You may complete the Software Engineering degree at UHCL by taking all required courses online, or you may attend courses in a traditional classroom setting on the UHCL campus. If you live outside the Houston area, you will want to enroll in our online program. The degree requirements for online courses are the same as those for traditional classroom course. You acquire the same knowledge and receive the same coursework, assignments, and exams. To find out more about the online program, please refer to the online degree link in the navigation bar on the left.

• Many of NASA JSC's engineers have enrolled in our SWEN program over the past 17 years. These were engineers who decided to return to graduate school to earn an additional engineering degree in order to switch jobs at NASA or who had been working in software at JSC but did not have the required degree to allow advancement.
• Many Houston-area Aerospace related industry employees (Boeing and United Space Alliance for example) enroll and have graduated in our Software Engineering MS Program in order to advance their careers at their company.
• Many Houston Area oil and chemical company engineers have entered our SWEN program and graduated and went on to higher paying positions within their company. Many of these companies paid the tuition for their employees to take our program.

Computer Science examines the theory and application of algorithms and the code used to implement those algorithms. Computer Science is a concentrated study that centers around the coding phase of the software development lifecycle. Software Engineering studies all phases of the software development lifecycle, of which coding is only one phase. The undergraduate degree plan focuses mainly on the coding phase, whereas the master degree in software engineering concentrates on the development of requirements, the specification of system and user requirements, design specification, software architecture specification, risk analysis, verification, and validation technique that are applied across the lifecycle. Software engineering program curriculum courses emphasize each major phase of the software lifecycle.

You will need a copy of your transcripts from your undergraduate degree and any postgraduate work. You must submit these transcripts to UHCL for evaluation for admission. You also must submit your GRE (Graduate Record Examination) scores to UHCL. You will have to fill out an application for admission to UHCL and specify that you want to enroll in the Software Engineering program and indicate the online study of SWEN if you want do the degree by distance.

You can apply online here. Before you actually fill out the application, please read about the application process. If you have questions about the application process, please e-mail admissions or call 281-283-2500.

Yes. If you enroll in our online MS program, you will be able to take all courses you need to finish the degree (including the capstone project) as a distant student.

At this time, International students who reside outside the US are not able to enroll. This requirement could change in the future, but at this time enrollment is restricted to students residing in the US. If you decide you would like to enroll and attend our program after moving to the US, please see the application process for International Students. F1 international students may not enroll as full-time online students, since F1 students are currently limited to taking one online course per semester. However, you can still enroll in the SWEN program, and take some courses online and others face-to-face to complete the degree. If you have questions about this, e-mail International Students Services, or call 281-283-2575

All SWEN courses required for the degree have an online version. Many local, non-distance-learning students are enrolled in these online courses if their schedules do not permit travel to campus for lectures. The difference between an online course and a face-to-face course is that the traditional live lecture is replaced with all lecture materials, reading materials, instructions, presentation slides, notes, assignment descriptions, self test quizzes, exams, and communication methods (Bulletin Boards, e-mail, chat). Students receive these materials over the Internet via the WebCT course-delivery system.

No. The degree requirements are exactly the same. The only distinction is that your electives will be limited to those courses offered as online electives. If you attend campus courses, you can choose your electives from the classes offered online or in the classroom.

No; the diploma and transcript look identical whether you take the class online or on campus.

Yes. For more information about Scholarships click here and for information about Financial Aid click here. You may e-mail wells@uhcl.edu if you have questions about Scholarships.

UHCL allows electronic search for classes offered beginning with the open-enrollment period for each semester. We post our SWEN schedule for the upcoming semester in the Software Engineering Information Center. Please review our online schedule before performing the UHCL class search for a specific scheduled class. You must find the class in the official UHCL search before you can register for it. The SWEN schedule posted in the Information Center is generally accurate, but there is sometimes a lag time between entry in the official schedule and when the course actually appears. A class must appear in the official UHCL class search before you can register for it.

The UHCL Academic Calendar lists registration dates and other important dates. You will use E-services to actually register for classes. You need your UHCL ID and password to register for classes. You will receive this user ID and password in a letter from the university upon acceptance to the university.

You can order textbooks from the UHCL bookstore online or by visiting the UHCL bookstore. Of course, you are also free to order your textbooks from any online bookstore you choose. You will need the ISBN number, title, author, and publisher information to order your textbook. The UHCL bookstore and your course instructor will have this information.

Yes. For financial aid information, click here. For scholarship information, click here. If you need to speak to a person about scholarships, you can e-mail Leslie Wells at wells@uhcl.edu, or call 281-283-2558. You can also e-mail UHCL_FAO@uhcl.edu, or call 281-283-2480 with your financial-aid questions.