, you can use the courses towards a Michigan Tech graduate degree under “Senior Rule”.

Senior Rule

You are allowed to take courses to apply to a graduate degree during your last year of undergraduate. However, once a course is approved for senior rule then it may no longer be used towards your undergraduate degree.

You will need to submit the approval to the Registrar’s Office by Wednesday of week 2 for the course semester. Read all the details on the Registrar’s Office webpage.

We allow up to 6 credits of graduate courses to be completed under senior rule.

Accelerated Master’s

This program allows you to double count up to 6 credits towards both an undergraduate and graduate degree. You need to apply before graduating to be eligible. Read all the details on the Accelerated Master’s webpage.

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How do I get permission to enroll in graduate-level courses?

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You will need to have earned a C or better at the undergraduate-level for permission to enroll in the graduate-level course. Contact the academic advisor to request permission.

  • CM 5100 (Grad Math): C or better in MA 3160 (Multivariable Calc) and MA 3520 or MA 3521 (Diff Eq)
  • CM 5200 (Grad Thermo): C or better in CM 3230 (Thermo)
  • CM 5300 (Grad Transport): C or better in CM 3120 (Transport & UO II) and a B or better in CM 5100 (Grad Math)
  • CM 5400 (Grad Kinetics): C or better in CM 3510 (ChE Rxn Engineering)

The following classes are typically available only to graduate students.

  • CM 5310 (Lab Safety): Requires special permission
  • CM 5500 (Theory and Methods of Research): Requires special permission

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