MS ECE Degree Application Process

Timing

GT degrees are conferred three times a year, at the end of spring (May), summer (August), or fall (December). If you are a GT single degree student, you should submit your coursework completion form within the semester before your graduation semester. If you are a GT-Tianjin University (TJU) double MS degree student, your GT MS degree will be granted after your TJU MS degree has been granted. During this “waiting period”, double-degree students still need to keep their GT student status alive to access GT resources and to enable them to apply for a GT degree when it is time to do so. Please register for ECE 7056 each future semester until you graduate. There is no tuition or fee charge for this marker course. For example, if you expect to receive your TJU MS degree in January, you should submit your GT coursework completion form by mid-November to receive the GT MS degree in May. An official confirmation from TJU is needed before we can clear GT-TJU double-degree students for graduation from GT.

There are several levels of review of your coursework completion form; lead time is built-in to ensure that your coursework completion form will be submitted in a timely fashion and is “error-free”. The first review is by our GT-Shenzhen staff. After receiving this feedback, you will submit any corrected forms to GT-Shenzhen within approximately two weeks before submitting them online, per below. Failure to adhere to the stated deadlines may result in you being unable to graduate during the intended term.

Always refer to the Current Academic Calendar for updates.

Graduation Term Email coursework completion form to GT-Shenzhen
for Review
Finalized coursework completion form Emailed to GT-Shenzhen
Online OAG Window
Spring (May) November 15 December 1 See the Registrar’s Calendar for dates
Summer (August) Apr 15 May 1
Fall (December) July 15 August 1
Required Item #1: GT ECE MS Coursework Planning Worksheet

ECE requires new students to submit the MS Coursework Planning Worksheet at the end of the first semester in the program. Please email your completed coursework form to GT-Shenzhen for review. Please be sure to complete all pertinent form fields. We will notify you if your coursework plan is problematic. Revisions to the coursework completion form should be submitted to GT-Shenzhen whenever coursework changes are made to your study plan and MUST be entered online (only accessible with GT login) to ECE.
Failure to do so may result in your not taking the right mix of courses needed for graduation. Your final coursework form should be consistent with the courses you submit in your OAG (below).

Graduating students must submit coursework forms online before the end of registration in the term of their graduation. You will NOT graduate without completing this online process.

The ECE Graduate Handbook has very detailed instructions about the degree petition process (see the section under GRADUATION). Read all instructions very carefully. An incomplete or incorrectly filled out coursework completion form may result in you not being able to graduate during the intended term. Keep a copy of your submitted degree petition materials for your file.

Note:

  • Former PDO students must submit their transcripts to their department for credit before their graduation term.
  • For MSECE students at GT-Shenzhen who matriculate in Fall 2021 or after, ECE 6001 “Technology Entrepreneur” will become mandatory.  Therefore, for this group of students, Group III will consist of 9 elective credit hours and ECE 6001.

**Please see the MS ECE Degree Coursework Planning webpage for all ECE requirements regarding pass/fail courses, etc.

Students matriculating to GT-Shenzhen before Fall 2021:
Non-Thesis Worksheet

Students matriculating to GT-Shenzhen Fall 2021 or after:
Non-Thesis Worksheet

Required Item #2: Online Application for Graduation (OAG)

Before submitting the OAG, please see our FAQ page for information on how to update your mailing address.

Follow the OAG instructions provided in the link above. The diploma will be sent to you by the printing company. Josten’s sends out most international diplomas using UPS. BEFORE you submit your application, please enter an accurate shipping address where you can receive your diploma approximately 2-3 months after the graduation date.

Be sure to enter the diploma mailing address before the end of your graduation term.  GT-Shenzhen will no longer ship diplomas to Shenzhen.

For more details, please see the Degree Candidate FAQ page.

Delay in Graduation

Sometimes a student cannot graduate as planned. For example, Student A had planned to graduate in December but received a D grade in one of his courses during the fall. He will have to take another course in the spring and earn a grade of C or above and maintain an overall GPA of 2.7 or above in order to graduate. As another example, Student B enrolled in the program as a GT-TJU double MS student. He had planned to graduate from TJU in January and from GT in May, but there is a delay in his TJU thesis research and he won’t be able to receive the TJU MS degree until July. He will need to petition for the GT MS degree in August in that case.

As soon as you are aware that your GT MS degree needs to be delayed, please inform GT-Shenzhen to re-apply to graduate in a following semester. Please observe the above stated deadlines when re-submitting your degree petition materials.