I am working on a Master of Science in Engineering Management. Since I already have a MS Computer Science degree from the SMU Engineering School, I only need 7 additional courses to complete this degree. (If I already had an appropriate statistics course, I could have done it with only 6 additional courses.)
I should complete this MSEM degree in fall 2005. That assumes I take a course this summer, two courses this fall, and one course each in spring and fall 2005.
There is also a Doctor of Engineering in Engineering Management degree. In my case that degree could only require five courses more courses beyond my MSEM plus a praxis. A praxis is a dissertation that’s useful in a practical sense. This is opposed to traditional PhD dissertations that are just “contributing to the body of knowledge.”
This DEEM degree is very tempting. I could probably finish it in fall 2006.
If I was to complete the MSEM and accept the degree, I would not be able to count those courses towards a DEEM. The DEEM requires that at least 18 hours of “course work“ (6 standard 3 hour courses) are not used for a previous post-baccalaureate degree. So what I want is to be simultaneously enrolled in MSEM and DEEM credits. I would satisfy all MSEM requirements as early as possible and then start on DEEM stuff. If at any point during my DEEM track I decide that I just cannot continue, I could dump the DEEM and stick with the MSEM.
I will meet with the Engineering Management, Information, and Systems department chairman to discuss this.