Quarter to Semester Conversion

Beginning in Fall 2026 Cal Poly will operate on a semester schedule, not a quarter schedule.  You can find the official BMS/MS program requirements at https://catalog.calpoly.edu .  To summarize, the program is 30 semester-units with a 3 semester sequence culminating in your thesis (research methods course, independent research, and thesis), 7 units from a specific list of course(s), and the remaining units as a mix of 4000- and 5000- electives.  Students whose first term at graduate status is Fall 2026 or later will automatically be on the semester curriculum.  Other students will remain on the quarter curriculum unless they elect to switch.

The updated research methods course (CSC 5590) will be 3 semester-units, which is more than the current course’s 1 quarter-unit (CSC 590).  For students that span the transition these are the valid combination of thesis-related courses to satisfy program requirements:
  • 590 + 596 + 597 + 599
  • 590 + 5591 + 5599
  • 590 + 596 + 5599
  • 590 + 596 + 597 + 5590
  • 5590 + 596 + 597 + 599
  • 5590 + 596 + 5999
  • 5590 + 596 + 597 + 5599
  • 5590 + 5591 + 5599

Blended students that have taken the research senior project sequence (497 + 498 or 4461) have all the previous combinations, plus the option to take:

  • 590 + 599
  • 590 + 5599
  • 5590 + 599
  • 5590 + 5599

Plus graduate-level coursework to make up any unit shortage by taking an abridged thesis sequence.

 
Prior technical elective quarter-units will be converted to semester-units by dividing by 1.5.  For example, a 4 quarter-unit elective will be counted as a 2.67 semester-unit elective.  Conversely new semester-units be converted to quarter-units by multiplying by 1.5.  You can find the official conversation table by clicking here.  In some cases this may result in rounding errors.  It is currently unclear how these will be handled but there will be a small amount of margin so you do not need to hit the exact unit total.
 
If you complete your degree requirements prior to the transition (Summer 2026 or earlier), or you first enroll Fall 2026 or later, the transition will have negligible impact on your graduate degree.