Graduation Requirements

To meet the requirements for the Master of Science Degree in Electrical Engineering, a student must complete 30 semester units with a cumulative major GPA of 3.0 or better, satisfy competency in written English for Graduate Students and the overall SJSU GPA is 3.0 or better. 

Academic Standards for Graduate Students - Important!!

The program provides the following two options:
1). Project/Thesis Option or 
2). Course-Only Option followed by a comprehensive exam.

Project/Thesis Option

Project/Thesis Option
Semester Units
Core: EE 210, EE221 or EE 250
Area of Specialization
Approved Electives
EE297 (MS Project) or EE299 (Thesis)
Total Units Required
6
9
9
6
30

Courses-Only Option

Courses-Only Option
Semester Units
Core: EE 210, EE221 or EE 250
Area of Specialization
Approved Electives
Comprehensive Exam
Total Units Required
6
9
15
0
30


**30 units does not include EE 295 or equivalent. 

Electives must have prior approval from the Area Advisor and must form a coherent plan of study as evidenced in the signed Plan of Study. Normally, they should be graduate courses in Electrical Engineering or related fields.

In exceptional cases (with pre-approval from the Graduate Coordinator, Dr. Sirkeci):

  • Up to 3 units of undergraduate upper-division courses taken in the EE Department at SJSU may be approved as electives, OR
  • Up to 3 units graduate-level courses taken at SJSU but outside the Electrical Engineering Department may be approved as electives, OR
  • Up to 6 units graduate-level Open University courses taken in the EE Department at SJSU (or transferred from another university before your admission to MSEE program at SJSU) may be approved as electives
 

EE 297 (MSEE Project) or EE 299 (Master’s Thesis) is the culminating experience of the MSEE program and may therefore be taken after completing at least 12 units. Before a student is eligible to enroll in EE 297 or EE 299, he or she must have satisfied the CSU competency in written English requirement, filed the “Candidacy Form”. To register for EE297 or EE299, student must complete the appropriate form and submit to the EE department for approval.

Competency in Written English for Graduate Students or Graduation Writing Assessment Requirement (GWAR)

In May 1986, the Board of Trustees adopted a resolution endorsing “the principle that all students entering CSU after implementation of the proficiency/diagnostic examination be required to demonstrate their competency with regard to writing skills as a requirement for graduation.” Therefore, the establishment of English competency shall be a requirement of Classified Graduate students as a condition necessary for advancement to the candidacy for the award of the Master’s Degree.

Writing Skills Competency shall be established by one of the following: Satisfactory completion of EE 295; or Satisfactory completion of the CSU baccalaureate graduation requirement of competency in written English; or Satisfactory completion of Engr 200W.
 
The EE Department also supports EE graduate students for petition of GWAR waiver if the students completed (with a good grade) an upper division technical writing course at another accredited U.S. university that is deemed to be equivalent in content and writing requirement to the SJSU 100W. The GWAR waiver petition needs to be initiated by EE Graduate Advisor and so you need to meet the EE Graduate Advisor for a discussion. The EE Department does NOT support petition of GWAR waiver based on publication of any form.
 

In addition to the above requirements, each student must satisfy all University requirements and procedures as stated in the San Jose State University Catalog

Areas of Specialization

The Department offers an opportunity to specialize in one of the areas of specialization: Logic/Digital/Embedded System Design, ASIC/VLSI Circuits, Analog/Mixed-Signal Integrated Circuits, Communications/Signal Processing/Machine Learning, Networking, Power Electronics and Control. A student can specialize in an area by taking at least 3 courses in that area. The electives can be taken from the area of specialization or from other areas. A student must consult his/her program advisor to design his/her program of study during the first semester in the department.

Practical Training for MSEE Students

Students are encouraged to gain professional experience to prepare for and to support their culminating experience by having up to 6 units of internship (EE298i) during their time at SJSU.  Note:  Internship units are not counted towards the number of units required for the MSEE degree.