MS Electrical Engineering at GMU Virginia: Fees Dates & Requirements

George Mason University MS (Master of Science) Electrical Engineering is a 30-credit postgraduate degree with on-campus and hybrid delivery in Fairfax, Virginia. Full-time planning spans approximately four semesters; eligibility includes a relevant bachelor’s degree and GPA 3.00/4.00, approximately 65% to 70% for Indian applicants. Fall 2027 tuition is unpublished; 2026-27 tuition was US$1,571 (INR 1.48 Lakhs) per credit, as a prior-cycle reference.

The programme combines an engineering concentration with either a research thesis or individual scholarly paper, allowing different routes towards technical specialisation. It suits applicants who can connect their undergraduate preparation to a defined engineering problem, while thesis candidates must obtain a willing faculty supervisor.

• A 15-credit core-course requirement lets students build their foundation from an approved selection rather than an identical fixed sequence.
• Students can petition for an individually designed specialisation with their advisor’s assistance when the listed concentrations do not match their intended work.
• Attendance at six approved graduate seminars adds exposure to research discussions alongside the credit-bearing curriculum.

Also Check: George Mason University Graduate Admission

George Mason MS Electrical Engineering Fees and Living Costs 2027

Fall 2027 tuition and a confirmed programme total are unpublished on the checked programme, application and tuition surfaces. Verify the target fee on the official fee page before accepting a loan sanction based on older rates.

Prior-cycle reference: The following figures use the 2026-27 out-of-state College of Engineering and Computing rate, applicable to Electrical Engineering. Calculated totals hold that rate constant across all 30 credits and are not Fall 2027 quotations.

All INR conversions in the article use a conversion rate of USD 1 = INR 94.01192115 as of 07 November 2026. Rates fluctuate daily, verify before applying.

Source: George Mason Student Accounts 2026-27 per-credit rate sheet and Student Health Services 2026-27 premium schedule.

• The prior-cycle fee basis gives calculated academic charges of US$15,660 (INR 14.72 Lakhs) for nine credits, so a full-time semester requires more than tuition alone.
• The current published application fee is US$75 (INR 7,051) and the nonrefundable enrolment deposit is US$300 (INR 28,204), which is credited against first-semester tuition.
• The published new-graduate fee is US$60 (INR 5,641); insurance is billed separately and its payment deadline follows the tuition due date.

Cost of Living in Fairfax for Electrical Engineering Students

The cached official 2026-27 graduate on-campus estimate covers nine months, rather than a twelve-month stay or a guaranteed residence booking. Monthly figures below are calculated by dividing each published allowance by nine; food and housing remain combined because Mason publishes them together.

A prior-cycle planning illustration for a 24-month stay totals approximately US$132,096.67 (INR 1.24 Crore), assuming no scholarship and unchanged 2026-27 rates. The basis combines US$52,200 (INR 49.07 Lakhs) in academic charges with US$71,162.67 (INR 66.90 Lakhs) in extrapolated living costs. Two insurance years add US$8,064 (INR 7.58 Lakhs). Add US$60 (INR 5,641) for the new-student fee, US$75 (INR 7,051) for the application and US$535 (INR 50,296) in combined visa and student-record fees.

The living calculation extends the nine-month allowance over 24 months; it is not a university-published two-year budget. Airfare, loan interest and course-specific charges are outside this illustration, so obtain those quotations before setting the borrowing amount.

Read More: USA Student Living-Cost Planning

Key insight: The 30-credit structure makes per-credit pricing more useful than an assumed annual fee. Replace the prior-cycle calculation with published 2027-28 rates before fixing your loan principal.

George Mason MS Electrical Engineering Admission 2027

George Mason offers Fall and Spring admission to Electrical Engineering, with Fall 2027 the next published international application window. Academic preparation and the engineering-specific English requirement should be checked separately, because meeting one does not establish eligibility under the other.

Current published entry requirements: Mason evaluates the degree and transcript, while the programme prefers an electrical, electronics, computing or closely related background. The Indian percentage below is an approximate planning comparison, and Mason makes the official equivalency decision.

Indian applicants with a three-year bachelor’s degree should resolve degree equivalency before paying for testing or credential evaluation. Mason publishes a route involving a three-year bachelor’s plus a related postgraduate qualification, while the initial degree alone is not automatically covered by that route. Applicants requiring an F-1 student visa cannot rely on the college’s provisional-admission route to repair missing prerequisites after admission.

The programme-specific checklist should control document preparation, even though the college’s general advice discusses recommendations and a goals statement. A focused one- or two-page goals statement, when requested in the portal, can connect completed projects to your preliminary concentration and proposed advisor. The checked official surfaces do not publish an Electrical Engineering class-profile benchmark or course acceptance rate, so neither can support numerical admission odds.

English Language Requirements for Indian Applicants

IELTS (International English Language Testing System) and TOEFL (Test of English as a Foreign Language) are accepted for this programme. These tests establish language proficiency, and the College of Engineering and Computing exception governs Electrical Engineering rather than Mason’s higher general graduate threshold.

Scores older than two years are not accepted, so check the test date against your application timing rather than reusing an expired result. India is absent from Mason’s country-based waiver list; an English-medium Indian degree or school English mark does not establish that waiver. A qualifying degree from the United States or another listed country may provide a different waiver route.

• Use the engineering-specific overall minimum when booking IELTS or TOEFL, because the general graduate subsection requirements do not apply to this college.
• Mason accepts IELTS One Skill Retake and TOEFL MyBest scores, which may affect whether an eligible existing result needs a complete retest.
• Submit an accepted score with the complete application rather than assuming the college will offer conditional admission for a language shortfall.

Curriculum Choice and Full-Time Workload

The thesis and scholarly-paper routes both require 30 credits, but their supervision and assessment demands differ. The thesis allocates six credits to research, while the scholarly-paper route uses coursework with an individual written project and oral presentation. Choose the thesis for supervised research preparation only after discussing a feasible topic and advisor availability.

The eight concentrations span bioengineering, communications and networking, control and robotics, machine learning, power systems, semiconductors, signal processing and space-based systems. For an Indian electronics graduate, the distinction between semiconductor engineering and machine learning changes which prerequisite knowledge deserves attention. Review the required subjects against your transcript before selecting the concentration, rather than treating these routes as interchangeable.

A four-semester planning route can distribute 30 credits as nine plus nine plus nine plus three, subject to course availability and final-semester approval. Mason normally requires graduate F-1 students without an assistantship to take nine credits, including six face-to-face or hybrid credits. Obtain advisor approval for the study plan before completing six credits, and secure immigration approval before reducing the final-semester load.

Tip for Indian students: Electrical Engineering accepts several technical backgrounds, but visa-seeking applicants cannot depend on provisional admission. Resolve prerequisite gaps and degree equivalency before submitting the application.

George Mason MS Electrical Engineering Application 2027

The 15 March 2027 standard deadline is the preferable published route for international Electrical Engineering applicants. The later international deadline is capacity-dependent, and the college explicitly warns that a space-available decision may not arrive in time for entry.

Fall 2027 international deadlines: These dates come from the programme’s application record, which offers Fall and Spring entry. The Spring international window is closed as of 7 November 2026, and the checked record does not yet announce a subsequent Spring cycle.

The official record publishes dates without cutoff times or time zones, so an exact Indian Standard Time conversion cannot be supplied reliably. Check the cutoff displayed inside your portal, and submit earlier rather than treating midnight in India as the deadline. The university’s published portal cutoff controls whenever a time is specified.

Mason advises applicants using its free international transcript evaluation to submit six weeks before the deadline. Working backwards from 15 March gives a calculated preparation target of 1 February 2027; this is an applicant planning date, not another admission round. Upload the university’s required transcript documents and translations early enough for evaluation to finish with the application.

• Select Electrical Engineering, MS using programme code EC-MS-ELEN, and check the entry term before submitting payment.
• Prepare the resume around the concentration you intend to pursue, identifying relevant technical projects and your own contribution.
• Use the encouraged advisor preferences to show research alignment, while recognising that an advisor preference does not secure thesis supervision.
• Monitor the portal checklist after submission because the college reviews complete files and may request an interview where needed.

The college’s current cycleless funding guidance lists 1 December, but the Fall 2027 programme record does not confirm a separate funding round. Verify its applicability through the department rather than treating the annual date as a confirmed scholarship deadline. The exact Electrical Engineering application record also provides the route into the applicant portal.

No fixed round-by-round decision dates are published for this course. The college’s current guidance gives two to four weeks after a processed file is complete as the general master’s review period. Document processing precedes that period, so a submission date alone cannot establish your offer date or visa timetable.

Application tip: Build the application around 15 March rather than the space-available extension. The six-week transcript-evaluation recommendation makes document readiness a practical constraint before the formal deadline.

George Mason MS Electrical Engineering Scholarships 2027

Electrical Engineering applicants should treat scholarships and assistantships as separate funding routes, with no automatic award assumed in the budget. Mason currently publishes the following potentially relevant named scholarships, but their listed criteria do not establish a Fall 2027 award offer.

Current published scholarship criteria: These awards are listed by the College of Engineering and Computing without an Indian-nationality exclusion in the cited criteria. Individual selection may add requirements, so use the general scholarship application and department guidance to establish eligibility when the relevant cycle opens.

• The James D Palmer Endowed Scholarship accepts enrolled undergraduate or graduate students within the College of Engineering and Computing.
• The Trudi A McKimens Endowed Scholarship supports undergraduate and graduate students pursuing a degree in the College of Engineering and Computing.
• The Lawrence Cranberg Endowed Scholarship in Science and Engineering supports college students from either residency category through selection by a dean-appointed committee.
• The Society of Satellite Professionals International Mid-Atlantic Regional Chapter Scholarship requires satellite, aerospace or allied coursework and selection based on merit and financial need.

The satellite scholarship has the clearest curricular connection for applicants choosing space-based systems; eligibility requires relevant completed or enrolled coursework. The broader college awards may suit other concentrations, but they do not establish a promised reduction in Electrical Engineering tuition.

Fall 2027 award values and deadlines are unpublished on the checked funding pages, so no cash value has been deducted from the cost illustration. The scholarship portal identifies the college’s Fall 2026 application as closed within the 2026-27 award cycle. Check the official scholarship application portal for the applicable departmental opening and complete any additional requirements after the general application.

Assistantships and the Funding Decision

The college says master’s students may apply for assistantships after admission, if available, with availability determined by academic departments. Its guidance directs enrolled students towards advertised positions, while the electrical-engineering department also provides a teaching-assistant application route. Neither source establishes a guaranteed incoming stipend, tuition waiver or Electrical Engineering allocation for Fall 2027.

Ask the department whether an available position fits your concentration and what the written funding package covers before reducing your own financing. Check the appointment period, paid hours, tuition-credit coverage and insurance treatment rather than assuming that every assistantship covers the entire degree. Keep the admission decision separate from the funding decision when assessing whether you can accept the offer.

Also Check: Scholarship Options for Indian Students in the USA

Scholarship reality: Master’s assistantship applications follow admission and depend on available positions. Accept the Electrical Engineering place only with a financing route that survives an unfunded first semester.

George Mason MS Electrical Engineering Salary 2027

Electrical Engineering course-cohort salary, offer-rate and sector-share data are unpublished on the checked programme and careers pages. The available evidence combines broader university outcomes with external occupation benchmarks, which answer different questions about employment access and earning potential.

University Outcomes and External Salary Benchmarks

Mason’s Class of 2025 university-wide report covers undergraduate and graduate students across disciplines, excluding law graduates and certificate-only recipients. Its full-time salary median cannot establish starting pay for Electrical Engineering, while the national figures below cover workers across experience levels.

Source: George Mason Class of 2025 Career Outcomes report and United States Bureau of Labor Statistics May 2025 occupation and industry wage data.

The university report records 92% positive outcomes within six months, including work, further study, military service and volunteering. That is broader than a job-offer rate; 74% of employed respondents held positions related to their career goals. Because the report combines degrees and disciplines, request Electrical Engineering and international-graduate evidence before using it to justify borrowing.

Among employed graduates in the same university-wide report, 81% worked in Virginia, Washington DC or Maryland. Reported industry areas include education, healthcare, government or military, technology and consulting, but no Electrical Engineering sector percentages are supplied. The regional concentration suggests a reason to investigate local vacancies, while checking each role’s work-authorisation and citizenship conditions.

The programme page reports graduates at Amazon, Meta, Google, BAE Systems, Boeing and General Electric, without a cohort count or hiring volume. These names demonstrate reported employment destinations, rather than a recruiting commitment or evidence of visa sponsorship. An applicant targeting power systems or semiconductors should examine the actual role requirements instead of relying on the employer list alone.

Mason’s college page itself cites national occupation medians, so its career figures should be read as external market evidence. The updated government benchmarks above help distinguish power-sector and electronics roles, but they do not measure the salary increase caused by this master’s degree. Use them to identify occupations for further research, then check vacancies aligned with your concentration and experience.

Take-home pay depends on tax residency, location and deductions, so gross wages cannot be treated as money available for loan repayment. The official tax withholding estimator explains its eligibility limits and directs nonresident taxpayers to separate instructions. Use a calculation appropriate to your tax status before assessing the net value of an actual offer.

Return on Investment for Indian Applicants

The prior-cycle planning illustration of US$132,096.67 (INR 1.24 Crore) covers a substantial self-funded commitment across 24 months. It is not a confirmed Fall 2027 price. ROI (Return on Investment) depends on the intended specialisation and financing route. Course-specific employment outcomes are unavailable, so the published evidence cannot support a reliable payback calculation.

• The 30-credit degree can build a focused technical portfolio; before borrowing, identify which concentration and final project address a specific requirement in your intended occupation.
• Master’s assistantships become available after admission where positions exist; retain funding for an unfunded semester until a written appointment specifies the actual support.
• The initial post-study work window is 12 months, with a conditional 24-month extension; verify degree-code eligibility before assuming three years of United States earnings.
• The individual scholarly paper provides a project to discuss with Indian employers; obtain India-based role and salary evidence rather than converting national United States medians into expected repayment.

Read More: USA Post-Study Work and Employment Authorisation

ROI reality: The thesis or scholarly-paper structure supports technical specialisation, but Mason does not publish an Electrical Engineering salary premium. Commit only when the concentration and verified financing justify the cost without an assumed overseas salary.

USA Visa for George Mason MS Electrical Engineering Students 2027

George Mason Electrical Engineering students using the F-1 route face a visa application fee of US$185 (INR 17,392) and student-record fee of US$350 (INR 32,904). Graduates may apply for OPT (Optional Practical Training). This authorisation permits up to 12 months of degree-related employment, subject to approval, with a conditional 24-month science, technology, engineering and mathematics extension.

• Verify the degree code on your immigration document and extension eligibility with Mason before treating the potential 36-month combined work window as part of your financing.
• For employer-sponsored H-1B work status, the applicable wage is the higher actual or prevailing wage; screen Electrical Engineering vacancies for employer sponsorship rather than assuming one national threshold.
• A master’s degree does not create a fixed permanent-residence timeline, so separate the Electrical Engineering career decision from any expectation of automatic settlement.
• An F-2 spouse or unmarried child under 21 may accompany an eligible F-1 student, but dependants cannot work, increasing the household funding requirement.

Also Check: USA F-1 Student Visa Application Requirements

Visa reality: Hybrid Electrical Engineering study must still satisfy Mason’s full-time and in-person enrolment requirements. Obtain approval for the course mix rather than assuming the delivery label determines immigration compliance.

George Mason MS Electrical Engineering Ranking 2027

George Mason is in the 301 to 400 global band for Engineering in the Times Higher Education 2026 subject ranking. This is a broad engineering ranking that includes electrical and electronic engineering, rather than a separate assessment of the Electrical Engineering master’s programme.

Published subject evidence for applicants considering 2027 entry: The ranking edition remains 2026, and its scope should stay attached to the position. A target intake in 2027 does not turn this result into a 2027 subject ranking.

The subject band supplies research and institutional context, while the thesis-supervision requirement determines whether your intended research route is practical. An applicant interested in semiconductor devices should therefore examine relevant faculty and available courses before using the engineering band to choose this degree. A broad subject result cannot establish concentration-specific teaching quality, international hiring access or an individual salary outcome.

Check Out: George Mason University Subject Rankings

Honest take: Mason’s engineering subject ranking supports further investigation of the department. For this master’s, a feasible concentration and available thesis supervisor are more direct selection tests than the broad ranking band.