Graduate Degrees

Safety and Systems Management graduate degrees are awarded under the jurisdiction of the Graduate School. Students should also refer to the Graduate School section of this catalogue for general regulations. All courses applied toward the degree must be courses accepted by the Graduate School.

Admission Requirements

To be eligible for admission, prospective students must meet all the requirements of the Graduate School, including a minimum undergraduate GPA of 3.0. In the Master of Science in Safety and Health program, it is preferable that a candidate's undergraduate work be in physics, chemistry, biology, engineering or the health sciences. Candidates for the M.S. in Human Factors and Ergonomics degree must have had undergraduate course work in mathematics equivalent to calculus, statistics and computer programming (or equivalent skill experience). Also required are four undergraduate courses in the natural or behavioral/social sciences with at least one course in behavioral sciences. As part of their undergraduate preparation, candidates for the Master of Science in Systems Management degree must have completed at least one undergraduate foundation course in each of the following areas: (1) probability and statistics or equivalent; (2) mathematics equivalent to calculus; (3) management or equivalent; (4) behavioral science. In addition, all M.S., Systems Management candidates should possess basic computer literacy, demonstrated by knowledge of and use of a database management system, a spreadsheet system, and a word processing system on microcomputers.

Deficiencies in program prerequisites may be met while in residence by taking appropriate courses in other departments but such course work may not be counted toward the course requirements for the master's degree. Some applicants may have covered the material contained in the required undergraduate foundation courses or the course required for the information systems option. Under these circumstances, one particular course requirement may be waived, allowing the student to complete a more advanced course in the same area. Students who have a background in a particular area of study may be allowed to substitute other courses. In these situations students do not receive unit credit, but are permitted to take course work which does not repeat earlier academic experiences. Waiver of content is usually given only in the case of previous academic study of the subject, not in the case of experiential background in the area. Students who believe they are eligible for content waiver decisions must petition the institute's associate executive for academic affairs, providing evidence of the previous work through transcripts, syllabi and other pertinent material.

Progress Requirements

A minimum GPA of 3.0 on all graduate work attempted at USC is required for graduation from all graduate programs. Students who transfer credits must achieve this average on all graduate residence units and all combined transferred and residence units. Continuing registration of graduate students is contingent upon academic performance and may be terminated at any time upon the recommendation of the faculty.

Produced by the USC Division of Student Affairs, Office of University Publications, May 1, 1995
David Henriquez
univpub@stuaff.usc.edu