Steps to Complete Before Applying

Undergraduate students in the College of Information Sciences and Technology may apply to an IUG degree program after earning 60 credits, which is typically in the spring semester of their second year.

In the spring of your sophomore year or the fall of your junior year, interested students should:

• Meet with a College of IST Academic Adviser
  • During this meeting, you will discuss your interest in an IUG program, receive an assessment of whether the academic plan will accommodate the program requirements, and obtain a referral to discuss the program with the Director of Master’s Programs.
• Prepare a Personal Statement of Interest
  • In this two-to-three page statement to be shared with the Director of Master's Programs, you will detail why you would like to pursue a graduate degree.
• Meet With the Director of Master’s Programs
  • At this meeting, you will declare your interest and gather information about the program requirements for your IUG degree of interest.
• Prepare a draft IUG Planner for your specific IUG program using the template available below
  • This plan will be submitted for approval to your undergraduate academic adviser.
• Submit the IUG Intention Form
  • With this form, you will request a meeting with the Graduate Programs Team to finalize your IUG plan and receive approval to submit your graduate application.

Automatic Acceptance & Application Fee Waiver

• The College of IST offers automatic acceptance into one of the college’s M.S. or MPS degree programs and will waive the application fee for any graduate from an IST bachelor’s degree program with a 3.5 GPA or higher.
• This offer is good for 2 years after graduating from an IST program (any PSU campus).
• Eligible applicants should contact istgradprograms@psu.edu for verification and issuance of the waiver.

IUG degrees offer undergraduate students the benefits of graduate education. These programs aim to:

• introduce undergraduate students to the rigors of graduate study and graduate faculty
• make the resources of the Graduate School available to IUG students
• allow students with IUG status to benefit from their association with graduate students whose level of work and whose intensity of interest and commitment parallel their own
• permit coherent planning of studies through the graduate degree, with advising informed by not only the requirements of the baccalaureate program, but also the longer-range goals of the graduate degree

Use the template for the IUG that you are interested in pursuing to draft a plan for the degree. Please refer to the course share table on the second page to identify the approved sharable IUG courses.

• CYBER B.S. & CYBER M.S.
• CYBER B.S. & CYBER M.P.S.
• SRA B.S. & INMAC M.S.
• CYBER B.S. & INMAC M.S.
• HCDD B.S.  & INMAC M.S.
• IST B.S. & INMAC M.S.

The first two to three years of your undergraduate coursework follow the same undergraduate curriculum that other students follow in their respective undergraduate majors. The final years of study include undergraduate and graduate requirements.

You may double-count a maximum of 12 specified credits toward your graduate and undergraduate degrees, thus making faster progress toward each degree. A minimum of 50% of the of the courses proposed to count for both degrees must be at the 500 or 800 level.

Your performance will be monitored on an ongoing basis by your adviser and the Graduate Programs Office. Students admitted to the integrated degrees program must maintain a high cumulative GPA to remain in good academic standing and meet graduation requirements.