BS/SE Program Curriculum

To earn the bachelor of science degree, students must satisfy all baccalaureate degree requirements as described in the Undergraduate Catalog. These requirements include:

• Completion of at least 123 credits that count towards graduation including at least 45 credits of upper-division level courses (numbered 300 or above) and fulfillment of all degree requirements.
• Mason core requirements ensuring competency in written and oral communication, information technology, fine arts, quantitative reasoning, literature, western civilization, natural and social sciences, global understanding and synthesis;
• The residency requirement that one-fourth of the total semester hours presented on the degree application must be completed at the university and must include at least 12 semester hours of courses at the 300 level or above;
• The academic requirement of a GPA of at least 2.0.
• A grade of C or better in ENGL 100 or 101, and ENGL 302.

In addition, to earn the  Bachelor of Science degree in Systems Engineering, students must pass the following courses with a grade of C or better:

• SYST 101, 210, 220, 221, 320, 330, 335, 371, 395, 470, 473, 489, 490, 495, OR 441, 442.
• Three technical electives. (Students who have at most one C- in a technical elective may petition to receive a one-time waiver. Waiver requests must be submitted in writing to the Department Chair and must be approved by the Department Chair.)
• MATH 113, MATH 114, MATH 213, MATH 203, MATH 214, CS 112, CS 211, PHYS 160, PHYS 161, PHYS 260, STAT 344 and STAT 354.

Course Prerequisites and Co-requisites
Course prerequisites or corequisites state requirements for student entry into courses and reflect necessary preparation for attempting the courses. It is the students responsibility to meet the pre-and co-requisites of their courses. Students not meeting these requirements will be dropped from the course.

Transfer Students

• Transfer credit evaluations are considered final after the first semester of enrollment. This means that students should make sure that all classes have transferred properly before the end of their first semester.
• Information on course equivalencies between other institutions of higher education and George Mason University can be found at: http://admissions.gmu.edu/transfer/TransferCreditSearch.asp
• Some 300+ level courses transfer as lower-division courses even though the equivalent Mason course is 300-level or higher. This is designated by a “-L” in the Mason transcript (e.g., “CEIE 310-L”).  Such courses do not count toward the required 45 credits of upper-division classes.
• Transfer students, including those transferring from other VSE programs, may elect to replace SYST 101 with a technical elective. The technical elective must be approved by the Department Chair.
• All transfer students must take SYST 220, SYST 320, and SYST 330 in order to graduate with a BS degree in Systems Engineering.

The following comments apply specifically to transfer students from NVCC:

• Specific information on NVCC course equivalencies for the BSSE program can be found here. Following the schedule will enable the students to finish the BSSE program in two years. Please note that this will require substituting courses or taking additional courses that will transfer to the BSSE program. For those who would like to obtain a VCCS Associate of Science (A.S) in Engineering degree and transfer to Mason for the BSSE program following the regular schedule, the transfer guide will be found here.
• A student’s admission letter states whether the student is admitted under a Guaranteed Admissions Agreement (GAA). Only students admitted under a GAA are eligible for the general education waiver. Having an AS degree is not sufficient. For further details, see http://admissions.gmu.edu/transfer/gaa.asp
• Students are not permitted to take courses at NVCC to complete AS degrees once they are enrolled at Mason. To qualify for the GAA, the AS must be completed before enrollment at Mason.
• VCCS general education requirements are similar to Mason’s general education requirements. Thus, students who do not qualify for the general education waiver may not have many general education requirements to complete after entering Mason. Students should work closely with their VCCS advisor to select elective courses that will count toward Mason General Education requirements.

Change of Major
Students who want to change their major to systems engineering must have a GPA of at least 2.75 in all math, physics, engineering, and computer science courses taken to fulfill requirements for the systems engineering degree and should have completed MATH 114 with a grade of B or better.

Honors Program

Students can also pursue the BS in Systems Engineering with the Honors program through the Honors College. Please go the the Honors College website for more information.

Minors and Certificates in Related Disciplines
There are several interdisciplinary minors and certificate programs available to students. Of particular interest to Systems Engineering students are the minors listed below. Note that the following requirements apply to all minors (from Mason catalog):  At least 8 credits of the minor must be applied only to that minor and may not be used to fulfill requirements of the student's major, concentration, an undergraduate certificate, or another minor. Students must complete at least 6 credits in their minor at Mason and achieve a minimum 2.00 GPA in courses applied to the minor.

• The minor in Business Administration can be completed with the addition of 15 credit hours.
• The minor in Mathematics can be completed with the addition of 9 credit hours..