4+1 accelerated master's degree

The CS@VT 4+1 accelerated master's program jumpstarts your career, letting you earn a bachelor’s degree plus a master’s degree in just five years.

How it Works

Computer Science students in the accelerated program can take up to four graduate-level courses during their senior year. The graduate courses can count toward both your bachelor’s degree and your master’s degree. This is called “double counting.”

Important limits on double-counted coursework:

• No more than 6 credits of 4000-level coursework may count toward the master’s degree.
• Courses must be taken for a letter grade (A–F).
• You must earn a grade of B or higher in each double-counted course.

Students cannot count credits from the following courses toward their master's coursework requirements

• CS 5944 Graduate Seminar
• CS 5974 Independent Study
• CS 5994 Research and Thesis

You will earn your bachelor’s degree after completing:

• all undergraduate degree requirements
• up to 12 credits of approved graduate coursework
• all university and departmental requirements

After your bachelor’s degree is awarded, you will complete the remaining degree requirements for the Master of Science (MS) or Master of Engineering (MEng).

When to Apply

Ideally, students should apply one year before completing their bachelor’s degree. Applying early gives you two semesters to take graduate-level courses that can count toward both your undergraduate and master’s degrees.

Students may also apply one semester before graduation, but in that case only courses taken during the final undergraduate semester may be double-counted.

If You Apply One Year Before Graduation

If You Apply One Semester Before Graduation

Course Requirements for Double-Counting

• Courses must be completed for a grade (B or higher)
• No more than 12 credits can be double counted toward both degrees
• Courses such as CS 5974, 5994, and 5944 are not eligible for double counting
• Double-counted courses must be taken after you have been admitted to the accelerated master’s program and within the final 12 months of your undergraduate degree. Courses taken before admission to the accelerated program cannot be retroactively double counted.
• Double-counted courses must be approved before you enroll in the course and listed on Accelerated UG/GR Degree and Course Designation Form 
  • The accelerated UG/GR course designation and degree form must first be signed by the student and their undergraduate advisor. Once those signatures are complete, submit your UG/GR Course Designation form through the CS Graduate Forms Portal. The Graduate Program Office will obtain the remaining department signatures for you. 
  • Please do not email signature requests directly to the CS Department Head or Graduate Program Director.         

How to Apply

Computer science majors interested in applying for the accelerated program should:

• Apply by Dec. 1 for fall semester and May 1 for spring semester.
• When starting a graduate application, select the semester that begins after you finish your bachelor's degree. 
  • For example, if you will complete your B.S. degree in May 2027, you should apply for Fall 2027 entry.
• Test scores for the Graduate Record Examination (GRE) or Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) exam are not required when applying to the accelerated program.
• You do not need to request or pay for an official Virginia Tech transcript when applying to the accelerated program. You may upload a PDF of your unofficial web transcript instead.
• Students applying to the accelerated Master of Engineering (MEng) program must upload an approved Accelerated UG/GR Degree and Course Designation Form with their application. 
  • Before submitting the form the student and the undergradate advisor must sign the form
  • After those signatures are complete, submit the form through the  CS Graduate Forms Portal. The CS Graduate Program Office will obtain the remaining department signatures for you.
• Accelerated applications are reviewed shortly after grades are issued for the semester in which you apply. You will be notified of the result via email.
• Questions about the Master of Engineering accelerated program should be directed to techtalent@vt.edu

Frequently asked questions

What factors do you look for in admitting applicants? Unlike a bachelor’s degree, completing a Master of Science degree requires independent, unstructured research work. We evaluate applicants by their potential to succeed in research. We expect our B.S./M.S. students to engage in research projects with faculty members, leading to a master's thesis. The GPA is an (imperfect) indicator of this trait, so if you have more direct evidence, such as publications, participation in a Virginia Tech Undergraduate Research in Computer Science project, or undergraduate research or independent study projects, those are good features to highlight in your application. For the M.Eng degree, we are less concerned with research potential and more concerned with technical ability.

My GPA is slightly below 3.30. Can I still apply? The minimum GPA requirement is a requirement for all accelerated programs at Virginia Tech. It is set centrally by the Virginia Tech Graduate School. In the past, exceptions to the GPA requirement have been granted extremely rarely. These have typically gone to students who have otherwise demonstrated superior potential for research (e.g., prior research publications and/or faculty recommendation).

How do I find out what areas of research are being conducted in the department? How do I find out which faculty members have interests similar to mine? See our lists of faculty by research area. Cross check them with this list of faculty and their student recruiting status.

I have already finished my B.S. Can I get admitted to the accelerated program? No. The accelerated program only accepts students who have not yet completed their B.S. Those who have completed a bachelor's degree must apply for traditional graduate school admission.

What courses can I double count? Since double counting is toward an undergraduate degree and a graduate degree, you should ask this question separately to two people: your undergraduate program advisor and your graduate program advisor. The generic answer for the graduate program is: Any 4000-, 5000-, or 6000-level course available for CS graduate degree credit can be counted toward your master's degree, with the restriction that at most two 4000-level courses can be used toward that degree and the course cannot be a 4974, 4984, or 4994.

• See here for a list of graduate courses and whether they count toward the master's degree. 
• See here for a list of CS4000-level courses that can be used for graduate degree credit. For B.S. requirements, consult your undergraduate program advisor.
  
  

I plan to do the M.S. degree (with thesis). What else should I know about this? The important thing to know is that a thesis typically takes about 12 calendar months to complete. This almost always means that accelerated B.S./M.S. students need to make good progress on their thesis project during the final semester before they graduate with their bachelor's degree. The alternative would be to work extensively on the thesis project during one summer. You should also turn in your plan of study before classes begin in your first graduate semester to correct any errors in time to graduate.