<p>Hi all!</p>
<p>I'm a newly admitted international graduate student in civil engineering. I have some few very(!) basic questions :-)</p>
<ul>
<li><p>How is the semester system; Fall, Spring, Summer? Is the winter semester dedicated for holidays? What months defines each each semester?</p></li>
<li><p>As a full time student, do you need minimum 12 credit hrs. in each of the semesters fall and spring? I understand you need minimum 6 credit hrs. for summer semester.</p></li>
<li><p>How long will it take to complete a M.S.-degree as a full-time (average) student.</p></li>
<li><p>Prerequisites: for 400-level courses some prerequisites are required. Does this mean that as an international graduate student you will have to take these prerequisites (typically 300-level courses) although these are undergraduate courses?</p></li>
<li><p>Is it common/necessary to have a car as a full-time graduate student?</p></li>
</ul>
<p>Enough questions... for now :-) Thanks for any answers and help.</p>
<p>Two semesters, late-August to mid-Dec, mid-Jan to mid-May. There are summer sessions (not called semesters) but those are a matter of whether you want to do it. There is a Thanksgiving break (toward end of Nov), winter break between the two semesters, and spring break usually third week of March. </p>
<p>Full-time students are those taking at least 12 hours a semester.</p>
<p>MS engineering programs generally require either 36 hours or 32 plus a thesis. How long it takes is an individual thing but for many three semesters.</p>
<p>As to prerequisites for courses it depends on what you already have out of college. If you have to take lower level courses to qualify for higher level you usually have to take those lower level ones without counting them toward the number needed for the MS degree and thus time needed to completing degree can get longer.</p>
<p>Is a car necessary, no. Is a car desirable for grad students, many would say yes if you want to go places other than in and near the campus.</p>
<p>Thanks for your useful answers! :-)</p>
<p>One thing is bugging me: the prerequisites have prerequisites which also have prerequisites and so on!</p>
<p>I am a international student that have studied something different from the specialization I wish to pursue in my master’s degree at UIUC. Therefore not much in my current bachelor’s degree can be transfered to satisfy prerequisites. But even a basic prerequisite course like “math” which all engineers have in some form has a different curriculum from school to school. I guess/hope that these prerequisites can be bend for students coming from different schools and professional background. Do you know how literal these prerequisites should be taken?</p>
<p>This is something to discuss with adviser Mainly it is an issue of what level you should start at which is partly determined by what you have in background equivalent courses in college (and equivalent does not mean the same). If you were an engineering major in college but not civil engineering, you likely have most of what you need as “prerequsites” but again that is something to discuss with an adviser.</p>
<p>Thank you drusba for your help! :-)</p>