Graduate

First and foremost, carefully follow any steps and procedures that your acceptance letter may outline. These are critical for making your admission process as seamless as possible.

There are also some things you should see and do to make sure you’re caught up with everything for your first semester at SJSU:

1. Make sure that your email address and telephone number are up-to-date on your MySJSU account.
   
   
2. Check your email regularly so that you can obtain information and respond to university or department requests on time.
   
   
3. Explore the Graduate Admissions and Program Evaluations website.
   
   
4. Explore the College of Graduate Studies website.
   
   
5. Make sure to enroll in your classes and pay any fees by the deadline to avoid possible admission problems.
   
   
6. Make sure you can attend the orientation sessions mentioned in letters or emails sent to you.

During your first semester at SJSU, you should:

1. Complete all admission conditions stated in your acceptance letter.
   
   
2. Decide on your area of specialization.
   
   
3. Decide which option you’ll take to complete the program. View the Degree Requirements page for more info.

Suppose we admit you as a “Conditionally Classified” student. In that case, you may apply to change your status to “Classified” at the end of your first semester if you complete the conditions specified in the acceptance letter. 

Classified status is required for university jobs and internships, and you must complete the requirements of being a “Classified” student before applying for Candidacy.

Submit a Change of Major Request Form to the Graduate Admissions and Program Evaluations (GAPE) office. The EE Department Chair will evaluate your form after receiving the request form from GAPE. Transferable courses will be reviewed after the student successfully transfers to the MSEE program.

Find the Change of Major Request Form

As a new graduate student, you must take at least one course during your first semester at SJSU. Otherwise, you will forfeit admission to the current semester, and you’ll have to re-apply to SJSU.

Note: If you notify the Graduate Studies and Research office about your leave of absence, you might not have to re-submit all required documents.

Find more information on Leaves of Absence from the Office of the Registrar

Scheduling an appointment upon admission is not required. However, attending the new student orientation session is necessary. The EE Department will email you information regarding the orientation.

The Graduate GWAR is a CSU-wide requirement that graduate students should complete before advancing to Candidacy. The purpose of the GWAR is for students to demonstrate their proficiency at writing in an academic setting at a graduate level.

Find more information on the GWAR

You should complete the GWAR requirement during your first or second semester at SJSU. EE Graduate students can satisfy this requirement by completing EE 295 or ENGR 200W.

Remember that you need to submit the Candidacy form a year before graduation. This form requires you to be a classified student who has satisfied the GWAR requirement.

Find more information on Candidacy and graduation deadlines

Yes, two core courses are required to complete the program and earn your degree.

All information regarding the course curriculum and structure is available on the Electrical Engineering catalog page.

Find more information about courses and the curriculum

Find more information about specializations in SJSU’s Electrical Engineering catalog page.

There is no formal process to declare or change your specialization. Specializations are not official, but declaring one helps you know what technical area to focus on. Your degree will be Master of Science in Electrical Engineering (MSEE) regardless of your chosen area.

You should complete all admission conditions stated in your acceptance letter as soon as possible to avoid delaying your graduation.

You do not have to, but we strongly recommend taking two core courses during your first semester.

Most elective courses require background knowledge from the core courses. Completing two core courses during your first semester will let you enroll in elective courses for your second semester. 

Note: If you don’t complete two core courses at the end of your first semester, you may have difficulties completing the program on time.

Please apply to become a classified student as soon as you complete the admission conditions stated in your acceptance letter. We strongly recommend doing so as quickly as possible.

Note: As a classified student, you can apply for internships, scholarships, and departmental jobs. 

Yes, after attending the orientation, you can begin adding or dropping courses. Remember to enroll and pay for your classes on time to avoid possible admission problems.

If a class is full, you may enroll in it during the first few weeks of the semester by receiving a permission code from the course instructor.

Note: The EE Department guarantees that newly admitted students will be able to enroll in two core courses during their first semester in the program, but they may not be their preferred sessions.

The waiting list is only for the instructor to know the status of their class. Your name on the waiting list does not mean you will be automatically enrolled when a class has space available.

Instead, you can attend a class’ first lecture of the semester and ask the instructor for a permission code.

Note: The EE Department guarantees that newly admitted students will be able to enroll in two core courses during their first semester in the program, but they may not be their preferred sessions.

No, the waiting list only serves as an indicator for scheduling purposes. It is optional for an instructor to use the waiting list to decide the priority of issuing permission numbers.

You need to communicate with the instructor and ask for a permission code to enroll yourself in the class.

Visit our Graduate Syllabi page for a full list of elective courses.

With preapproval from the Graduate Advisor, you can have one graduate-level course from another department as an elective. Contact the Graduate Advisor for permission before taking a class from another department. Otherwise, the course will not count toward your degree progress.

With preapproval from the Graduate Advisor, you can have one EE undergraduate course as an elective. Contact the Graduate Advisor for permission before taking a class from another department. Otherwise, the course will not count toward your degree progress.

Yes, you can transfer, at most, two graduate-level courses from other U.S. accredited universities to the MSEE program at SJSU. The transferred courses must be equivalent in level and contents to our EE elective courses and must be within the Seven Year Limit.

You must meet with the Graduate Advisor to discuss if the courses are equivalent. If so, you need to submit the Request for Validation of Transfer Credit form from the GAPE forms web page.

SJSU treats Open University courses as courses from other U.S. accredited universities. You can transfer, at most, two graduate-level courses from U.S. accredited universities to our MSEE program. Transferred courses must be within the Seven Year Limit, and they must be equivalent in level and content to EE elective courses.

Submit the Request for Validation of Transfer Credit form from the GAPE Forms web page to request a credit transfer.

You can take elective courses anytime as long as you satisfy the pre-requisite for the course.

However, the department strongly recommends that you enroll in elective courses after completing the two core courses since most electives require background knowledge from the core classes.

If you believe you have sufficient background knowledge to take the class, you can enroll and request the instructor’s approval.

If the instructor denies your request, you must drop the class during the first two weeks of the semester.

It depends on your status and the type in class we’re talking about:

“C” is a passing grade for graduate-level courses. However, your admission conditions may require other grades (like a “B” grade) for specific classes, such as core courses. If so, you must meet the grade requirement conditions for those specific classes.

Note: To avoid probation, you must maintain an overall cumulative GPA of 3.0 or higher. The cumulative GPA and the GPA of all the course grades on the student’s Candidacy form must be 3.0 or higher to graduate.

You may add or drop courses without penalty during the first 14 days of the semester.

See the Academic Calendar for exact dates and deadlines

The maximum load limit for graduate students is 16 units. However, we don’t recommend students take more than nine units of Graduate courses.

Note: To take more than 16 units, you must submit a Graduate Student Petition for Excess Units form.

Find the Graduate Student Petition for Excess Units

Domestic students must take at least one class each semester to keep their student status. 

International students need to have a full load of nine units every semester. Students must submit a Reduced Course Load request to reduce their minimum course load.

If an international student takes less than nine units of a semester, they must file a Reduced Load Request during the first week of the semester. The approval of a request depends on the student’s specific situation. (For example, “this is my last semester.”)

Find the Reduced Course Load Request

You will lose your active status if you don’t take any classes for two consecutive semesters.

Students must file a Leave of Absence form before the first semester of leave to avoid losing active status while they’re gone. Otherwise, the student must re-apply to the university to regain active status.

Find information about Leave of Absence policies

A thesis has more rigid requirements of contents, a specific reporting style and must follow the university’s required report format. In contrast, a project’s requirements, contents, and layout are defined by the department and the student’s project advisor, not the university.

A project-track student must enroll in EE 297A and EE 297B in two consecutive semesters.

A thesis-track student must enroll in EE 299A and EE 299B in two consecutive semesters.

See the requirements for enrolling in these project/thesis courses

Find the guidelines for project/thesis proposals and reports

Learn the steps for Completing a Master’s Thesis

Your advisor must be a full-time EE faculty member with expertise in your area of specialization. Contact a faculty member that you want to be your project/thesis advisor for a discussion.

A list of project advisors and their specializations can be found here

You can find the requirements and prerequisites for enrolling into project/thesis courses on the EE catalog. Visit the SJSU catalog for more information on MSEE courses and Degree Requirements.

To enroll in the class, visit our Graduate forms page and find the applications.

Talk to your thesis committee chair. If the scope of your thesis changes or if you encounter documented unforeseen circumstances that prevent you from completing your thesis, your thesis committee chair may assign your grade as RP (Report in Progress). They will change your RP grade to CR (Credit) once you complete the thesis.

You must complete the course requirements within one year. For each semester until your thesis is complete, you must enroll in a one-unit special section EE 1290R course to maintain your student status if you do not enroll in any other class.

EE 1290R has no degree credit; therefore, it cannot be used on the candidacy form or to fulfill graduation requirements

Visit our Jobs and Internships page on our department website to find more information on the positions and the application process.

You should submit the Petition for Advancement to Candidacy form, complete all academic requirements, and submit the Graduation Application.

Find these forms and applications on the GAPE website

Find information on Candidacy and Graduation deadlines

Find additional information about what to do before completing your degree

You can fill out and submit the Course Substitution in Master’s Degree Program form on the GAPE website.

Find the Course Substitution form

You need to reactivate your graduation for a future date by submitting the Graduation Date Change Request form.

Find the Graduation Date Change Request form