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Overview

Make sure you check out the MS Degree Requirements and become familiar with them. Most students are admitted into the non-thesis option by default. If you want to pursue a thesis, you should follow the instructions below and make sure you follow the MS requirements for students who are pursuing a thesis. Otherwise, you should follow the MS requirements for a non-thesis. 

Students typically take 18-24 months to complete their MS degree, regardless of whether they are pursuing the thesis or non-thesis option.

Pursuing a Thesis Track/Advisor Agreement

Selecting an Advisor

Most of our MS students are admitted to the non-thesis option without an advisor. If you're interested in pursuing a thesis, make sure you:

  • research the advisors in your research area

  • learn what the faculty in your research area via their faculty webpage. You can also view this faculty research listing.

  • meet with faculty members you are interested in working with
  • submit an Advisor Agreement no later than Reading Day of their first semester of your program. The student will officially choose the thesis or non-thesis option when submitting their advisor agreement. The advisor agreement may be severed at any time by the faculty member or the student. If you wish to terminate your advisor agreement, you must submit the advisor agreement termination request. 

It is sometimes the case that a student finds a faculty advisor outside of ISE. This is completely fine; however, you must also have a faculty advisor from ISE who will serve as your advisor as well. In this case, both the faculty member outside of ISE and the faculty member in ISE would serve as co-advisors. Please alert the Graduate Programs Office to this and we will provide you with details on how to add your faculty member from outside of ISE. 

Pursuing a thesis option does change your degree requirements slightly – make sure you pay attention to the requirements. 

Submitting your Thesis

Submitting your Masters thesis does not require a final exam/defense. The Graduate College has an extensive deposit checklist that you should follow. Here are a few notes in relation to that checklist:

  • You should view the Graduate College Thesis Requirements for templates and sample pages to make sure your thesis is following the correct formatting.  
  • At least 2 weeks prior to thesis deposit deadline – email the ISE Graduate Programs Office (ise-grad@illinois.edu) with a copy of the following:
    1. Completed Masters Thesis Deposit Approval Form with your information and the name of your advisor and co-advisor (if applicable). All signatures will be obtained by the Graduate Programs Office – do not obtain those. We will submit the Masters Thesis Approval Form to the Graduate College after your thesis review is complete (in the next step).
    2. A PDF version of your thesis via email to ise-grad@illinois.edu via attachment or Box link. Once your thesis is format reviewed, you will receive suggestions/approval via email. 
  • Once the steps above are complete, you can submit your thesis to the Graduate College. Please make sure you list RS Sreenivas, rsree@illinois.edu, as the thesis format reviewer when submitting your thesis.
  • It is not uncommon for the Graduate College to require some corrective revisions/editing. Make sure you complete these revisions right away! 
  • All of your 599/thesis grades will be updated from "DFR" once your thesis has been approved/accepted by the Graduate College. 

The Graduate College also requires several workshops  that may be helpful leading up to your thesis deposit. 

Apply to the PhD program in ISE

MS students who plan to continue into the PhD program should complete the following steps in order:

  1. Find a PhD faculty member in ISE who is willing to serve as your thesis advisor. An advisor agreement must be on file with your advisor before you can proceed. 
  2. Request to take the Qualifying exams (written & oral) by emailing the ISE Graduate Programs Office (ise-grad@illinois.edu). This option is available once during a master's program if a student is interested in applying to the PhD program. This step is encouraged, but not required, to apply to the PhD program.
  3. Complete a Graduate College application. We will waive the cost of the application – Indicate you are eligible for an application fee waiver and check the box for "ISE MS to PhD Applicant." Please note that all required materials must be submitted as listed on the ISE Admissions Pages (Domestic Applicants or International Applicants). The only exception is that you only need to submit one (1) letter of recommendation, rather than 3. This letter should be from the ISE faculty member who will be your advisor in the PhD program. If you are completing your application after the deadline for that term, please reach out to ise-grad@illinois.edu. You may still begin an application, but the ISE Grad Programs Office must manually submit it. 
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