Civil and Environmental Engineering › Prospective Students › Graduate Programs › MS in Civil and Environmental Engineering › MS Program Requirements › Graduate Students With a Degree Outside of Engineering

Graduate Students With a Degree Outside of Engineering

We welcome students with a variety of backgrounds to undertake graduate work in engineering at Carnegie Mellon.

While engineering backgrounds are common in our programs, we commonly admit students with undergraduate degrees in mathematics and science, including but not limited to:

Biology
Chemistry
Environmental Science
Mechanics
Physics

An outline of the math and science background expected for all entering students:

1 Semester	General Chemistry
2 Semesters	Calculus
1 Semester	Differential Equations
2 Semesters	Physics
1 Semester	Biology (or other science)
1 Semester	Probability and Statistics; or 1 semester Linear Algebra
1 Semester	Computer Programming, Applications or Tools

Make-Up Requirements for MS in Civil and Environmental Engineering

If you are interested in pursuing the standard MS in Civil and Environmental Engineering degree you will need to take the equivalent of five basic undergraduate engineering courses in addition to the courses required for the graduate degree.

These makeup requirements are intended to provide the necessary background for graduate work in engineering. You may be able to substitute equivalent or closely related courses at the discretion of your faculty advisor.

You will complete the undergraduate makeup courses in addition to the 96 graduate units. This generally takes students three semesters.

Required Makeup Courses for students with a degree outside of engineering:

12-320	Engineering Mechanics 9 Units - First Fall Semester
12-335	Soil Mechanics 9 Units - Second Fall Semester
12-355	Fluid Mechanics 9 Units - First Fall Semester
12-411	Project Management Construction 9 Units - First or Second Fall Semester
12-421	Engineering Economics 6 Units - First or Second Fall Semester

Additional Degree Options

We also offer additional degree options that do not have undergraduate makeup requirements, but may still require students to complete additional coursework to obtain the necessary background for certain graduate courses.

These degree options are as follows:

MS in Environmental Management and Science
MS in Advanced Infrastructure Systems
MS in Computational Mechanics

These interdisciplinary degree titles are administered by the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. They will each require 96 units, and can be completed in three semesters or less, depending on the extent of undergraduate course work you need (or would like) to complete. You may choose your courses with the help of your advisor, but the CEE Department Head must approve your curriculum.