Students seeking admission into the degree plan in Software Engineering should hold a bachelor's degree in computer science, computer engineering or other computing or engineering related discipline and have a grade point average (GPA) of 3.0 or greater on the last 60 hours of course work. The GRE is waived if one of the following conditions is met: (i) Applicants with a GPA 3.0 or above, (ii) Applicants with at least one year of post-graduate full-time work experience in a computing field. For those applicants not meeting these waiver requirements a minimum GRE score (verbal + quantitative) of 290 points with a minimum quantitative score of 145, a verbal score of 140 is required. It is also possible for an applicant with significant software development work experience to apply this work experience as an offset to a borderline GPA or to demonstrate competency in computing in the case of a non-related degree. If an applicant is applying with the intention of having their work experience considered in lieu of GPA or GRE or a degree outside of the listed related degree areas, then the application materials should include both a letter from the student and a resume summarizing the candidate's professional experience in the area of software development. Once admitted, the student must file a candidate plan of study (CPS) in the first semester of enrollment.

If applicants have a bachelor's degree from a non-computing related discipline they can be expected to be assigned one or more foundation courses in computing unless the student has relevant computing classes on their transcript or can demonstrate proficiency by virtue of work experience. These courses may include programming in C, programming in Java and a course in data structures.

All applicants must have had courses in programming though data structures or their equivalent. A degree in Computer Science will suffice and no foundation courses will be required of those students holding a BS in Computer Science. For students holding other degrees, one or more courses may be added as foundation courses for those students found to be lacking in one or more of these areas. Foundation courses may be taken at UHCL or any other accredited university.

Official International English Language System (IELTS) scores of 6.0 or higher, TOEFL - scores of 79, TOEFL exam - 550 on the paper-based TOEFL exam,