Online Master’s in Software Engineering for 2027

This Professional Science Master's is fully online and built for people already working in computing. You should have two years of computing work experience after your undergraduate degree, or be employed full time with a U.S. based organization. Applicants without the experience can still be admitted if they complete a full-time internship during the program, not counting the capstone project. The curriculum integrates 20 percent of MBA courses, so you pick up management skills alongside the software engineering, and prior industry knowledge and experience is considered for credit.

Faculty hold terminal degrees and have industrial experience in software engineering, and an industry advisory board reviews the program regularly. The GRE requirement can be waived with two years of recent full-time professional computing experience or a prior graduate degree from an accredited institution. International applicants need a TOEFL score of 100 for unconditional admission. The application asks for transcripts, a statement of intent, a resume and three recommendations.

This Master of Science in Software Engineering (MS SE) runs online through WSU's Global Campus and comes to 30 credits, which you can finish in under two years on a full-time course load. Working professionals can go part time. The courses are designed and taught by faculty in the School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, including experts in computer science, data science, software maintenance and evolution, software testing and security.

Coursework covers design, development, validation, maintenance, reuse, management and security of software products, along with the tools, methods and techniques used in modern software engineering practice. You also pick up the managerial and leadership skills needed to advance in the industry. Graduates can pursue careers as software developer, software engineer, requirements engineer, quality assurance engineer or project manager. Your application needs a statement of purpose, three letters of recommendation and transcripts. International applicants face a minimum TOEFL score of 93.

Three featured courses show where the SMU degree puts its weight: CS 7315 Software Project Planning and Management, CS 7319 Software Architecture and Design, and CS 7312 User Interfaces, User Experience. The 30-credit-hour program is offered in person and online, full time or part time, and full-time students finish in about two years and part-time students in about three. Online students choose synchronous classes, Weekend Format or recorded classes through Lyle Anywhere.

Many courses are based on those proposed by the Software Engineering Institute, and the program pairs that technical work with management skills such as directing programming teams, scheduling and budgeting. Research areas that complement the program are software testing, usability and user experience, software measurement, reliability and safety, and cloud and service computing. Applicants need a bachelor's degree in a quantitative science, mathematics, computer science or an engineering discipline. SMU reports an average starting salary of $130,888 for program graduates in 2024.

Two core courses, Artificial Intelligence for Software Engineering and AI for Advanced Software Architecture, anchor the AI side of Stevens' software engineering master's, which sits in the Systems Engineering department of the Schaefer School of Engineering and Science. The wider curriculum runs from requirements analysis and system architecture to testing, deployment and long-term maintenance through collaborative, project-based learning, and you build skills in AI-driven software architecture and design, Agile project management and technical planning, risk analysis and software assurance, and sustainable, scalable software development.

You can attend on campus or online, and a dual-degree MBA option is available. The Graduate Cooperative Education Program has two tracks. An optional research or clinical thesis is available, and you can earn credit for on-the-job projects with your current employer. Applicants send transcripts from all post-secondary institutions attended, two letters of recommendation (academic or professional only) and a statement of purpose, and GRE or GMAT scores are optional.

Requirements engineering, software architecture and design, software construction, software testing and quality assurance, software maintenance and software project management make up the DePaul curriculum, taught in a collaborative environment that includes team members from around the world. You take the degree in person or entirely online, and one hundred percent of the program's lectures are captured and available online. Three concentrations are available: AI in Software Engineering, Real-Time Software and Game Systems, and Software Development and Architecture.

The real-time concentration covers computer graphics and animation, game physics, networking and game systems engine development, and it applies to electronic trading, defense work and mobile development as well as games. The program is STEM-designated, which can qualify international students to extend their stay in the United States after graduation. Graduates report a median salary of $95,000 six months after finishing. The college offers scholarships to incoming graduate students, and aid includes assistantships and funded research opportunities.

AI-assisted development practices run through the curriculum at Drexel University, and this master's pairs them with architectural modeling, design decision-making, trade-off evaluation and quality assurance. The degree ends with a Software Studio capstone, where teams work on an intensive, real-world software project. You can study full time or part time, in Philadelphia or online. A graduate co-op is open to full-time students who enter on campus, and the online program is not eligible for it.

On-campus applicants need a four-year bachelor's degree from a regionally accredited institution, an essay of about 500 words, a résumé and one letter of recommendation, with a second preferred. If you don't have a prior degree in computer science, software engineering or math plus programming, you can be required to take additional prerequisites first. The GRE is highly recommended for international applicants and for domestic applicants whose undergraduate GPA is below 3.0. International applicants also need a TOEFL score of 90 or higher, or an accepted alternative English test.

Offered exclusively online, this 30-credit-hour degree at St. Mary's University is built for working professionals, who can finish in as little as two years while keeping a full-time job. You choose a thesis, a capstone project or an all-course option, and with approval from the Program Director you can take up to six credits from other disciplines. Course highlights include Agile System Development, Introduction to Machine Learning, Software Design and Architecture, Software Project Planning and Management, and Software Testing and Quality Assurance.

Applicants need a bachelor's degree in software engineering, computer science, computer engineering or a closely related discipline, a 3.00 GPA, and the prerequisites EG 1213 C Programming for Engineering and EG 1316 Object-Oriented Programming Design using C++. You submit a resume, a statement of purpose, two letters of recommendation and transcripts, but no GRE scores. Research assistantships carry a tuition waiver and a monthly stipend. A 12-credit-hour certificate is also available. Across the university, 59 percent of students graduate within six years.