Carnegie Mellon University

Breadth Electives

Breadth electives allow for the customization of a degree to further align with individuals' personal and professional goals. Their selection is generally made in consultation with EST&P academic advisors and they must be approved by an EST&P academic advisor.

Students in the EST&P and EST&P-Applied Study degrees have 36 required units of Breadth Electives, while those in the EST&P-Advanced Study and EST&P-Applied Advanced Study degrees have 24 required units of Breadth Electives.

Most engineering graduate courses are acceptable as breadth electives. Graduate courses satisfy this requirement if they do not have significant overlap with other courses taken by the student. 

Up to 18 units of advisor-approved graduate level classes outside the College of Engineering can be counted toward the breadth elective requirement.

Up to 12 units of advisor-approved upper-level undergraduate coursework (400 or 500 level) can be counted toward the breadth elective requirement, when the course is needed as preparation for a graduate class. 

More details about breadth elective selections are available in the EST&P Student Handbook.