Academics
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Undergraduate Program
Curriculum

Bachelor of Science

Northwestern's academic year operates on a three-quarter system. Students complete 12 courses per year by taking four per quarter.

To obtain the Bachelor of Science degree, a total of 48 courses are required. Seven technical electives complete the 16-course major program.

All McCormick School engineering students begin their engineering studies with the four-quarter sequence of Engineering Analysis and the two-quarter sequence of Design Thinking and Communication. Coursework in the major area usually begins sophomore year.

Core Areas

Coursework in Industrial Engineering and Management Sciences covers these core areas:

  • Probability and statistics
  • Operations research
  • Applied behavioral science
  • Engineering economy
  • Computer programming and data management

Concentrations

Concentrations are available in the following areas:

  • Graduate Preparation
  • Machine Learning and Data Science
  • Human-Centered Engineering
  • Operations, Transportation, and Logistics
  • Product Management

Client Project challenge

A required, one-quarter course at the end of Junior year that integrates the skills a student has learned in order to solve a real-world problem. See this site for more details and a video.