Pitt engineering students will soon be able to earn a bachelor’s and master’s degrees of science in five years, rather than six, through a new program launching next fall.

The Engineering Accelerated Graduate program will be offered across all six of the Swanson School of Engineering’s departments — chemical and petroleum, civil and environmental, bioengineering, electrical and computer, mechanical and materials science and industrial. Students will pay undergraduate tuition rates through the first four years of the program and then pay graduate tuition for the fifth and final year.

Mary Besterfield-Sacre, the Swanson School’s associate dean for academic affairs, said the program is aimed to provide Pitt graduates with an extra level of competitiveness in the workforce.

“This program is designed to meet that desire on a rigorous but workable timeline for the student who wants to excel in the job market, expand their research capabilities or even further pursue a PhD,” Besterfield-Sacre said.

To participate in the program, current sophomore and junior engineering students must maintain a cumulative 3.50 GPA through their junior year. Then, students must meet with undergraduate and graduate program coordinators and apply to the graduate program.

Current and future first-year students who score 1510 on the SAT or a composite score of 34 on the ACT, are in the top 5% of their graduating class or have an equivalent GPA will be offered provisional admission to the five-year program pending a cumulative 3.50 GPA by their junior year at Pitt.