Students who complete their undergraduate degree at WPI are eligible to apply credits from their undergraduate degree towards an IMGD MS or IMGD MFA degree. The maximum number of credits allowable is 40% of the credit requirement for the Masters degree, i.e. 12 graduate credits in the Master of Science, or 18 graduate credits in the Master of Fine Arts. These credits may include any IMGD 4000-level courses or higher, each of which can count for two credits toward the graduate degree. It is common for students to take an additional one credit of related independent study with the instructor during or after completing an undergraduate course that they plan to double-count for graduate credit. However, this is at instructor discretion.
Course Equivalencies
Some IMGD undergraduate and graduate courses have significant overlapping material. The undergraduate version of these courses will count for the course requirement at the graduate level, though bearing 2 credits rather than 3. A student who takes the 4000-level course and counts it as part of their graduate degree should not also take the graduate version, and instead should replace the missing credits with additional electives or independent study.
| Undergraduate | Graduate |
|---|---|
| IMGD 4200: History and Future of Immersive and Interactive Media | IMGD 5200: History and Future of Immersive and Interactive Media |
| IMGD 444x: Advanced Topics in Interactive Media: Production | IMGD 5400: Production Management for Interactive Media |
| IMGD 4600: Serious Games | IMGD 5500: Serious and Applied Games |
Bachelors/Master of Fine Arts
Students pursuing a Bachelors/Master of Fine Arts degree may petition the IMGD graduate committee to double-count either 4000-level classes that are not IMGD courses or MQP credits as either electives or replacements for IMGD MFA degree requirements. Such courses or MQP credit should be related to the students’ proposed vision for their MFA, and students should include this reasoning in their petition.
Admissions Guidelines
Students interested in pursuing a Bachelors/Masters in IMGD are advised to apply at the end of their junior year of undergraduate study, in order to best plan coursework in their senior year to support overlapping degree requirements. Applications are submitted through WPI graduate admissions office, and Bachelors/Masters students will need to complete all admission requirements specified in the catalog for their chosen degree. Additionally, students will need to complete paperwork with the registrar’s office designating which courses they intend to double-count from their undergraduate degree.