SIE and Spatial Informatics Four Plus One Programs

Conditional Acceptance while an Undergraduate Student

By planning ahead during your undergraduate program, you can finish  in a single year the Master of Science in Spatial Information Science and Engineering, the Master of Science in Spatial Informatics, or the Master of Science in Information Systems. The final year in completing the Master’s degrees may be taken either on campus or online.

Undergraduate students from any degree program at the University of Maine may apply as early as the summer before their junior year for admission. Applications for conditional “early admission” should be received preferably by the middle of the first semester of the junior year and are not accepted after the senior year has commenced.

Note: In addition to University of Maine students, students at University of Maine Machias may also participate. Students from other UMS campuses may propose participation by having their faculty contact us to cooperatively propose a 4+1 Memorandum of Understanding (MOU).

Application for Admission to the SIE or MSIS Four Plus One Program (Word Document)

By taking a course overload of three credits in the second semester of the Junior year and a course overload in each of the semesters of the Senior year, a motivated student typically may acquire 9 credits (but no more than 12) for graduate school (at undergraduate tuition rates) prior to acquiring their undergraduate degree assuming that they receive a B or better in the courses. These courses, if chosen appropriately, may double count towards both the undergraduate and graduate degree. By taking a 3-credit Information Systems Internship graduate course (SIE 590) with a corporation, agency or non-profit organization during the summer, a student may readily complete the coursework master’s degree in a single year after their undergraduate degree. This master’s degree will be highly complementary to an undergraduate degree in almost any field and attractive to employers.

Graduate-level courses to double count must be at the 500-599 level. See SIE course descriptions for overviews and example syllabi of the courses taught by the core Spatial and Information Systems faculty members. All of these courses are taught simultaneously on campus and online by professors with geospatial specialties and thus examples are often drawn from this field. For Four Plus One students pursuing the MSIS after completing the undergraduate degree, see as well the long list of courses listed under the MSIS Curriculum.

To save course credit tuition dollars for the student, the Application for Admission to the Four Plus One Program is submitted to the SIE/MSIS Graduate Coordinator rather than to the graduate school. If a student is accepted and the performance criteria below are met, acceptance into the Four Plus One Program indicates a commitment by the SIE/MSIS faculty (1) to accept the student’s graduate courses completed while an undergraduate student within their graduate program of study and (2) to support the student’s application for formal admission to the graduate school after completion of the undergraduate degree.

To apply for early admission before or during the junior year, an applicant should expect to have an overall minimum undergraduate grade point average of 3.25, must have completed the University of Maine General Education Requirement in Math and must have three letters of recommendation from current or previous university instructors.

Apply using the Application for Admission to the SIE or MSIS Four Plus One Program.

Continuation in the graduate program is based primarily on performance in the graduate courses and overall grade point average upon graduation from the undergraduate program. Accepted Four Plus One students must submit the full application to graduate school in their senior year. The GRE exam is typically waived for these accepted high performing students. See the GRE Waiver Request Application Below a 3.0 accumulated undergraduate grade point average should be assumed cause for discontinuation in the program.

Students with two or fewer semesters remaining to complete their undergraduate degree program do not qualify for the “four-plus-one program” but their applications will be considered as applications within the regular MSIS admissions process. In this case, one may transfer up to two graduate courses prior to formal admission.

Formal Application to Graduate School: The formal application for admission to the graduate program through the graduate school can occur anytime during or just after the senior year of the undergraduate program. Apply

Exceptions to Graduate School Rules: The Graduate School Rules pertaining to Four Plus One Programs may be found in Section 3.3. Exceptions to these rules may be applied for by completing the form for Request for an Exception to Regulation (https://umaine.edu/graduate/ > Faculty & Staff > Request for an Exception to Regulation (right column menu)). Exceptions granted in the past have included: (a) allowing a student to count more graduate courses taken at the undergraduate tuition rate than the twelve normally allowed for a 4+1 student prior to formal entry into graduate school, (b) allowing a student with a 3.25 GPA to double count 9 graduate credits in the undergrad program since their GPA in the major was well above 3.5, and (c) allowing a student who entered as a Four Plus One Student to convert to a thesis program (i.e. Four Plus Two Program) in order to accept a funded graduate assistantship.

Application for Admission to the SIE or MSIS Four Plus One Program (Word Document)