Accelerated Master's Program (AMP)

Accelerated Master’s Programs (AMP) allow outstanding Illinois Institute of Technology undergraduate students and alumni to complete a graduate master’s degree in an accelerated manner, allowing students to gain deeper and/or broader knowledge in specialized areas. Through the sharing of up to 12 credit hours of courses between the bachelor’s and master’s degrees, students may complete both degrees in as few as five years. Students work with their advisers to select a pairing of bachelor’s and master’s degrees that matches their interests. The student must receive advance approval from both the undergraduate and graduate academic units for the proposed pairing, including the intended shared courses. The program consists of two formats:

  1. Plus One (AMP-P1):  For Illinois Tech undergraduates with at least 12 credits remaining toward their undergraduate degree. The Plus One program allows students to complete both a bachelor’s and master’s degree in approximately five to six years through the sharing of up to 12 credit hours between the bachelor’s and master’s degrees. Courses completed during the undergraduate years are billed at the undergraduate tuition rate.
  2. Advanced Standing (AMP-AS):  For Illinois Tech undergraduate students with fewer than 12 credits remaining toward their bachelor’s degree and Illinois Tech alumni who completed a bachelor’s degree within three years before enrollment in the master’s degree. AMP-AS students can apply nine credit hours from their bachelor’s degree to the accelerated master’s degree if those courses satisfy requirements of the master’s degree.

Plus One Admission

Students applying to Plus One studies (AMP-P1) must have completed at least 60 credit hours of applicable undergraduate study. Transfer students must also have completed at least one full-time semester, or 12 credit hours, at Illinois Tech. Students must be at least one full-time semester, or 12 credit hours, away from completing their undergraduate degree when they begin the program and must not have applied for degree conferral at the time of application.

Applicants are required to be in good academic standing and normally have a minimum GPA of 3.0 on a 4.0 scale. Students with a GPA below 3.0 may still be considered with a letter of recommendation from their undergraduate academic adviser. Applicants should consult individual academic units for any additional admission requirements.

The deadlines for application to the Accelerated Master’s Program are:

  • August 1 for fall semester  
  • December 1 for spring semester
  • May 1 for summer semester 

Questions regarding AMP admission should be addressed to the Office of Graduate Admission at grad.admission@illinoistech.edu.

Shared and Non-Shared Credit Form

Illinois Tech allows AMP students to share up to 12 credit hours between their undergraduate and graduate programs; however, some AMP programs may permit fewer shared credits or no shared credits. Students should consult their AMP adviser for the requirements of their specific program.

Plus One applicants must identify the courses they intend to share in the Plus One application. The proposed courses must be approved as part of the student’s course of study.

Advanced Standing students must identify up to nine eligible credit hours from their Illinois Tech undergraduate transcript using the Transfer Credit and/or Course Substitution and Exception eForm. Students should indicate their participation in AMP-AS when completing the form.

The combined number of credits earned before matriculation into an Illinois Tech graduate degree program—including external transfer credit, internal transfer credit from an undergraduate program, and shared AMP credit—may not exceed 12 credit hours. No more than nine of those credits may consist of external transfer credit.

Academic Standing

AMP-P1 students must maintain satisfactory grade point averages and a satisfactory rate of progress toward completion of their degrees. Plus One students are subject to all university and discipline-specific undergraduate academic requirements while completing the undergraduate portion of the program and are also subject to applicable graduate academic policies.

Plus One students who do not earn at least a 2.0 cumulative GPA, a 1.85 term GPA, or a 2.0 major GPA, or who do not maintain satisfactory academic progress, will be placed on undergraduate academic probation. A Plus One student placed on undergraduate academic probation may be dismissed from the Accelerated Master’s Program in a future semester.

To remain in good academic standing at the graduate level, all AMP-P1 and AMP-AS students must maintain a cumulative graduate GPA of 3.0 on a 4.0 scale during each semester of enrollment. A student whose cumulative graduate GPA falls below 3.0 at the completion of any semester will be placed on graduate academic probation. If the student subsequently fails to make the required academic progress in accordance with the graduate academic-standing rules, the student may be dismissed from the graduate portion of the Accelerated Master’s Program.

All AMP degree requirements must be completed within six years. A student who does not complete the applicable requirements within six years may be dismissed from the Accelerated Master’s Program.