M.S in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from University of California Entry: Dates, Fees, Eligibility, Entry Requirements etc.

University of California, Merced Master of Science in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science is a two-year, full-time, on-campus postgraduate research degree in Merced, California. Applicants need a relevant bachelor’s degree and GPA 3.0/4.0, approximately 60% to 70% in India; the university determines equivalence. Fall 2027 tuition is unpublished; the 2026-27 nonresident tuition-and-fee estimate was US$36,630 (INR 34.73 Lakhs) annually, including health insurance, as prior-cycle context.

The programme offers thesis and non-thesis routes, with advisor-approved study across computing and electrical engineering. Its individualized structure suits applicants who can connect technical preparation with a research problem, particularly in areas such as computer vision, robotics or distributed systems. However, academic flexibility requires students to investigate supervisor fit and course availability before committing to a specialization.

• The Fall 2027 master’s application accepts the Graduate Record Examination as an optional component, allowing applicants to prioritize evidence of technical preparation.
• The programme’s research areas include renewable energy controls and biomedical imaging alongside computing, supporting applicants with interdisciplinary project interests.
• A graduate advisor is assigned after enrollment, providing an academic contact for course approval and the eventual capstone requirement.

Also Check: UC Merced MS Admission

UC Merced MS EECS Fees and Living Costs 2027

Fall 2027 tuition is unpublished on the checked programme, application, catalogue and graduate-budget pages. Verify the target fee on the official fee page. The MS (Master of Science) in EECS (Electrical Engineering and Computer Science) follows graduate academic fee schedules rather than the separate professional-management schedule.

Prior-cycle reference: the following amounts belong to 2026-27 and apply to nonresident graduate enrollment; semester charges must not be mistaken for annual fees.

All INR conversions in the article use a conversion rate of US$1 = INR 94.8202 as of 04 November 2026. Rates fluctuate daily, verify before applying.

Source: UC Merced 2026-2027 Catalogue, Fees and Expenses.

The four semester components total US$15,537.50 (INR 14.73 Lakhs) before technology and insurance. Across two semesters, adding technology and both insurance premiums produces a calculated US$36,629.63 (INR 34.73 Lakhs). The Graduate Division rounds its published annual nonresident tuition-and-fee estimate to US$36,630 (INR 34.73 Lakhs), which is the planning reference used below.

• The Fall 2027 international application fee is US$155 (INR 14,697), payable with submission and nonrefundable.
• Catalogue billing follows course registration, so verify the Fall 2027 payment deadline before arranging an education-loan disbursement.
• The checked target-cycle sources do not publish an EECS enrollment deposit or fee-payment date, so neither is assumed in this budget.

Cost of Living in Merced for MS EECS Students

The official 2026-27 graduate living estimate combines books, supplies, food, housing, transport and personal expenses at US$30,007 (INR 28.45 Lakhs) for nine months. Because that estimate combines categories, it cannot establish an individual rent allowance or an immigration proof-of-funds requirement.

Prior-cycle planning illustration: monthly and twelve-month figures below are calculated from the nine-month university estimate, assuming unchanged monthly spending.

A two-year prior-cycle planning illustration totals approximately US$153,968.67 (INR 1.46 Crore), assuming no funding. Its arithmetic is two annual tuition-and-fee estimates plus 24 months of living expenses, the application fee and the two government visa-related charges. The living component equals the nine-month university estimate divided by nine and multiplied by 24.

The illustration includes annualized summer living expenses but excludes flights, dependants and additional summer enrollment charges. Because both fee years use 2026-27 reference rates, it is not a Fall 2027 quotation. Request an updated university budget and accommodation costs before fixing the loan amount.

Read More: Living Costs in the USA for Indian Students

Key insight: UC Merced’s official graduate budget covers nine months, while the degree’s normative duration is two years. Include summer living costs when testing whether self-funding is affordable.

UC Merced MS EECS Admission 2027

Fall 2027 is the standard intake for this programme, and international applicants must demonstrate degree equivalence and adequate technical preparation. Other semester entry requires individual consideration and unanimous approval from the programme’s admissions committee, chair and graduate dean, so it is not a routine alternative.

The table separates published entry requirements from Indian-applicant interpretation; the percentage range is an approximate orientation, not a university conversion.

A related technical degree is useful because EECS evaluates preparation in subjects including algorithms, operating systems, linear algebra, signals and circuits. Applicants changing disciplines should map completed modules and substantial projects to their proposed research area. Ask the programme to assess missing foundations before assuming that professional experience replaces prerequisite knowledge.

The optional GRE can supplement an application, but UC Merced publishes no EECS admitted-class score benchmark in the checked admissions material. Consequently, an invented competitive score would be unsupported. Explain project methods, individual contributions and results in the research statement, and select recommenders able to evaluate that work.

English Language Requirements

The current published policy accepts IELTS, TOEFL and Duolingo, with score validity limited to two years. IELTS means International English Language Testing System, while TOEFL means Test of English as a Foreign Language. These tests demonstrate English proficiency, but admission and eligibility for a teaching appointment have separate implications.

Current published requirements: the table reproduces the admissions page’s listed overall and component thresholds, rather than an admitted-class profile.

For revised TOEFL tests, UC Merced states: For tests taken on or after January 21, 2026, a new scoring rubric will be provided soon. Its legacy 80-point minimum applies to tests taken before 20 January 2026. The wording leaves 20 January itself unclear, so seek written confirmation for a test taken on that date.

• Before booking revised TOEFL, verify the pending rubric with Graduate Admissions rather than converting the published 120-point scale yourself.
• The speaking exceptions permit individual admission consideration below the listed speaking threshold when the required overall score is maintained, but do not remove teaching-appointment English requirements.
• An English-medium qualifying degree may support a discretionary admission waiver, while an Indian school-English mark alone is not a published waiver route.

Academic fit also depends on the capstone route, with both options requiring at least 30 semester units. Thesis students need 20 qualifying graduate-course units, versus 24 for non-thesis students. The latter route ends with a comprehensive examination or project. Discuss the balance between specialist coursework and research supervision before selecting modules.

Tip for Indian students: UC Merced makes the degree-equivalence decision, while the programme evaluates technical preparation. Submit your institution’s grading explanation and connect relevant coursework with a specific EECS research interest.

UC Merced MS EECS Application 2027

Submit for Fall 2027 by 15 January 2027, with the university’s Pacific cutoff controlling the portal. EECS lists one general deadline and no separate priority round, so applicants should not import another graduate programme’s funding dates.

Fall 2027 application window: applications are open, and the following is the published EECS deadline applicable to international applicants.

The checked programme and application pages publish no fixed EECS decision date, interview schedule or separate scholarship cutoff for this intake. Therefore, there is no evidence-based early-round recommendation or promised interview sequence. Use the application-status portal for document checks and ask the programme about any interview request or funding nomination attached to your application.

The application requires two distinct statements, and the checklist recommends one to two single-spaced pages for each essay. Use the statement of purpose to explain research preparation and proposed technical work. Reserve the personal history statement for experiences, achievements or obstacles that explain your academic trajectory rather than repeating the same project narrative.

• Contact faculty whose current work matches your proposed EECS topic, asking about research alignment and supervision rather than assuming that an email constitutes admission.
• Give three recommenders your project summaries and the January deadline, because the programme warns that incomplete applications may be rejected without evaluation.
• Upload transcripts for initial review and arrange official records after admission, including certified English translations where necessary.

UC Merced allows one graduate programme application per cycle, making the programme choice consequential before payment. An applicant deciding between an EECS research project and another graduate discipline should resolve supervisor and curriculum fit first. The separate direct-admission pathway is designed for eligible UC Merced seniors, so applicants graduating in India should use the standard graduate route.

Also Check: UC Merced Graduate Courses and Fees

Application tip: The January EECS deadline is the relevant standard route for an applicant graduating in India. Do not substitute the separate deadline or simplified documentation offered to eligible UC Merced seniors.

UC Merced MS EECS Scholarships 2027

Admission does not guarantee master’s funding, according to the EECS programme policies. Limited teaching assistantships and graduate student researcher appointments may be available, but the brochure’s doctoral funding commitment must not be treated as an MS offer.

Current published, cycleless award profiles: these continuing-student awards permit relevant master’s applicants, including international students, subject to their individual conditions. They are not confirmed Fall 2027 entrance scholarships, and their published values are not deducted from the study budget.

These awards require current enrollment, so they cannot establish funding before an applicant leaves India. The Ruiz fellowships support travel or student research, while the Shadish award supports education. Their limited values also mean that an eventual award would supplement, rather than finance, the published annual nonresident cost.

The Rose R. Ruiz Fellowship prioritizes students with the specified California Dream Act status, then first-generation university students. International eligibility therefore does not imply equal priority across all applicants. A candidate relying on financial hardship should explain the relevant circumstances and secure a faculty recommendation after enrollment, while retaining an independent first-year funding plan.

• Ask an EECS supervisor whether a research appointment is available, what period it covers and whether its written offer includes nonresident tuition.
• For teaching assistantships, confirm oral-English eligibility separately from admission, because the published admission-waiver policy does not waive teaching requirements.
• Before combining an appointment with a fellowship, check the award’s employment restrictions and obtain written confirmation of permitted support.

Scholarship reality: EECS explicitly limits its master’s funding commitment. Accepting an unfunded place means financing the degree independently unless a separate written appointment or fellowship specifies otherwise.

UC Merced MS EECS Salary 2027

No recent MS cohort salary or placement report was located on the checked programme, alumni and graduate-information pages. Those sources do not establish an MS offer rate, sector distribution, median salary or employer hiring volume. The usable programme evidence consists of named alumni profiles, which show possible paths rather than the probability of obtaining them.

Historical individual alumni evidence: the following university profiles distinguish master’s experience from doctoral outcomes and must not be read as current vacancy information.

Source: UC Merced EECS alumni profiles; historical individual cases, not a graduating-cohort survey.

The master’s example is relevant because it connects a defined technical research problem with later applied development. However, a historical Google profile cannot establish today’s recruiting access or the salary available to a new international graduate. Ask prospective supervisors about recent master’s destinations and whether their projects produce demonstrable software, experiments or publishable research.

No salary figure in this article is presented as a graduate-pay benchmark, because the checked programme sources supply neither a cohort salary dataset nor a named external salary benchmark. Any eventual offer’s take-home value depends on tax status and deductions. Consult the federal tax-estimator eligibility guidance before using a calculator, because the estimator excludes nonresident taxpayers.

Is UC Merced MS EECS Financially Rational?

The two-year prior-cycle planning illustration reaches US$153,968.67 (INR 1.46 Crore), including annualized living costs and assuming no funding. Because Fall 2027 tuition and MS cohort earnings are unconfirmed, the evidence supports a qualitative ROI (return on investment) assessment. This assessment weighs study costs against the available career evidence without projecting a repayment period.

• For the two-year degree, secure a research or technical objective worth the self-funded commitment before accepting, since no cohort salary evidence supports a loan-repayment forecast.
• Because EECS does not guarantee MS support, retain the unfunded budget until a written appointment specifies its stipend, duration and tuition coverage.
• The standard 12-month post-study work authorization, with a conditional 24-month extension, creates a limited US work window, so verify eligibility before treating American earnings as essential funding.
• For an India-return plan, assess actual Indian research or engineering opportunities against the rupee borrowing requirement, because the historical US employer examples cannot establish Indian repayment capacity.

Read More: USA Post-Study Work Authorization

ROI reality: UC Merced offers an individualized research route, but the available MS evidence cannot quantify a financial return. An unfunded applicant should commit only with a workable repayment plan that does not require an assumed US starting salary.

USA Visa for UC Merced MS EECS Students 2027

UC Merced’s on-campus MS EECS requires full-time F-1 student enrollment, normally at 12 graduate units per semester. The student visa application fee is US$185 (INR 17,542), with a separate Student and Exchange Visitor Information System charge of US$350 (INR 33,187). The programme’s recorded degree code falls within STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics). That classification can support an extension of post-study work authorization when the remaining eligibility conditions are satisfied.

• OPT (Optional Practical Training) provides up to 12 months of degree-related work, potentially followed by a 24-month STEM extension with a qualifying degree and E-Verify employer.
• An employer-sponsored H-1B role must meet the higher of applicable actual and prevailing wages; the degree provides no automatic permanent-residence route or fixed settlement timeline.
• F-2 dependants may include a spouse and unmarried children under 21, but cannot work, so a partner’s expected US earnings cannot finance this degree.
• During teaching terms, the 20-hour on-campus work limit includes teaching and research appointments, so confirm permissible hours before combining funding roles.

Also Check: USA Student Visa Requirements for Indian Applicants

Visa reality: The two-year EECS programme requires a study budget independent of prospective post-study earnings. Confirm the degree code on your university immigration document and extension eligibility before relying on a longer US work window.

UC Merced MS EECS Ranking 2027

UC Merced reports discipline-specific graduate rankings relevant to EECS, rather than a standalone ranking for its MS degree. For applicants considering Fall 2027, the verified university ranking page labels the following results as the 2026 U.S. News and World Report edition.

2026 edition, US graduate-programme scope: these positions describe the named engineering disciplines and do not measure an individual student’s employment prospects.

The discipline distinction matters when choosing between a computing-heavy project and an electrical-engineering research direction. Neither position establishes that a particular supervisor is accepting master’s students or that a specialist course will run in your intended semester. Use the rankings to identify the relevant academic field, then confirm the supervisor, project scope and course sequence directly.

Honest take: The reported rankings provide discipline context, while EECS study remains individualized. Supervisor alignment and access to suitable graduate courses are more direct selection questions than a university-wide rank.