Master's guidelines

Master's Program Requirements

  • Master's degree students must submit a Plan of Work by the time they accumulate 12 credits. Please check with your department guidelines for more specific requirements.
  • The Plan of Work must meet the department's degree requirements. Once a Plan of Work is submitted, the student's status will change to Master's Candidate. You can find more information on this process here.
  • Review the Graduate School's Master's Degree requirements. For more specific information on Master's Degree requirements, please check with your department.
  • Master's degree requirements must be completed within six years of the date of the first course applied toward the degree. 

MS Thesis Requirements

  • The MS Thesis committee must consist of at least 3 members, a minimum of 2 members must be from the student's home department with graduate faculty status. An Industrial member with a Ph.D. may be a member of the thesis committee.
  • Masters thesis is 8 credits total.  Your Masters Thesis credits are graded as a "Y" (Y= continuous incomplete) until your defense has been approved.
  • Follow the MS Thesis deadlines. The website is updated each semester with specific deadlines.
    • The College of Engineering's last day to defend is the last day of classes.
  • The MS Thesis is expected to have the length and content that is comparable to a peer reviewed journal article or equivalent. Computer Science MS Theses are expected to be comparable to a conference paper or presentation.
  • Follow the MS Thesis formatting guidelines.   The College of Engineering follows the specifications of Wayne State University's Graduate School for dissertation manuscript formatting which includes guidelines for margins, spacing, pagination, and the order of parts.
  • Immediately following the MS Thesis defense, the thesis manuscript must be submitted electronically to the Graduate School.  Please follow the instructions on the Graduate School Masters Thesis page.
  • More information on the MS Thesis can be found via your department's Graduate Handbook or the Graduate School.