Graduate handbook information is updated and maintained by each program. Graduate handbooks are available within each program's office and online at https://utexas.box.com/v/UTAustinGraduateHandbooks. Please contact the program with concerns or questions.

Master of Science in Engineering 

Students seeking the master’s degree have three options, each requiring a total of 30 semester hours of credit. The thesis option requires 24 semester hours of coursework plus six hours in the thesis course. The report option requires 27 hours of coursework plus three hours in the report course. The option without a thesis or report requires 30 semester hours of coursework. Students receiving financial aid through the sponsorship of the department are expected to choose the thesis option. The report option and the option without a thesis or report each can be completed in one year.

Regardless of the option chosen, a student is required to take six hours of supporting coursework outside of their technical area. Only courses completed on the letter-grade basis may be counted toward the degree. Only three hours of business-related courses may be counted. Students may count no more than six hours of upper-division undergraduate coursework toward the degree.

Doctor of Philosophy

Students are expected to complete 90 credit hours after their BS degree (including coursework and research credit) to earn a PhD. This expectation, however, may be waived simply by the agreement of the student’s research advisor(s) and/or dissertation committee.

The PhD program consists of coursework, qualifying examinations, and the dissertation. Students who have master’s degrees must complete at least nine hours of coursework; those who enter the graduate program with bachelor’s degrees must complete at least 39 hours of coursework. 

To be admitted to candidacy for the Doctor of Philosophy degree, the student must pass both a written and an oral examination. The written examination is general in nature and covers subject matter studied through the first year of graduate work. The oral examination is in the student’s specialty area and is conducted by a committee of faculty members whose interests are in that area. Students may not take courses on the credit/no credit basis until they have passed the written qualifying examination.