For more information on the admission process, please visit the Office of Undergraduate Admissions website. Applications may be submitted via the Common Application.

Supporting documents not submitted online should be mailed to:

Office of Undergraduate Admissions
The George Washington University
800 21st Street NW, Suite 100
Washington DC 20052

Contact for questions:
gwadm@gwu.edu or 202-994-6040

The following requirements must be fulfilled: 

  • Completion of a total of 129 credits as outlined below.
  • Completion of an appropriate internship/co-op experience during the last two years of the program. This requirement may be satisfied by an approved full-time summer position after the second or third year, or by one or two approved part-time positions requiring 15 to 20 hours of work per week during two of the final four semesters. The position may be paid or unpaid. A position obtained through the GW Center for Career Services usually is acceptable. Consult the faculty advisor for approval.
  • A minimum technical GPA of 2.2 and SEAS GPA of 2.0. All technical courses taken during the fifth through eighth semesters, as outlined by the 4-year curriculum sheet respective to each major and approved by the student's faculty advisor, are counted towards the student's technical GPA.
  • Completion of an approved technical minor that uses the five professional elective courses built into the curriculum.
Recommended program of study
The plan of study lists in sequence all course requirements for the degree. Students should review this information carefully and speak to their advisor before changing the sequence of any of these courses.
First semester
EMSE 1001Introduction to Systems Engineering1
MATH 1231Single-Variable Calculus I 13
SEAS 1001Engineering Orientation1
UW 1020University Writing 14
Science elective 24
CSCI 1012Introduction to Programming with Python 33
Second semester
COMM 1040Public Communication3
or COMM 1041 Interpersonal Communication
ECON 1011Principles of Economics I 13
EMSE 4571Introduction to Programming for Analytics3
MATH 1232Single-Variable Calculus II 13
PHYS 1021University Physics I4
Third semester
APSC 3115Engineering Analysis III3
EMSE 2801Fundamentals of Systems Engineering3
EMSE 4572Exploratory Data Analysis3
MATH 2233Multivariable Calculus 13
PHYS 1022University Physics II4
Fourth semester
EMSE 2705Mathematics of Operations Research3
EMSE 3815Requirements Analysis and Elicitation3
EMSE 4765Data Analysis for Engineers and Scientists3
Humanities elective 43
PHIL 2135Ethics in Business and the Professions3
Fifth semester
APSC 2113Engineering Analysis I3
EMSE 3740WSystems Thinking and Policy Modeling3
EMSE 3850Quantitative Models in Systems Engineering3
EMSE 4755Quality Control and Acceptance Sampling3
Social sciences elective 43
EMSE Focus Area Elective 1 53
Sixth semester
EMSE 3820Project Management for Engineering Systems3
EMSE 3855WCritical Infrastructure Systems3
EMSE 4410Engineering Economic Analysis3
EMSE 4770Techniques of Risk Analysis and Management3
EMSE Focus Area Elective 2 53
Professional Elective 1 63
Seventh semester
EMSE 3760Discrete Systems Simulation3
EMSE 4190Senior Project in Systems Engineering I3
EMSE 4710Applied Optimization Modeling3
EMSE Focus Area Elective 3 53
Professional Elective 2 63
Eighth semester
EMSE 4191Senior Project in Systems Engineering II3
STAT 2183WIntermediate Statistical Laboratory: Statistical Computing Packages3
Three professional electives 69
Total Credits129

1Course satisfies the University General Education requirement in math, science, and writing. 

2 One 4-credit course selected from the following for a total of 4 credits: BISC 1111, BISC 1112, CHEM 1111, or CHEM 1112.

3 Other programming courses, such as CSCI 1111, CSCI 1112, or ECE 1120, may be substituted with the advisor's approval.

4 One social and behavioral sciences course and one humanities course must be selected from the University General Education Requirement list.

5 In consultation with the faculty advisor, the student selects three approved courses from a single focus area from the Department of Engineering Management and Systems Engineering.

6 Professional electives: Each systems engineering major will gain specific expertise in a chosen technical area by taking a sequence of courses leading to a minor from another department of the University. Professional electives are selected with the approval of the student’s academic advisor to satisfy the minor requirements. Areas frequently chosen are computer science, economics, finance, management, mathematics, naval science, statistics, or specific fields of engineering. Consult the advisor for other approved areas and requirements.

Internship requirement—All EMSE majors are required to complete an appropriate internship/co-op experience during the last two years of the program. This requirement may be satisfied by an approved full-time summer position after the second or third year, or by one or two approved part-time positions requiring 15 to 20 hours per week during two of the final four semesters. A position obtained through the GW Career Center will usually be acceptable; the position may be either paid or unpaid. Consult the advisor for approval.