Academics / Undergraduate Program / Industrial Engineering Major (BS Degree)Curriculum Requirements
Program Overview
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:
- Quantitative Finance
- Operations, Transportation & Logistics
- Data Science and Engineering
- Human-centered Engineering
- Graduate Preparation
- 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.
Degree Requirements
An overview of the curriculum for new students starting in the 2026-27 academic year is displayed below. The new engineering core requirement, Engineering Foundations will replace the Engineering Analysis sequence for all McCormick undergraduate degrees. The full curriculum will be published to the Northwestern University Academic Catalog in September 2026.
Engineering Core Requirements (26 units)
- Mathematics (4 units)
- Basic Sciences (4 units)
- Engineering Foundations (3 units)
- Design, Communication, and Innovation (3 units)
- Social Sciences/Humanities Theme (7 units)
- Unrestricted Electives (5 units)
Major Program Requirements (22 units)
- Related Courses (2 units)
- Engineering Economics and Applied Data Management
- IEMS Method Courses (7 units)
- Core IEMS skills in optimization and applied probability and statistics, foundational for upper-level classes
- Professional Practice Courses (3 units)
- Crucial skills needed to apply IE models in industry situations
- IEMS Technical Electives (7 units)
- Advanced courses in Industrial Engineering and Management Sciences
- General Technical Electives (3 units)
- 200-level or higher courses in engineering and supporting technical areas
2026-2027 Degree Requirements
View the 2026-27 Academic Catalog
Curriculum Planning Resources
The forms below outline degree requirements and will help students in the Department of Industrial Engineering and Management Sciences as they plan for completing their degree.
Note: IEMS 202 has been renumbered to IEMS 302.
Students pursuing the BSIE can choose to complete an optional concentration. Concentration requirements can be found in the document below, and students can use the following BSIE Concentrations Google Form to declare a concentration. For catalog years 2024 and later, concentrations will appear on the transcript.