Bachelor’s + Master’s Pathway saves time and money

What if you could save thousands of dollars in tuition on a master’s degree and cut the time it takes to complete the degree in almost in half? Just take a second and think about how that would look. Would it add to your qualifications and make you more competitive in the job market in a shorter amount of time? Would you reach your ultimate career goals earlier? Would saving thousands of dollars in tuition ease the burden of taking on more debt for an advanced degree?

If the answer to any of those questions is a yes, you should take advantage of our Bachelor’s + Master’s Pathway. This is an opportunity that only a select number of degree programs across the University have and one that only a handful of students take advantage of every year.

How it works

As a BSME student, you must complete 16 approved ME elective credits in order to graduate. The Bachelor’s + Master’s Pathway program enables you to take those electives at a graduate level and apply those graduate credits towards your BSME degree and towards either your MSME or MSMSE degree. This means that you enter our master’s program with 16 graduate credits already completed. Given that both master’s degrees are 45 credits, it means that you start your graduate program with over a third of your master’s degree already complete.

Pathway benefits

Accelerated timeline

As mentioned above, a huge benefit is that by simply completing your BSME electives, you are simultaneously completing a third of your master’s degree. Granted, you will be completing graduate-level coursework and requirements, but by sharing the credits, master’s students pursuing the coursework-only track have been able to complete the rest of their master’s degree within a year after graduating with their BSME degree, depending on their course load. Project and thesis track students have been able to complete their master’s degree in about a year and a half, but timelines of those degrees are largely dictated by how long it takes to complete the project or thesis.

Tuition savings

Another major benefit is cost. By sharing credits between the two degrees, it means that there are 16 fewer credits that you need to pay tuition for, and that means thousands of dollars in savings. The exact savings is dependent upon whether or not you are a post-bac student as post-bac students are charged tuition based on the credit level while first-time bachelor’s students are charged undergraduate tuition regardless of credit level.

Let’s look at the cost savings using the AY 2020-2021 tuition rates.

Resident tuition breakdown

If you are a resident and pursuing both the BSME and MSME/MSMSE, and not a Pathway student, you’re looking at spending $11,765.60 in tuition. This tuition cost covers your 400-level BSME electives and the 16 graduate credits that you’ll need to take as a master’s student since you are starting your program with zero graduate credits completed.

AY 2020-2021 Engineering Tuition - Resident, Non-Pathway

Now, if you are a Pathway student and choose to take full advantage of the shared credits, 16 credits worth of tuition is removed from that final total. If you are a non-post bac student, you would save $7,944 in tuition since you don’t need to take those 16 credits as a graduate student.

AY 2020-2021 Engineering Tuition - Resident, Pathway, Non-Post Bac

If you are a post-bac student, you would save $3,821.60 in tuition since you are replacing the 400-level credits with 500-level credits.

AY 2020-2021 Engineering Tuition - Resident, Pathway, Post-Bac

Non-resident tuition breakdown

If you are a non-resident and pursuing both the BSME and MSME/MSMSE, and not a Pathway student, you’re looking at spending $22,765.60 in tuition. This tuition cost covers your 400-level BSME electives and the 16 graduate credits that you’ll need to take as a master’s student since you are starting your program with zero graduate credits completed.

AY 2020-2021 Engineering Tuition - Non- Resident, Non-Pathway

Now, if you are a Pathway student and choose to take full advantage of the shared credits, 16 credits worth of tuition is removed from that final total. If you are a non-post bac student, you would save $11,576.00 in tuition since you don’t need to take those 16 credits as a graduate student.

AY 2020-2021 Engineering Tuition - Non- Resident, Pathway, Non-Post Bac

If you are a post-bac, you would save $10,537.60 in tuition since you are replacing the 400-level credits with 500-level credits.

AY 2020-2021 Engineering Tuition - Non- Resident, Pathway, Post-Bac

These savings will likely be higher since tuition tends to increase year-over-year.

Graduate Admission

If you are a Pathway student, you are guaranteed admission into our graduate program. We consider your Bachelor’s + Master’s Pathway application your graduate application, so if you are admitted to the Pathway program, you are essentially pre-admitted to the graduate program. You will still need to fill out a formal graduate application so we can adjust your student level, but the actual graduate application is simply a formality. This means that as a Pathway student, you’ll receive your official graduate admission decision earlier than those who are non-Pathway.

Admission and Continuation Criteria

Admission requirements

If you have been admitted to the BSME program, have completed 10 upper-division credits, and have a 3.3 institutional GPA, you are eligible for admission to the Pathway program. You’ll need to apply by the end of finals week of your third term in the upper-division BSME program in order to have your application considered. We have this timeline so we can ensure that you are able to take full advantage of your Pathway credits.

To apply you’ll need:

• Three letters of recommendation from faculty members (MME faculty members preferred)
  • You’ll need to provide contact information for your references and we’ll reach out to them for the recommendation
• Statement of purpose

Continuation criteria

If you are admitted to the Pathway program, you will also be guaranteed admission to the master’s program. However, there are a few caveats regarding the shared credits. In order for your Pathway credits to apply to your master’s degree you must:

• have a combined undergraduate and graduate institutional GPA of 3.3 upon graduation from the BSME program
• Earn a grade of B or higher in the Pathway course
• Apply to the master’s program within one year of BSME graduation
  • For example, if you graduate Spring 2021, you need to apply to the master’s program by Fall 2022 in order to apply your Pathway credits to your master’s degree

Risk-Free

The Pathway program is, for the most part, entirely risk-free. The application is free and if you are admitted and decide that, hey, a master’s program isn’t really for you, no worries. Your Pathway credits will be still applied to your BSME program and you still have that one-year window to change your mind. If you earn a B- or lower in a course, it will apply to your BSME electives and it will just be one less course that will be shared between the two degree programs. If you choose not to take any 500-level courses, that’s cool too. The option is there if you change your mind. If you earn below a 3.3 combined institutional undergrad and grad GPA, your admission to the graduate program is still guaranteed, you just won’t be able to share those credits with your master’s degree. The only time the Pathway program carries any sort of risk is if you are a post-bac and paying the higher tuition rate and don’t meet the continuation criteria or decide not to pursue a master’s degree.

The Pathway program is really about giving you the opportunity to accelerate your master’s degree program and save you some money. If any of this sounds like it fits with your future goals, apply now! If you’ve missed the application deadline, please reach out to MME Student Coordinator, Sarah Santucci (ssantuc2@pdx.edu).