Master of Information 5+ Year Program

SC&I IT & Informatics majors who have completed 90 credits may apply to earn an IT & Informatics bachelor’s degree and Master of Information (MI) degree in five years of continuous study. If accepted, you will:

• Take 12 MI graduate credits during your senior year.
• Save up to a year of graduate tuition.
• Maintain continuity with faculty, resources and research facilities.
• Gain a competitive edge in the marketplace.
• Increase your earning potential.

IT & Informatics students who have completed at least 90 credits may apply. To be considered, you must:

• Have and maintain a GPA of 3.0 or above.
• Please include a personal statement of approximately 750 words. Address your professional goals and how you believe the MI degree will support your progress toward these goals.
• Complete 90 credits by the end of your sixth semester.
• Submit an official copy of their transcript.
• Submit one letter of recommendation from a professor in your major.

• Fall admission: May 15
• Spring admission: November 1

*Admission decisions are made after the deadline. The MI 5+ Year Track at Rutgers is an extremely competitive program with limited space available, so admission decisions are based on evidence of high achievement.

Interested students should apply during their junior year to the MI 5-Year program (dual degree option) through Graduate Admissions.

Select the following when you are completing the Program Information portion of the application:

You must apply for the term following your anticipated undergraduate graduation term. You need to remain coded as an undergraduate student during your senior year. If admitted, you will be able to complete MI courses in your senior year and will receive special permission numbers from the Office of Student Services to register for the courses.

*Please note, as a graduate student you are not required to complete summer courses. If you are an anticipated May graduate, you can apply for summer or fall.

If you are accepted into the 5-Year IT & Informatics/MI program, you will be considered as an undergraduate student who is taking Master's courses, which will count towards general electives or 400-level IT & Informatics electives in your senior year. During this time, you need to fulfill all your undergraduate requirements. Upon graduation with a Bachelor’s Degree, you will then transition into the Master’s program and therefore be subject to the processes and requirements associated with that status.

After you receive notification of your admission in your junior year, you will be contacted by the MI Program Director and the Office of Student Services. In the Fall and Spring semesters of your senior year, you will take two graduate courses per semester in addition to completing your undergraduate requirements. Those courses will be selected based on your concentration and MI program requirements. After successful completion, those four courses (12 credits) will count both as undergraduate (IT & Informatics or general electives) and graduate (MI) requirements. Upon successful completion of coursework in your senior year, you will graduate from the undergraduate program and transition into the graduate program as an MI student.

After graduating with your Bachelor's degree, you will have a faculty advisor (also known as concentration coordinator). In this final year+, you will be expected to take the appropriate credits for MI program requirements (24 credits total / 8 courses). You can take graduate courses in the summer and winter sessions, if appropriate.

• Grades awarded for graduate course work are; A, B+, B, C+, C, F; or pass/no credit in some designated experiences. There is no D in the graduate grading rubric.
• Grades earned in the 5-year program are factored into a student's GPA the same as undergraduate grades.
• In the MI program, grades above B are accepted. Students are allowed 2 grades of C (Please review further detail in the Academic Standing information listed below).
• Grades of C+ or C is considered a "red flag" and can result in probation.

• Only two grades of Cs will be allowed to apply towards the Master of Information program. If the two C grades are earned in the MI courses while a student is still matriculated as an undergraduate, they will not be eligible to apply any additional grades of C toward the MI degree when they become a fully matriculated graduate student.
• If a 5-year student earns an F in an MI course while they are still an undergraduate, they may become disqualified from continuing in the dual degree/five-year program. Any MI course(s) successfully completed up through that point will still be allowed to apply toward the  IT & Informatics elective credit and be used toward the completion of their undergraduate degree. As a result of disqualification, the student’s graduate application record should be adjusted to reflect a change from the 5 year program (i.e., program code – 176103) to the traditional Master of Information program (i.e., program code – 17610).
• Once students are fully matriculated into the graduate Master of Information program, they are held to the same academic standing requirements as all other SC&I Master’s students.

For 5 Year program questions, reach out to the Graduate Student Support Team in the Office of Student Services. If you have specific questions related to your undergraduate requirements, please be in touch with SC&I Undergraduate Advising.