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Bachelors to Graduate
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The School of Computing offers a combined bachelor/M.S. education plan, which allows students to apply up to nine hours of graduate (6000- and 8000-level) courses towards both a bachelor's degree and an M.S. degree. Students participating in this program must have at least 90 semester hours (junior standing) and a minimum GPA of 3.4. If accepted, once the student receives the bachelor's degree, they will be switched to the M.S. program automatically without needing a graduate school application, GRE scores, etc. Prior to receiving the Bachelor, the student will need to submit a form for each semester in which they wish to take a graduate-level course. For questions about the program or on how to apply for the program, please contact mscs@clemson.edu.
Please note that the deadline for bachelor-to-graduate forms is the first day of class for each term. If you fail to schedule a BTG advising appointment before the first day of class, then you must wait until the following semester to enroll in BTG courses.
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CS/CIS to Computer Science, M.S.
Students must complete 150 unique total credit hours, apart from any double application, to receive both a bachelor's and an M.S. from the same institution. This is an accreditation rule. Most students will have no problem with this requirement since they will have AP and/or transfer credits classified as excess electives.
There is a limit of nine credit hours that can apply to both degrees in the combined bachelor's/M.S. program in computer science. Some graduate programs at Clemson allow twelve, but the faculty in the School of Computing approved a smaller limit of nine.
Keep in mind the Computer Science M.S. program requirements. There is a limit of four 6000-level courses that can apply to the coursework-only M.S. degree, and there is a limit of three 6000-level courses that can apply to the thesis-option M.S. degree.
Many, but not all, of our 4000-level CPSC courses have a cross-listed 4000-level 6000-level counterpart. If you wish to have the 6000-level version apply as per the policies of the Bachelor’s to Master’s program, you should:
- Meet with your undergraduate advisor and the M.S. program coordinator prior to registration
- Register for the 4000-level version of the course
- Submit GS6 paperwork using the online portal.
- Wait for paperwork to process through approvals. The Graduate School will move you from the 4000 level to the 6000 level.
You should check with the Financial Aid office to see if you need to have a full-time load of undergraduate courses in addition to any graduate courses to meet the requirements of your scholarship. Keep in mind that undergraduate scholarships cannot be used after your status has changed to an M.S. student, even if you finish your bachelor's early and have “unused” semesters left on the scholarship.
Students can consider switching to a Ph.D. program while enrolled as an M.S. student. They do not have to complete the M.S. before switching to one of the BDSI, CPSC, or HCC Ph.D. programs. There are assistantships available to help fund graduate studies for Ph.D. and M.S. students, but the funding is competitive and not guaranteed.
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CS/CIS to Biomedical Data Science & Informatics, M.S.
The School of Computing also offers a B.S. Computer Science/Computer Information Systems to M.S. Biomedical Data Science & Informatics course plan. For more information, please contact Adam Rollins at rollin7@clemson.edu.
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Applying to the Bachelor/Masters Program
Application for this combined degree program should occur at the end of the junior year to meet the academic standing and GPA requirements. Application details are available in the Academic Regulations section of the Graduate Policies and Procedures Handbook.
How to Apply
The GS6-Bachelor-to-Graduate Plan form on the graduate school site (Forms -> Current Students) will serve as your application to the bioengineering graduate program – no additional application is required. However, while the Graduate Record Exam (GRE) is not mandatory, some fellowship applications may require GRE scores.