Graduate Program Director, Master’s Programs:  Esra Agca Aktunc; Catalog 24-25 Link 

The School of Engineering and the Lally School of Management at Rensselaer jointly offer a unique 30-credit-hour Master of Engineering (ME) degree in Systems Engineering and Technology Management (SETM) administered through the Industrial and Systems Engineering Department (ISE). The degree is for applicants with an undergraduate engineering degree in any discipline who have a desire to extend their understanding of emerging technologies within their discipline and provide a fundamental background in technical decision-making methods and technology management. The unique feature of this program is the fusion of a management/decision sciences core with the student’s undergraduate engineering discipline.

Who can apply?

This 30-credit-hour program leading to the Master of Engineering degree is open to qualified engineering graduates from any institution. The principal target applicant pool is Rensselaer seniors from all undergraduate engineering disciplines who desire to complete a master’s degree immediately following completion of the bachelor’s degree.

What is the degree path?

The unique feature of this program is the fusion of a management/decision sciences core with the student’s undergraduate engineering discipline. The curriculum culminates in a three-course concentration in the student’s technical focus area. One technical focus concentration course can be a project. The technical concentration can be built from courses at the 4000, 6000, and 7000 level. No more than 50% of the credits applied to the degree can be 4000-level courses.

The required management/decision sciences core consists of the courses below.

Waiver of up to two required courses is possible based on undergraduate coursework. While the course is waived, the student must complete the credit hour requirements by selecting other graduate courses. In general, these courses must be selected from the same department as the waived course. The courses required for the degree selected with the advice of an academic advisor are formalized on a Plan of Study which acts like a contract for the master’s degree. On completion of the listed courses, the degree is awarded.

How long does it take?

For most students, degree completion requires full-time study, 15 credit hours, 5 courses, in two regular academic semesters at the Troy campus. In general, the graduate plan of study requires completion of two or three required courses and three or two or technical concentration and elective courses, totaling five courses in each semester. Engineering technical concentration courses usually build on the undergraduate degree with at least three courses, one of which can be a project. Rensselaer undergraduate students admitted to the SETM degree program prior to award of the bachelor’s degree can begin their graduate course work in their final undergraduate semester provided this does not delay award of the bachelor’s degree.

What is required for favorable admission consideration?

The desired minimum grade point average (GPA) using a 4-point scale is 3.5 but an applicant with outstanding credentials in other areas of academic performance with GPAs above 3.2 is considered for admission. The GPA is confirmed through review of transcript(s) (English translation transcripts are required from non-US colleges). Application processing is sped up if the transcript shows grade equivalence to the letter grades of A through F or on a document from the university. For international applicants whose native language is not English and who have not completed an undergraduate degree in a US college or university, the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) is required. The desired minimum TOEFL score is 90.

The Graduate Record Exam (GRE) is optional for all applicants. The desired minimum scores are 146 in quantitative, 156 in verbal, and 4.0 in analytical sections. Waivers for students with one of the scores are possible if other measures of academic or professional achievement show excellence in the area where the waiver is sought.

What is the cost?

See our current tuition charges and fees here.  Aid in the form of teaching or research assistantships is reserved for Industrial and Systems Engineering doctoral students only, so no such aid is available to master’s degree students. Work opportunities for master's students are very limited on campus and should not be assumed when planning your attendance. For Rensselaer applicants, please review the information on the Co-Terminal web page for financial aid policies including the policy on paid research and teaching assistant positions.

Where do I start?

The application process for external applicants is completed through the Graduate Admissions site located at http://admissions.rpi.edu/graduate/. Please be aware that our master's programs are based on personal funds; we can only offer partial scholarships to merit-based master's applicants. 

For Rensselaer applicants, please see the Co-Terminal web page for application requirements.