BS-MS Combined Program

The combined Bachelor of Science-Masters of Science allows a student to earn the BS and MS degrees in five years. Only 111 undergraduate credits are required along with 30 graduate credits. In the second half of the senior year, a BS-MS student begins his/her graduate studies. Further, in the first half of the senior year, a BS-MS student may take up to two graduate courses (that will count towards the MS degree), and while a graduate student, he/she may take additional needed undergraduate courses. For a student in the Combined BS/MS to earn MS credit for a graduate course taken as an undergraduate in the first half of their senior year, click here to obtain a copy of the Graduate School form.

Advantages of the BS/MS Program. The advantage of the combined program is that the M.S. degree can be earned in less time since the Applied Math M.S. degree requires three to four semesters of study after completion of a bachelor's degree. The in-depth training of a master's degree is required by many employers for professional positions in applied mathematics and statistics (beyond beginning programmer analyst jobs).

Liabilities of BS/MS program. There are two important disadvantage of this program. First, the B.S. degree is not awarded until the end of 5th year. Second, if a student drops out during the 5th and wants to leave with just a BS degree, all graduate credits are lost (because the student was not matriculated graduate student) and a student would have to start from scratch in any subsequent graduate studies at Stony Brook or at any other university.

Applying to Combined BS/MS Program. An Applied Math major may apply at the end of the junior year for admission to the Combined Bachelor of Science-Masters of Science after 5 years. An overall GPA of 3.3 is normally required, although exceptions are made for students who perform exceptionally well in their junior year. Interested students should see the Applied Math Undergraduate Program Alan Tucker . He will advise carefully them about how the pluses and minuses of this program could impact them. If a student meets the admission requirements to the program (completed junior year and GPA of 3.3+), he will recommend to the Applied Math Graduate Program Director that the student be admitted to the BS/MS program.

Withdrawing from Combined BS/MS Program. If a student decides to withdraw from the combined BS/MS program and graduate with just a BS degree, (s)he must formally withdraw from the program by filling out the BS/MS withdrawal form and submitting it to the Graduate School. The University will not clear the BS graduation until this form is received.