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Requirements for the
Master's Degree in Computer Science
NOTE:
The requirements listed here are intended to take precedence over the
listing in the Graduate School Bulletin.
Admission
Requirements for admission: Baccalaureate
degree and Graduate Record Examination (subject test highly desirable).
Prerequisites common to all graduate requirements are
coursework in
- Computer structures and organization.
- Discrete structures and computing theory.
- Data structures.
These prerequisites may be satisfied by undergraduate
or more advanced courses, and in some cases by professional experience.
The material between the next two horizontal bars
is intended to appear in the next edition of the Bulletin
of the University Graduate School.
Degree Requirements
At least 30 credits in Computer Science or related areas.
These include the Course Requirements and the Creativity
Requirement, as defined below.
Course Classification
Most of the Computer Science Department's courses at the 400 level
and above are classified into four areas:
- Foundations (middle
digit 0 or 1, e.g., B501, B502, B503);
- Programming Languages (middle digit 2, e.g., B521, B522, P523 );
- Systems (middle digit 3 or 4, e.g., P536, B538, B541, P542, B543);
-
Applications (middle digit 5, 6, 7 or 8, e.g., B551, B561, B573, B581).
General courses not associated with a specific area are numbered with
a middle digit 9.
Courses that involve a major programming project
are designated as "Programming-in-the-large," and carry
a course number with letter designation P.
Course Requirements
- A total of at least 30 credit hours is required,
excluding all A5xx Computer Science courses.
No credit requirement below is to be read as additional to
these 30 credits.
- Six courses in Computer Science,
subject to the following requirements.
- Each course must carry at least 3 credits.
- At least five of the six courses should be
Computer Science listings
at the 500 level or higher. Included are the Cognitive
Science courses Q500 and Q550,
but no other cross-listed courses.
- One course may be selected out of the Computer Science
courses B403, B443, P423, P436 and the Mathematics
courses M471 and M472.
These are available for graduate credit
even though they are listed primarily as undergraduate courses.
- One course must be a Computer Science P course.
- One course must be in Foundations (middle digit 0 or 1).
- Two of the remaining three Computer Science
areas (Programming Languages,
Systems, and Applications) must be represented among the six
courses.
- Additional approved
courses carrying graduate credit
(courses listed in the university's Graduate School Bulletin),
excluding all A5xx Computer Science courses.
Courses at the 300 or 400 level
from outside of the College of Arts and
Sciences must be approved in advance by the Director for Graduate
Studies.
- Y890 (Thesis Readings and Research) may not be used to satisfy the MS
requirements.
- No more than a total of 6 out of the 30 credits required can be earned
from any combination of Y790 (Graduate Independent Study), Y791
(Graduate Independent System Development), Y792 (Master's Thesis)
and Y793 (Master's Software Thesis) listings.
- Cumulative GPA of at least 3.0 in Computer Science courses.
- Cumulative GPA of at least 3.0 in all courses.
- All courses must be completed within 5 consecutive years.
Creativity Requirement
One of the following four options must be satisfied.
T: Master's research thesis (Y792, 6 credits),
consisting either of a formal master's thesis as prescribed by the
Graduate School, or of a
survey or original research paper at a level appropriate
for publication as a departmental technical report or as a conference
presentation.
S: Master's software thesis (Y793, 6 credits), consisting of substantial
individual input into a major software research and development
project, documented in the public domain.
Q: Passing, with a grade of B or better, one of the department's
written PhD qualifiers, and six additional credits approved by
the department, in the natural and mathematical sciences (CS and
Mathematics permitted).
C: Adding to the CS course requirements three courses
(9 credits or more) from the Computer Science listings:
one P course carrying graduate credit,
and in addition two CS courses at the 500 level or above,
of which at most one can be a Y course.
Notes:
- There is no foreign language requirement.
- Graduate coursework previously applied to a degree in one
department cannot be applied to a Master's degree in another
department, unless you are concurrently enrolled in both departments.
See, for example, "Dual Master's Program" in the Graduate School
Bulletin.
Credit for Discontinued Courses
The department's suite of graduate courses has been revised
in 1995 and 1996. Students may count courses already completed
towards the new requirements, using tables
indicating correspondence between old and new courses,
one sorted by new course numbers,
and another sorted by old course numbers.
Do not take a new course if it is equivalent to a course already taken:
credit will not be given for both.
For old courses that have no new equivalents in the table,
the following area designations apply:
- Foundations: C451, C452 (corresponding to current B501)
- Algorithms: C455 (corresponding to current B503)
- Systems: C422, C525, C635
- Applications: C463, C464, C482, C563, C564, C582, C667
Old C400 level courses may be counted as 500 level courses
to satisfy the new requirements.
Further Help
Questions may be addressed to appropriate faculty members,
or to the Director of Graduate Studies.
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