Criteria to Declare Majors

Declare Your Major

Students not directly admitted to a CEC major, but who wish to declare a CEC major must meet the declaration requirements.

If you are a current Mason undergraduate student in any department, and you wish to declare a major with the College of Engineering and Computing (CEC), please see the information below for the requirements necessary for your chosen major and the steps to declare once eligible.

Requirements are met only by courses taken at Mason and NOT transfer credits. Prospective transfer students not currently at Mason, please see University Admissions for transfer admission requirements.

These criteria apply to:

  • Undergraduate students not directly admitted to a CEC major.

  • Students changing from CEC-Undeclared or CEC-Undecided to a declared CEC major.

  • Students changing from one CEC major to a different CEC major.

  • Students changing from any Mason major to a CEC major.

Please note:

  • Students must meet all criteria listed for the major they want to declare.

  • Grades and GPA apply to Mason courses only - grades in transfer credits will not be combined with Mason grades.

  • Criteria are subject to change at the discretion of the department.

  • CEC-Undeclared and Undecided students must declare within FIVE (5) fall/spring semesters, regardless of enrollment status (full-time, part-time) or by the time 60 overall credits (includes transfer credit) have been earned per university policy AP.5.3.1 Declaration of Major, which ever comes first. Not being eligible to declare within five (5) fall/spring semesters will result in termination from CEC. University policy states that students with 60 or more credits in an Undeclared or Undecided major will have a hold on their registration for future semesters until they declare a degree-granting major.

  • A student may not declare any major in the College of Engineering and Computing if the student has previously met the termination criteria for that major at any time, regardless of what the student's major was at the time the courses were taken.

  • Declaring a CEC major CANNOT be done in the middle of a semester. Students eligible to declare must do so in the beginning of a semester before the deadline listed in the steps to declare. If not, the student must wait until final grades are posted in the current semester to determine if they are still eligible to declare the CEC major.

Eligibility Criteria

Bioengineering

For all concentrations except Pre-Health

  1. Grade of B- or better in MATH 114 (Calc II),
  2. Grade of C or better in PHYS 160 (Phys I Lecture & Recitation), AND PHYS 161 (Phys I Lab).
  3. GPA of at least 2.75 in all technical courses completed at Mason that are required for the intended engineering major. 
  4. At least 6 credits of technical courses completed successfully at Mason that are required for the intended engineering major.
  • Technical courses are any Math, Science, Engineering, Statistics and Computer Science courses that are required for the intended engineering major.
  • ** 2.75 is between grades of B (3.0) and B- (2.67) on the grading scale. Mostly B's or better must be achieved to earn at least a GPA of 2.75.

Bioengineering Pre-Health Concentration Only

  1. Grade of B- or better in MATH 114 (Calc II),
  2. Grade of C or better PHYS 160, (Phys I Lecture & Recitation), AND PHYS 161 (Phys I Lab).
  3. GPA of at least 3.0 in all technical courses completed at Mason that are required for Bioengineering major Pre-Health concentration.
  4. Cumulative Mason GPA of at least 3.0.
  5. At least 6 credits of technical courses completed successfully at Mason that are required for the intended engineering major.
  • Technical courses are any Math, Science, Engineering, Statistics and Computer Science courses that are required for the intended engineering major.
  • ** 2.75 is between grades of B (3.0) and B- (2.67) on the grading scale. Mostly B's or better must be achieved to earn at least a GPA of 2.75.

Civil and Infrastructure Engineering

  1. Grade of C or better in MATH 114 (Calc II), PHYS 160 (Phys I Lecture & Recitation), AND PHYS 161 (Phys I Lab).
  2. GPA of at least 2.75 in all technical courses completed at Mason that are required for the intended engineering major. 
  3. At least 6 credits of technical courses completed successfully at Mason that are required for the intended engineering major.
  • Technical courses are any Math, Science, Engineering, Statistics and Computer Science courses that are required for the intended engineering major.
  • ** 2.75 is between grades of B (3.0) and B- (2.67) on the grading scale. Mostly B's or better must be achieved to earn at least a GPA of 2.75.

Computer Engineering

  1. Grade of C or better in MATH 114 (Calc II), PHYS 160 (Phys I Lecture & Recitation), AND PHYS 161 (Phys I Lab).
  2. GPA of at least 2.75 in all technical courses completed at Mason that are required for the intended engineering major.
  3. Grade of C or better in all technical courses completed at Mason that are required for the intended engineering major.  
  4. At least 6 credits of technical courses completed successfully at Mason that are required for the intended engineering major.
  • Technical courses are any Math, Science, Engineering, Statistics and Computer Science courses that are required for the intended engineering major.
  • ** 2.75 is between grades of B (3.0) and B- (2.67) on the grading scale. Mostly B's or better must be achieved to earn at least a GPA of 2.75.

Computer Science & Applied Computer Science

  1. Grade of B or better in CS 112 OR CS 211 taken at Mason. (B or better in CS 109, if sequence of CS 108+ CS 109 is taken.)

  2. Grade of B or better in MATH 113, MATH 114 OR MATH 125 taken at Mason. (B or better in MATH 124, if sequence of MATH 123 + MATH 124 is taken.)

  3. GPA of at least 2.75 in Computer Science and Math courses completed at Mason that are required for the major.

  • ** 2.75 is between grades of B (3.0) and B- (2.67) on the grading scale. Mostly B's or better must be achieved to earn at least a GPA of 2.75.
  • Transfer students with CS 112 and CS 211 transfer credit must earn a B or better in CS 310 at Mason.
  • Transfer students with MATH 113, and MATH 114, and MATH 125 transfer credit must earn a B or better in the next required Math course at Mason.
  • Transfer students with only qualifying CS 112 transfer credit, but no qualifying MATH credit, must earn a B or better in CS 211 at Mason as well as a B or better in a qualifying MATH at Mason.

Cyber Security Engineering

  1. Grade of C or better in MATH 114 (Calc II), PHYS 160 (Phys I Lecture & Recitation), AND PHYS 161 (Phys I Lab).
  2. GPA of at least 2.75 in all technical courses completed at Mason that are required for the intended engineering major. 
  3. At least 6 credits of technical courses completed successfully at Mason that are required for the intended engineering major.
  • Technical courses are any Math, Science, Engineering, Statistics and Computer Science courses that are required for the intended engineering major.
  • ** 2.75 is between grades of B (3.0) and B- (2.67) on the grading scale. Mostly B's or better must be achieved to earn at least a GPA of 2.75.

Electrical Engineering

  1. Grade of C or better in MATH 114 (Calc II), PHYS 160 (Phys I Lecture & Recitation), AND PHYS 161 (Phys I Lab).
  2. GPA of at least 2.75 in all technical courses completed at Mason that are required for the intended engineering major.
  3. Grade of C or better in all technical courses completed at Mason that are required for the intended engineering major.   
  4. At least 6 credits of technical courses completed successfully at Mason that are required for the intended engineering major.
  • Technical courses are any Math, Science, Engineering, Statistics and Computer Science courses that are required for the intended engineering major.
  • ** 2.75 is between grades of B (3.0) and B- (2.67) on the grading scale. Mostly B's or better must be achieved to earn at least a GPA of 2.75.

Information Technology

  1. Grade of C or better in IT 106 or IT 109 or CS 112.
  2. GPA average of at least 3.0 across completed/attempted 100-200 level IT foundation and core courses required for the major.
  • Courses used, if taken, to calculate the IT GPA for declaration are: IT 102 (or MATH 125), IT 104, IT 105, IT 106 (or IT 109 or CS 112), IT 206 (or IT 209 or CS 211), IT 216, IT 207, IT 213, IT 214, IT 223.
  • NOTE: All of the courses listed above do not have to be completed prior to declaration, only CS 112, IT 106 or 109 and its pre-requisites.

Mechanical Engineering

  1. Grade of C or better in MATH 114 (Calc II), PHYS 160 (Phys I Lecture & Recitation), AND PHYS 161 (Phys I Lab).
  2. GPA of at least 2.75 in all technical courses completed at Mason that are required for the intended engineering major. 
  3. At least 6 credits of technical courses completed successfully at Mason that are required for the intended engineering major.
  • Technical courses are any Math, Science, Engineering, Statistics and Computer Science courses that are required for the intended engineering major.
  • ** 2.75 is between grades of B (3.0) and B- (2.67) on the grading scale. Mostly B's or better must be achieved to earn at least a GPA of 2.75.

Statistics

  1. Grade of C or better in MATH 113
  2. Cumulative Mason GPA of at least 2.75
  • ​​​​​​​** 2.75 is between grades of B (3.0) and B- (2.67) on the grading scale. Mostly B's or better must be achieved to earn at least a GPA of 2.75.

Systems and Industrial Engineering

  1. Grade of C or better in MATH 114 (Calc II), PHYS 160 (Phys I Lecture & Recitation), AND PHYS 161 (Phys I Lab).
  2. GPA of at least 2.75 in all technical courses completed at Mason that are required for the intended engineering major. 
  3. At least 6 credits of technical courses completed successfully at Mason that are required for the intended engineering major.
  • Technical courses are any Math, Science, Engineering, Statistics and Computer Science courses that are required for the intended engineering major.
  • ** 2.75 is between grades of B (3.0) and B- (2.67) on the grading scale. Mostly B's or better must be achieved to earn at least a GPA of 2.75.

Steps to declare major once eligible

  1. GPA/Grade requirements must be met and final grades must be posted on PatriotWeb.
  2. Complete only the top section of the Change/Declaration of Academic Program form.
  3. Email the PDF form to the Academic Advisor for the major that is being declared (use hyperlink for contact information).
  4. Form must be submitted before the first day of the Selective Withdrawal period listed on the Full Semester Calendar. See the Registrar's calendars for specific deadline dates.