Plan of Study and Course Requirements for Thesis Master's

A Plan of Study (POS) is required by the Graduate School for all graduate students. The POS functions to ensure a student has met all of their course requirements prior to graduation. We recommend you file your POS in your second semester, but it must be submitted and fully approved before you begin the semester you intend to graduate (e.g. if you intend to graduate in May, you should submit it at the beginning of the prior December). A summary of POS information can be found below, but for step-by-step instructions on completing the POS, please see appendix B of the handbook.  

Verify all admission conditions are satisfied

Review your admission letter for details.

Minimum of 21 credit hours of coursework 

  • A grade of C or better on every course listed in the plan of study and an overall GPA of 3.0 or better on all courses listed in the plan of study

  • At least 12 credit hours of IE courses

  • At least 9 credit hours of additional graduate level coursework are recommended from either Industrial Engineering or a related area. Pre-approved areas include:

    • other engineering disciplines

    • mathematics, statistics, computer sciences, biology

    • psychology, sociology

    • economics, management

  • Pre-approval is required for non-IE 1-credit courses and courses from areas not in the pre-approved list.
    • All courses must be  500 or 600 level graduate courses with the exception of up to one 400-level course from pre-approved areas.
    • Please obtain a syllabus from the course and send it to the grad office to request approval.

Please note: at least 9 hours of Master's Thesis research are required to graduate, but these will not appear on your plan of study. 

Courses NOT allowed on the Plan of Study

  • Professional Master’s (PMP) Industry Capstone Project courses; or

  • P/NP or S grade courses (P/NP and S courses within Industrial Engineering will be allowed only if that is the only grade mode offered for the course, if a graded mode is offered, it must be taken).

  • Audited courses; or

  • Zero credit courses; or

  • Research credit hours (IE 69800); or

  • STAT 50100, 50200, 50300, 51100, 51300 ; or

  • Polytechnic courses * (AVTH, CNIT, CGT, BCM, ECET, ENGT, MET, TLI, TECH, etc.); or

  • Courses irrelevant to the degree

The Advisory Committee 

  • Shall consist of at least three members

  • Include a major professor and at least one other member of the committee must be from the School of Industrial Engineering. The remaining member should be a representative of the related area, and normally not an industrial engineering faculty member.

  • When more than one Co-Chair is selected, ensure that both Chairs are listed as Co-Chairs.

NOTE: Changes to a Plan of Study can be filed as many as times as necessary to update the information such as courses, concentration, and advisory committee.

 

* While Polytechnic courses are not traditionally allowed on a plan of study, see appendix B section 11 of the handbook for information on waiving that policy.