FAQs

Admissions

A: A student must have a grade point average of at least 3.0 (based on a 4.0 system) on all undergraduate work, or a 3.0 average or above on the last 60 hours of undergraduate coursework. Also, the sum of a student's verbal and quantitative GRE scores must be at least 302. A GRE score is required for all students, except those graduating with a B.S. from the University of Arkansas.
A: The first step is getting accepted by the Graduate and International Admissions Office. All students apply through the Graduate and International Admissions Office, whether domestic or international. Apply online at https://application.uark.edu/. Do not send application materials to the Department of Electrical Engineering. The Graduate and International Admissions Office evaluate a student to determine if he or she meets admission requirements. If all requirements are met, the application is forwarded to the Electrical Engineering Department.
A: Application deadlines are published on the Graduate Admissions website. International students may need to apply much sooner than the deadline to allow enough time to receive a visa.
A: In addition to the Graduate and International Admissions requirements, the Department of Electrical Engineering requires a resume, a statement of purpose, and three letters of recommendation. All of these requirements should be uploaded in your Student Center.
A: The statement of purpose is a one or two-page document which explains why you want to pursue an M.S. or Ph.D. It should also describe the research areas in which you would like to specialize. The research areas pages of this website describe common specialty areas and list the faculty doing research in each area.

A: The Letters of Recommendation for an applicant should be professional in nature. A LOR will directly relate to one’s potential to succeed in graduate studies and their professional future in the field. The letter may be written by anyone who can attest to your:

  • skills in the field of study
  • research skills
  • practical applications of the work
  • work ethic
  • capacity for success

This may be a previous professor, an employer, etc. It should be someone who is in a good position to evaluate your attributes in the above areas and your specific skill set.

A: You can make changes in your Student Center in UAConnect.
A: No, LORs and the GRE are not required if you received your BSEE from the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville. Non-BSEE applicants are required to submit letters of recommeendation and a GRE score.
A: No. In fact, the Graduate School will not accept any transcript evaluations other than their own. Send all of the required documents, including all transcripts, to the Graduate School.
A: Applicants seeking regular admission whose native language is not English must submit minimum satisfactory scores on either the TOEFL or the IELTS. No other measures of English proficiency are accepted by the University of Arkansas for the purpose of gaining admission. For more information visit International Admissions English Proficiency Requirements.
A: If you’ve graduated from a university in the United States, or a university whose primary language is English, we can waive the TOEFL exam requirement.
A: We receive your application from the Graduate School. A complete application takes a few weeks for us to process. Delays occur when information is missing from your application. You may contact the department about your application at eleggrad@uark.edu.
A: Yes, you can defer one time, by one semester. In order to do so, you need to send an e-mail to Graduate and International Admissions and to the Electrical Engineering Department. You may defer either before or after your admission is completed.
A: The graduate committee votes on each applicant that comes through our department. Unfortunately, we have more applicants than we can accept and meeting requirements does not guarantee admission. Therefore, the graduate committee must choose which applications to accept and which to reject.

 

New Students

A: Yes, both the Graduate School and the department conduct a New Student Orientation the week before classes begin.
A: No, the student must find his or her own advisor. To find an adviser you should begin by visiting the Research page of our website. Look at the professors who conduct research in your area of interest and the work that they do. Choose one you would like to work with and send him or her an e-mail. Introduce yourself, explain why you want to work with him, and tell him what skills you can bring to his research team.
A: M.S.E.E. students may be admitted without an advisor, but Ph.D. students must have an advisor before they may be admitted.
A: Once you have an advisor, then you should form the rest of your advisory committee. Your adviser may suggest two other members, or if you know who you want on your committee you may suggest them. Once you and your adviser have selected two other members, send them an e-mail and ask them if they will agree to serve on your advisory committee. (The committee rates your final comprehensive exam or defense.) Once you have their permission, fill out the MS or Ph.D. Committee form.
A: The department does not have set plans of courses and the student decides, with advisor and committee approval, which courses to take. Courses available for graduate credit are listed in the graduate catalog. The student completes a written schedule for study form in his/her first semester to plan the courses for the degree plan.
A: Ph.D. students cannot transfer courses. Your advisor and committee will evaluate the work you did in you Masters and decide how much of it they will count towards your Ph.D. The hours required for the Ph.D. will be reduced by that amount.

 

Graduation

A: The MSEE comprehensive oral exam will follow the standardized format listed below. The entire exam will last about 45‐60 minutes. The exam consists of two parts:

1. Student PowerPoint presentation outlining (approximately ten minutes in duration):

  • Previous education: institution, major, special projects completed
  • Professional work experience (company, location, job title, brief description)
  • List the courses taken as part of the MSEE program including the course number, title, instructor, term and grade.
  • One or two slides describing how the MSEE program and curriculum would apply to your professional work (either at present job position or how the MSEE would in the future).

2. The committee will ask several questions of the student covering the student’s coursework.

A: The department requires an electronic copy of your thesis/dissertation. If you or your major professor want a copy (or copies) of your thesis/dissertation bound, the department will send that off for binding for you. You will need to provide the printed thesis/dissertation and pay for the binding cost for those copies.
A: No, because the grade of the incomplete course will affect the final grade.
A: You need to email the Electrical Engineering department and the Graduate School to let them know. You also need to contact the Registrar's Office and defer your graduation.