Artificial Intellegence
The AI degree provides the mathematical and algorithmic foundations of AI techniques, along with hands-on experience in programming as well as using AI tools and foundation models. Complementing these engineering skills with a broader perspective, students learn about intelligence from a cognitive science perspective, and they develop a sense of the issues (and solutions) required to responsibly develop AI to benefit society. Finally, students choose a concentration, ranging from machine learning, to vision and language, to data and society, to robotics, to AI and health systems. Interested students can learn more about the courses below by visiting the Penn Course Catalog.
Students choose at least one course unit from each of the following six categories:
In addition to the courses above, students will have an opportunity to take six AI courses selected from the list of approved courses below, along with the 1-year senior design sequence:
The above list will evolve as new courses are added to the program.
The six AI elective courses can be structured along AI concentrations depending on the interests of the student. Concentrations are optional and consist of four courses in a specific theme. Only courses used in the AI Elective category may be counted towards a concentration.
Rather than offering a specific course for senior design, AI majors will embed themselves into the ESE, CIS or other Penn Engineering senior design courses. This will enable AI students to apply their AI skills across many engineering challenges.
Three course units from Engineering, Math, Natural Science or from the list here.
The application for prospective Penn students interested in the Artificial Intelligence Bachelor of Science in Engineering (AI BSE) program for a Fall 2025 start date will open in early August 2024.
For further details regarding the University of Pennsylvania’s admissions procedures, kindly refer to https://admissions.upenn.edu.
Yes! Incoming first-year Engineering undergraduate students will be eligible to change their major to Artificial Intelligence. Beginning on August 26, incoming students can start the process by accessing the Declare/Update Field of Study form.
Eligibility to transfer to the BSE in AI is limited to current Penn Engineering students, including current first- and second-year M&T students.
Students will need to follow a two-step process:
Submit a 4-year academic plan to aiadvise@seas.upenn.edu
Submit the Declare/Update Field of Study form
Note that students seeking to change their major to AI must be able to graduate within 8 semesters in total (or 10 semesters for M&T students), otherwise the major change will not be approved.
At this moment, we are only considering Penn Engineering students including first- and second-year M&T students who want to transfer to the AI degree.
BSE in AI students are permitted to pursue dual-majors within Penn Engineering, with the exception of CSCI, NETS and SSE.
BSE in AI students are not permitted to pursue dual-degree programs or second majors in the College of Arts and Sciences, with the exception of the VIPER program. This option may be offered in the future, so please check back for updates.
No, Penn Engineering does not offer undergraduate online programs. The AI program is designed as a residential undergraduate bachelor’s program, emphasizing in-person instruction. For information regarding Penn Engineering’s online graduate degrees at the master’s level, please visit https://online.seas.upenn.edu/.
For details on prerequisites and recommendations when applying to Penn Engineering, please visit the Office of Admissions page.
Strong preparation in fundamental subjects, particularly Mathematics, is vital for any Penn Engineering degree program.
Tuition and financial aid policies are university-wide and not specific to individual programs. For more information, please visit https://srfs.upenn.edu.
This website will provide the most up-to-date program information. Kindly continue to check back regularly for updates, and be sure to follow Penn Engineering AI on social media.
Yes! Incoming first-year Engineering and M&T undergraduate students will be eligible to change their major to Artificial Intelligence. Beginning on August 26, incoming students can start the process by accessing the Declare/Update Field of Study form.
