This page reflects changes effective for students who start in Fall 2018 or later. If you started before Fall 2018, please look at the previous requirements.
The MS in Software Engineering (MS-SWE) program prepares students to become leaders in engineering high quality, large scale, computing solutions to real life problems. The MS-SWE program prioritizes working professionals—as such, all SWE courses are taught late afternoon or early evening.
Degree Requirements
Students are required to complete 30 credits corresponding to 10 graduate courses. Students are encouraged to download the course planner spreadsheet, and update it as they proceed through the program.
The course work is divided into three categories: 12 credits of core courses, software engineering related courses of 9 credits, and 9 credits of elective courses.
Core Courses (12 credits)
Four core courses are required of all MS-SWE graduates:
- SWE 619 Object-Oriented Software Specification and Construction
- SWE 621 Software Modeling and Architectural Design
- SWE 632 User Interface Design and Development
- SWE 637 Software Testing
Software Engineering Related Courses (9 credits)
Students must take three courses from the following list:
Software Engineering (SWE)
Computer Science (CS)
- CS 540 Language Processors
- CS 550 Database Systems
- CS 555 Computer Communications and Networking
- CS 571 Operating Systems
- CS 584 Theory and Applications of Data Mining
- CS 675 Distributed Systems
- CS 678 Advanced Natural Language Processing
Information Security & Assurance (ISA)
- ISA 562 Information Security Theory and Practice
- ISA 650 Security Policy
- ISA 673 Operating Systems Security
Information Systems (INFS)
- INFS 740 Database Programming for the World Wide Web
Operations Research (OR)
- OR 542 Operations Research: Stochastic Models
NOTE: Credit will not be given for both INFS 614 and CS 550, or both SWE 622 and CS 675
Elective Courses (9 credits)
Students may select the remaining courses from the following list. Students may select courses not on this list with approval from the faculty advisor. Students, with the consent of a faculty sponsor and faculty advisor, may also complete a 6-credit thesis, which is primarily intended for students considering pursuing a PhD.
- All Software Engineering (SWE) courses at the 600-level or above.
- All Computer Science (CS) courses numbered 530 or above.
- All Information Security and Assurance (ISA) courses at the 500-level or above.
- All Information Systems (INFS) courses at the 600-level or above.
- Any of the following Electrical and Computer Engineering courses:
- Any of the following Operations Research courses:
- Any of the following Statistics courses:
- Any of the following Systems Engineering courses:
- Any of the following Psychology courses:
Additional Information
For additional information on the degree requirements of the MS in Software Engineering
- The MS-SWE section of the Mason Catalog is the official source for the degree requirements of the program.
- These slides from the orientation for new MS students provide an overview of the program, as well as additional useful information.
Academic Advising
A plan of study form for the MS Software Engineering degree should be completed by the student and approved by their academic advisor before the end of their second semester in the program. This serves as a planning guide for the student and should be kept up to date by regular consultation with their academic advisor. A final signed version of the plan must be included when the student submits a graduation application.
Plan of Study forms for all the MS degrees offered by the CS department are available at this web page.
For more information, please see the academic advising pages and the FAQ for Masters students.