Master’s Degree–Non-Thesis Option

Master’s Degree–Non-Thesis Option

The Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering offers a non‐thesis option for the Master of Science degree. The non‐thesis Master of Science student is required to do a technical job interview with an assigned faculty member.

Course Requirements | Final Examinations | Checklist


Course Requirements

For the non‐thesis Master’s degree option, students must complete 30 graduate level credit hours. EEL 6065, EEL 6910, EEL 6933, and EEL 6940 cannot be used to fulfill any credit requirements for the Master’s degree. At least 21 hours of ECE coursework must be taken. This course requirement can only be fulfilled by completing ECE coursework at the University of Florida. EEL 5905, 6905, and EGN 5949 are not counted for this requirement. CDA 5636 (Embedded Systems) can be used toward this course requirement by exception. No credit for EEL 6971 is allowed.

Students are required to complete a 12 credit hour depth/breadth requirement in order to receive a Master’s degree in ECE. To complete this depth/breadth requirement, students must take at least 9 depth credits of ECE coursework from one of the five research divisions in the ECE department (i.e., Computer Engineering, Devices, Electromagnetics and Energy Systems, Electronics, Signals & Systems). At least three of these nine depth credits must be at the 6000 level. In addition, students must complete at least three breadth credits of coursework in the ECE department outside of their declared depth research division. Students can determine which ECE courses are housed in each research division by referring to the research division flow charts at the end of this manual. ECE courses used to complete this depth/breadth requirement will be counted toward the minimum 21 credits of ECE coursework required for the Master’s non‐thesis degree.

Master of Science non‐thesis students must successfully complete a technical job interview with an ECE faculty member (see section below).

Up to 18 hours of Special Topics (EEL 5934, 6935, and 7936) may be applied toward the degree. Up to six hours of unstructured credit hours total (EEL 5905, EEL 6905 or EGN 5949) may be applied toward the degree. Students can count a maximum of 3 credits of EGN 5949 toward their degree program. No other S/U credit can be counted toward the degree. All non‐thesis students are required to have a one‐member supervisory committee. The ECE department chair serves as the default non‐thesis committee member for all non‐thesis students and is automatically appointed for all non‐thesis students during their graduating semester. Students must receive a final grade of “C” or better to receive degree credit for a letter graded course. A course with a final grade of “C” and above cannot be repeated for credit. If a student receives a grade less than a “C” for a course, s/he may retake the course and an average of both grades will be used when compiling GPA graduation requirements. Courses in which students receive a grade of “C‐“ or lower will not be used to fulfill credit requirements but will adversely affect a students’ GPA.

Final Examination Procedures

The MS non-thesis final exam will be administered each semester and students will complete their mock job interview during their second semester of enrollment. Students will register for their mock job interview via a registration web form and will select a preferred research division from which a faculty member will be assigned to conduct the interview. After the registration period closes, the student will receive a faculty assignment from the ECE Graduate Advisor. Each student will be responsible for emailing their assigned faculty member to set up a mock job interview. Interviews will need to be completed before the stated deadline for the semester.

Students will be required to submit a one-page job application cover letter and resume to their assigned faculty member 24 hours in advance of their appointment via email. Students are required to dress appropriately for the “job interview.” Students may contact the UF Career Connections Center for more information regarding appropriate cover letter and resume formats. The Career Connections Center can also provide students with information regarding appropriate dress for a job interview. The faculty member will ask questions as deemed appropriate and students will be assigned a pass/fail grade. If a student has deficiencies that result in a failing grade, he/she can schedule another interview with the same faculty member to address those issues. Students are required to submit a signed MS non-thesis final exam form to the Student Services Office by email by the stated deadline. Failure to submit this form by the deadline may result in delayed graduation.

Students are also be required to complete an Exit Survey during the semester in which they intend to graduate to complete the MS non-thesis final exam requirement.

Checklist

A complete checklist for students graduating with a Master’s Degree Non-Thesis Option is available as part of the Graduate Guidelines.