Current State of Software Engineering Master's Degree Programs In the United States

To date, most graduate software engineering degree programs in the United States have used the model of a professional degree similar to that of a Master of Business Administration; that is, a terminal degree where graduates are going into industry rather than academia. In particular, the software engineering Master’s degrees have often focused on students who are already software developers in the workplace and also have either a bachelor's degree in another computing discipline or have completed sufficient undergraduate prerequisites in order to do the graduate coursework. This paper provides the most comprehensive list in recent years of those programs in the United States that offer a Master’s degree with a major of Software Engineering, along with information concerning online education, capstone requirements, required background and courses offered.