Search
Contact us
Georgia Tech Home

Five Year B.S./M.S. Honors Program

Elements of the Program Curriculum Who Should Apply How to Apply To Learn More

The School of Materials Science and Engineering is offering a Five-Year Bachelor of Science and Master’s Degree Honors Program for outstanding students who want to obtain a graduate degree. In our highly technical and global economy, the master’s degree has become a valuable tool that provides the additional knowledge and specialization needed to succeed in a technical career.  The M.S. Honors program is without thesis.

Elements of the Program

• Careful advising and course planning with your Undergraduate Academic Advisor so that you can begin serious graduate course work in your fourth year of study at Georgia Tech.
• Meeting with the Director of Graduate Studies, who will identify the course work requirements for the M.S. portion of the program.
• A minimum of three out of five of the core courses must be completed.
• Course work toward the graduate degree is flexible. You combine courses of interest into a program of study.
• You need to maintain a grade point average of 3.0 or higher to remain in the program.

Curriculum

Course	Hours	Description
MSE 8803D (Fall)	3-0-3	Thermodynamics
MSE 8803E (Fall)	3-0-3	Crystallography, Structure and Defects
MSE 8803G (Spring)	3-0-3	Kinetics of Diffusional and Non-Diffusional Phase Transformations
*Course of Choice	3-0-3	Characterization
**Course of Choice	3-0-3	Computations

*Courses in Characterization (could include not limited to):

1. MSE 6105 Diffraction Studies
2. MSE 6110 Transmission Electron Microscopy
3. MSE 6120 Quantitative Characterization of Microstructures
4. MSE 6130 Surface Characterization
5. MSE 8803 Scattering Theory
6. CHEM 6172 Physical Methods in Inorganic Chemistry
7. CHEM 6181 Chemical Crystallography
8. CHEM 6283 Electroanalytical Chemistry
9. CHEM 6572 Macromolecular Structure
10. CHEM 6752 Polymer Characterization

**Courses in Computations (could include not limited to):

1. MSE 6795 Mathematical, Statistical, and Computational Techniques in Materials Science
2. CHEM 6382  Computational Methods in Organic Chemistry and Biochemistry
3. ISyE 6739  Basic Statistical Methods
4. ME 6104  Computer-aided Design
5. ME 6124  Finite-Element Method: Theory & Practice
6. MATH 4255  Monte Carlo Methods
7. MATH 4247  Partial Differential Equations I
8. MATH 4348 Partial Differential Equations II

M.S. with thesis

• 12 course hours in major
• 12 course hours at 6000 or higher
• 18 total course hours required and
• A thesis approved by a committee of the graduate faculty

M.S. without thesis

• 18 course hours in the major
• 21 course hours at 6000 or higher and
• 30 course hours required

Additional M.S. requirements include

• 3.0 GPA at completion
• At least three of the five core courses must be taken
• MSE 8001, Seminar (1-0-1), is required for all graduate students
  For the thesis option: the seminar is in addition to the eighteen hours of courses listed above
  For the non-thesis option: it can be included in the thirty required hours

Undesignated M.S. Degree: Students with special interests not covered in the designated degrees may develop an individual program that more closely suits their individual needs, while at the same time satisfying the requirements for the M.S. degree set forth in the General Catalog. Such a program must be approved, in advance, by the student's Academic Advisor and the Director of Graduate Studies.  A minimum GPA of 3.0 in all courses (excluding grades in Special Problems) is required for graduation.

Our faculty are heavily engaged in research topics and techniques that require a longer term commitment from their students. Therefore, our recruitment emphasis has been on recruiting students who will be staying for doctoral studies rather than for Masters only.

Students must submit a Program of Study to the MSE Academic Office for approval by the end of the Bachelor degree coursework.

Who Should Apply

You are eligible to apply for admission to the Five-Year BS/MS Program if you have:

• Completed thirty semester credit hours at Georgia Tech - typically at the end of your freshman year;
• Shown appropriate progress in your degree program;
• Obtained a grade point average (GPA) of 3.5 or higher.

You must apply to the program before the completion of seventy-five semester credit hours, including transfer and advanced  placement credits.  This typically occurs at the mid-point of the junior year.

How to Apply

You will need to submit an application package for admission to the Five-Year BS/MS Program.  This consists of:

• A one-page application form
• One recommendation letter from a Georgia Tech faculty member
• A short biographical essay about the benefits and opportunities that you will derive from participating in the program

There is no application fee and you need not take the Graduate Record Exam (GRE) for admission to the program.

The Graduate Admissions and Enrollment Services office at Georgia Tech will process your application package, which is sent to  the Director of Graduate Studies in the School of Materials Science and Engineering for a decision.  Admission to the program is based upon your academic performance at Georgia Tech and your potential for advanced study and/or research as assessed from your application essay.

You may apply at any time for admission to the program the following spring or fall semester.

To Learn More About this Opportunity

The ideal time to be admitted to the program if you are a currently enrolled student at Georgia Tech is during the freshman or sophomore years.  To learn more about the Five-Year BS/MS Program, we encourage you to speak with MSE faculty members about their work to see if their interests coincide with yours; meet your graduate students; and visit some of our excellent research laboratories.  Or contact the Associate Chair for Undergraduate Programs or the Undergraduate Academic Advisor.

To learn more about the programs in MSE, see our Undergraduate Brochure and Graduate Viewbook at Publications.  For a detailed description of our faculty and their research visit MSE Faculty.  To request a hard copy, please email your request to academics@mse.gatech.edu.

For admission information about the Five-Year Program, please contact:

For additional information please contact

Professor Brent Carter Associate Chair for Undergraduate Programs 404.894.6762 Ms. Renita Washington Academic Assistant 404.894.2852

Professor Tom Sanders Director of Graduate Programs 404.894.5793 Ms. Susan Bowman Academic Program Manager 404.894.8414

Return to Top

contact us

 
To request additional information about your future in MSE at Georgia Tech choose one of the following:
Graduate Studies   | Undergraduate Studies