Graduation Requirements for Master of Engineering Degree (M.Eng.) Programs

In the College of Engineering .

• Master of Engineering Degrees
• Requirements

Master of Engineering Degrees

The following 30-credit professional master of engineering (M.Eng.) degrees are offered:

Requirements

The following are general requirements for graduation that apply to all Master of Engineering degrees offered on the Ithaca campus.  The individual program pages provide additional information about discipline-specific requirements.

CREDITS AND RESIDENCY UNITS

• Satisfactory completion of 30 technical credits, of which:
  • At least 21 credits must be earned at Cornell.  (Some M.Eng. programs allow up to 9 transfer credits of letter-graded coursework completed outside of Cornell to be applied to the M.Eng. degree.)
  • At least 12 credit hours must be in coursework from the home M.Eng. program (as determined by the program).
  • A maximum of two credit hours graded on an S/U basis may be included. 
• The credit hours of any course in which a student receives a grade below C- will not count toward the Master of Engineering degree.
• Students must maintain a course load of at least 12 credit-bearing hours* each semester.
• Students may not enroll in more than 20 credit-bearing hours per semester.
• Students must complete two full-time residency units* (semesters) as registered M.Eng. students.  Winter and summer sessions do not count as residency units.

*Course load and residency unit exceptions apply for Distance Learning program students, employee degree program students, and Industrial Partnership Program students.  The residency unit requirement is one full-time registered semester for Early Admit M.Eng. students and certain Cornell MPS/MS/PhD student transfers.

COURSES

• Only program-approved courses at the 5000 level and above may count toward the M.Eng. degree.
• Courses covering subject matter previously taken at Cornell may not be repeated for credit.
• Satisfactory completion of an engineering design project bearing 3 or more credit hours and including a formal written report.

OTHER REQUIREMENTS

• A grade-point average of 2.50 or above is required across all Cornell courses which count for credit towards the M.Eng. degree.
• Students must complete all degree requirements within four calendar years of their first enrollment in the M.Eng. program (six years for distance learning students), inclusive of any leaves of absence.
• Students must complete the M.Eng. Exit Survey prior to graduation.